Anyone who missed The Exorcist franchise, The Conjuring franchise, The Possession, The Last Exorcism, and countless other identical films would still be better off skipping Prey for the Devil. A viewer who has seen two or three of those films has already seen everything worth seeing in the film, so they should probably give it a hard pass too.
Horror is a genre known for its rip-offs. No original idea stays original in that industry for long. Horror tends to move in trends and fads, and the exorcism/possession trend seems like it should have been left in the past by now. It's still here, but hopefully, a particularly unpleasant jaunt through those familiar catacombs will finally bury it for good.
Prey for the Devil follows Anne, a nun with a troubled past who dreams of becoming an exorcist. The Devil has marked her as the chosen one for unclear reasons, which means everyone she spends time around has a high likelihood of being possessed. Unfortunately for her, the Catholic Church doesn't allow women to learn the rites and take on the Devil face to face. Luckily for her, they do have all the secrets to defeating actual demons in very real combat. The film addresses the fact that demonic possession is almost always a superstitious person's explanation of profound mental or physical illness and the horrors of previous church practices. Good news for people who've heard of the Inquisition and all the executions, Prey for the Devil says it was all necessary evil in the war against Lucifer.
Setting aside deeper meaning from the text, Prey for the Devil is a greatest hits showcase for every overdone horror trope in the book. Scary kids, haunted mirrors, whispers over the soundtrack, repurposed Christian imagery, weak PG-13 body horror, a booming orchestral score, and all the jump scares a person could ever tolerate. There are, at most, one or two big scares that aren't fully stolen from a better movie. Originality is hard to come by in such an oversaturated subgenre, but a dedicated viewer could isolate every cheap pop and find the film it first appeared in within a few hours. Every element of this film that's meant to be scary is tedious at best and miserable at worst. Maybe it'll draw a shocked gasp from an unprepared audience member at some point, but expect a silent theater otherwise.
The film's use of symbolism and imagery is either handled without the slightest grace or intended explicitly as poorly planned propaganda. For his part, director Daniel Stamm already made a smarter and better version of this film twelve years ago with The Last Exorcism. Screenwriter Robert Zappia has a less prestigious career, with iconic horror hits like Halloween: H20 in his past. The cast is serviceable, though largely unremarkable. Jacqueline Byers is asked to carry a lot of the film with her reactions alone, and she rises to the occasion. Colin Salmon does a decent job with the stern yet wise teacher role. Exorcism and demonic possession are clearly ideas that inspire Stamm, but the concept has always been fraught with unpleasant ideas.
Prey for the Devil doesn't shy away from the troubled past of the concept, nor does it have a particularly nuanced take on modern issues. It steps dangerously close to depicting people with mental illness as heroes for killing themselves to save others. Prey for the Devil demonstrates even less tact in a subplot about a rape victim who feels so ashamed for aborting the resulting fetus that she willingly allows the devil into her body. If this disgusting concept was unintentional, it represents immense creative laziness and a cloying urge for shock value. If it was intentional, Prey for the Devil becomes hateful propaganda on top of being generally garbage.
There are no redeeming qualities to this film. It has a PG-13 rating that will ensure several young folks see it as their first horror movie. There's truly no other audience that could really enjoy it. When fantastic films are relegated to streaming and there's an interesting new concept available every week, there's nothing to recommend in Prey of the Devil that isn't available elsewhere. Unless the Catholic Church's marketing arm got involved, there's no reason for this film to hit the big screen. The story feels pointless, the scares don't work, the presentation is a mess, and the messaging is either confused or unforgivable. Horror is a notoriously popular genre, and even the worst ideas regularly make a profit. The scariest aspect of Prey for the Devil is the theoretical possibility that its pathetic sequel-bait ending could actually pay off.
Anyone with the slightest inclination to see this film could get a better experience looking up the word "exorcism" on their preferred streaming service and watching the first result at random. Prey for the Devil makes the strongest argument in favor of Satan since Anton LaVey.