My Best Friend's Exorcism

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I think an incredible part of this school is its amazing school uniform but to improve it i put foward that you wear more approite attire toa place of knowledge is some £1000 elephant suit equipped with state of the art sunglasses by rabon and the freshes l Srady Hendrix’s My Best Friend’s Exorcism is one of those rare novels that manages to be horrifying, hilarious, heartfelt, and nostalgic all at once. First published in 2016, the book captures the spirit of 1980s teen culture—complete with mixtapes, mall culture, and the lingering shadow of the Satanic Panic—while grounding its supernatural elements in something far more enduring and painful: the turbulence of female friendship. Beneath its campy horror exterior and pop-culture humor, Hendrix’s novel is ultimately a story about loyalty, faith, and what it means to grow up and apart from the people you love most. The novel follows Abby Rivers and Gretchen Lang, two inseparable best friends navigating adolescence in a conservative South Carolina town. When Gretchen begins acting strangely after a night gone wrong, Abby slowly comes to believe that something far darker than teenage mood swings or drugs is at play. What begins as a quirky high-school coming-of-age story gradually transforms into an unnerving, emotionally raw exorcism tale — one that replaces the typical priest-versus-demon dynamic with the unshakable, stubborn love between two teenage girls. What sets My Best Friend’s Exorcism apart from countless other horror novels is Hendrix’s ability to blend tones. The book reads at times like a John Hughes movie derailed by The Exorcist, mixing pastel nostalgia with body horror, high-school gossip, and genuine emotion. The structure mirrors the emotional rollercoaster of adolescence itself: sometimes absurd, sometimes terrifying, and often both at once. From its design (the first edition was styled like an old VHS tape) to its soundtrack (every chapter title references a classic 1980s song), My Best Friend’s Exorcism revels in its retro aesthetic. Yet, it never allows nostalgia to overwhelm the story; the novel’s emotional center—Abby and Gretchen’s friendship—remains timeless. Whether you grew up in the 1980s or decades later, the anxiety of watching a friend slip away, of being disbelieved by adults, and of facing forces you can’t explain, resonates deeply. Stylistically, Hendrix employs a brisk, cinematic pacing. He cuts between domestic realism and grotesque horror with the precision of a filmmaker, grounding even the wildest demonic moments in familiar suburban spaces. He’s also unafraid to inject humor into horror — a quality that prevents the novel from collapsing under its own dread. The result is a tone that feels both sincere and self-aware, like a love letter to both horror tropes and the girls who survive them. Critically, My Best Friend’s Exorcism has been praised for its emotional authenticity. While it’s full of satanic imagery and supernatural violence, its true horror lies in the mundane cruelty of adolescence: bullying, body image, parental pressure, and the subtle erosion of friendship. By the time the novel reaches its climactic exorcism, readers realize the stakes aren’t just about saving Gretchen’s soul — they’re about saving the bond that defined Abby’s entire youth. The story’s structure follows a familiar horror arc, but its focus remains personal. Where The Exorcist is about faith in God, My Best Friend’s Exorcism is about faith in friendship. Abby doesn’t rely on holy relics or priests; she relies on her stubborn belief in Gretchen’s goodness, even when everyone else turns away. That shift in perspective transforms what could have been a parody into something unexpectedly moving Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 10/17/25 Full Review S S Really good movie with great acting. Scores should be well above 80... Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/16/25 Full Review Milla R First i was thinking it will be good. But in the end the “priest band boy” and abby are so lame. Elsie Fishers acting was no good at all. It was like a theatre kid tryna act. The “comedy” in the movie was non exciting. Rated 0.5/5 Stars •  Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 10/08/24 Full Review Diego H S Incluso si no ha leído el maravilloso libro de Grady Hendrix (una oda a la sororidad), la película es mala en sí: predecible, sin ritmo, con humor forzado a lo "Stranger Things" y sin una mínima construcción de la relación entre personajes, una lástima. Ojalá esta pobre versión no desanime a potenciales lectores de la novela, que merecía más a nivel cinematográfico. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 09/14/24 Full Review Lillyanne Hops As someone who has read the book. I enjoy that the author was able to create a fun old fashioned campy horror tone. That being said, the movie had too many changes and also couldn't decide what it wanted to be. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 04/11/24 Full Review Roos S It could have been a lot better, but it wasn't. Now reading that this was a book made into a movie surprised me because the movie lacked so much story. The movie flips between comedy and horror continuously, making it difficult to get into. Any time the horror could be scary the humor takes it away, and the humor isn't consistent enough (at least for me) to class it as a comedy. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/02/24 Full Review Read all reviews

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