Much like the Catholic Church has had to adjust to modern conventions and beliefs, exorcism films have had to make certain changes in order to still be considered relevant in a post-The Exorcist world. It seems that not every filmmaker got this memo, however, as we are still bombarded with generic horror movies that can’t seem to live up to William Friedkin’s 1973 classic. Sadly, Singaporean director Kelvin Tong’s The Offering is one of these films, as it doesn’t exactly do anything wrong but brings nothing new to the table either.
The Offering stars Elizabeth Rice as Jamie Waters, a journalist who travels to Singapore in an attempt to investigate her sister’s mysterious suicide, which was gruesomely recorded on her laptop. Jamie’s journey leads her to her ex brother-in-law Sam Harris, played by Mathew Settle, and her troubled young niece, Katie Harris, played by Adina Herz, who may be the next target of a seemingly demonic force that drives seemingly ordinary people to commit suicide.
As far as exorcism movies go, this is a standard enough plot, though the suicide angle does bring up a few interesting points regarding Catholic faith. Nevertheless, the film suffers from unfocused story elements that ultimately amount to nothing and detract from the experience. Tong seems to dwell on a connection between digital media and the Tower of Babel, with apocalyptic messages on church websites and “demonic” binary code, not to mention an uncomfortable religious glorification of suffering that might seem a bit too old-testament for many viewers. Most of these ideas eventually fizzle out before the unsurprising ending, suggesting that their insertion into the movie was just an excuse to tell this same horror story once again.
These shortcomings could be forgiven if countered with clever presentation, but Kelvin does little to make The Offering seem different from other generic genre fare. The scares are predictable and unsatisfying, and at times it feels like certain arbitrary elements were lifted from better films and placed here in an uninspired amalgam of Asian horror with western sensibilities, with a bit of James Wan thrown into the mix for good measure. That’s not to say that the film does these things poorly, we’ve just seen these scares far too many times before. It’s hard not to chuckle when a movie does the oft-parodied Regan head-spin from The Exorcist and expects you to take it seriously.
Blatant rip-offs aside, The Offering is still just a harmless midnight movie. The film may be excessively familiar, but that doesn’t make it a catastrophic failure. Singapore is a nice change of pace from the usual horror settings, and some scenes were legitimately spooky despite the lack of unoriginality, especially with a decent cast that did their best considering the material they had to work with. The film does present some cringe-worthy after-school-special sensibilities that often plague religious thrillers, but that’s to be expected. In the end, The Offering’s greatest sin isn’t being a bad movie, it’s just not unique enough to justify recommending. On the other hand, if you’re looking for some demonic fun with a slightly modern twist, there are plenty of worse choices out there.