[Review] FOR SALE BY EXORCIST: A Horror Comedy That Tries Hard to Close the Deal

Director Melissa LaMartina’s mockumentary comedy For Sale by Exorcist focuses much more on the first half of its title than the latter. The result is a film with a title that advertises horror but lacks in that department, feeling more like a comedy that is safe to watch with your friends who are leery of fright fare.

Susan Price (Emily Classen) is a real estate agent who also happens to be a certified exorcist. She has ridden ghosts from many a home, which, ahem, eventually comes back to haunt her.

The humor is often broad, and I have the feeling that real estate agents and folks who have gone through buying homes will find some of the comedy specific to those interests much funnier than I did. For Sale by Exorcist also sends up reality TV shows about those topics, and that is arguably its strongest suit regarding comedy.

So how about the horror elements? We get quick jokes about a ghost that frustrates a painter by continually smearing blood on a wall, a crotch-grabbing succubus that visit that results in a woman continually punching her significant other in that same area, and other ghostly activity that requires little in the way of special effects until the third act, when some — as opposed to all — hell breaks loose in Susan’s life.

Classen is amusing in the lead role, doling out Southern sayings — and parody of such — while dreaming of a home of her own as she helps clients find their new places to live. Screenwriters Chris LaMartina and Rob Walker heap on the deliberate corn and if one joke doesn’t work for you, another is bound to.

Director Melissa LaMartina’s is out to charm and provide chuckles more than chills with For Sale by Exorcist. Knowing that going in, it’s an entertaining 82-minute comedic ride that scare-fare aficionados can share with friends who spook easily. 

For Sale by Exorcist is available on digital and VOD platforms from Epic Pictures’ horror label Dread.

(3 / 5)