Dir. Santiago Alvarado Ilarri | Now Streaming On: Netflix | Rating: 1/5

One of my favorite parts about hosting a show with Suzie aka Projectile Varmint is that we often disagree on films, which keeps things interesting. When she shared how much she hated this film, I paused the episode of horrormovieweekly and streamed it so I could weigh in. And folks, all I have to say is TRUST YOUR COHOST. 

Menendez is single handedly one of the worst horror films, let alone possession films, I’ve ever seen. The whole time I was watching this, I was trying to figure out if this was supposed to be a fetish film or a black comedy or neither. From the acting to the dialogue, this was a trainwreck. 

We watch this bizarre dynamic between forty-something Menendez and what we’re led to believe is teenaged Raquel. The actress who plays Raquel is 33 and it looks like it, despite the director putting her in pigtails and exaggerating her acting to make her seem younger. Age gap relationships between consenting adults where power dynamics can be acknowledged are a whole other conversation, but a priest and a teenager? That’s a crime basically everywhere. 

We’re forced to watch this weird psychosexual relationship the entire movie, including Raquel moaning with a fork in her mouth and an almost striptease. We eventually get to the exorcism and we find out Menendez isn’t just a regular priest – he’s absolutely off his rocker. This features a pretty prominent scene of incest and Menendez beating Raquel for several minutes. I wish I could spoil this whole thing so you won’t watch it, but that would be wrong, so I’ll stop here. 

Any semblance of this film being scary is lost in a clusterfuck of poor acting and writing. I don’t know how else to convince you not to watch this, but it features a knock off snuffleupagus mask and the line “I’m going to fuck Satan.” Need I say more?

Know Before You Watch: Features sex, rape, nudity, blood, death, incest.