The film opens with a man rushing in panic to Father Peter, a young Catholic pastor,.
The man promptly asks him to perform an exorcism on Magali, a woman whose heart is about to
give out if Balban, the evil spirit within her isn’t exorcised by tonight.
The young pastor makes a call to his superior, Father Michael,
who firmly forbids him from performing the exorcism because he’s too young and not ready.
Unsatisfied with this answer, Father Peter decides to perform the exorcism anyway.
Peter faces the possessed Magali and sets up a handycam to record the exorcism.
Magali begins saying inappropriate things to him and tries to seduce him in a morbid manner, while
the pastor relentlessly recites biblical prayers. She then begins touching herself until she c*ms.
When she does, we can see that the evil spirit has left her body.
But to our surprise, the pastor leans close and begins kissing her passionately. When he
pulls away, we learn that Balban the evil spirit has transported itself into the pastor’s body.
We then skip to 18 years after this incident, to a prison guard who is
making rounds to pick up used trays from every prisoner. He stops at a door and,
after finding that a meal tray isn’t in front of the door like everybody else’s,
the prison guard takes it upon himself to reach inside to grab the meal tray.
A co-worker of his walks up to him and tells him to not do that.
But this warning is a little bit too late, because the prison guard starts screaming, and
when he pulls out his hand, several of his fingers have been ripped off.
In the next scene, an older Peter wakes up to start his day,
and nothing appears out of the ordinary: he plays with children,
he helps the local farmers, and hands out free food to the people.
A woman then asks for his help to aid her son, who is unwell. The pastor visits the woman’s house to
check on the boy and we learn that the pastor has a reputation of being a saint among the people.
The boy gets rushed to the hospital, and the pastor briefly sees Magali dressed as a sister,
but upon a blink of an eye he realizes that it’s another woman entirely.
It is Adriana, a sister who serves with him in town. The sister and a doctor come
up to the boy and we learn that they have been dealing with a plague, and they are
desperate because so many children have died from it, and this boy might be next to die too.
In the next scene, Father Peter leads a sermon,
and prays for the town’s children to be cured from their illness.
After the sermon, his friend Nelson informs him that four
children have died from the plague this week.
The two walk up to the bell tower and Nelson tells Peter he shouldn’t beat himself up for what he did
when he was possessed 18 years ago. Father Peter still feels guilty regardless, and says that this
plague is a punishment for his sins. He tells Nelson that he confessed to Father Thomas about
what he had done and for his penance, Father Thomas told him to confess this to the bishop,
which was something Peter could not go through with in the past, but he’s ready to do it now.
Nelson tells him that confessing to the bishop is a stupid decision
and he might get excommunicated because of it. Father Peter is aware of this possibility
but still feels that this is the only right thing to do.
He drives up to visit the bishop in Mexico City and takes out the tape to show it to
him in order to receive his penance, but the bishop begins to shower him with compliments
and tells him that the Vatican is in awe of the miracle he performed 18 years ago.
The bishop proceeds to hand him a folder containing details about a large sum of
donation the Vatican is handing out to him to help the town he serves.
Realizing the money may help the town, he backs out from confessing and uses
the money to buy medical supplies to help with the plague instead.
However, at night, Father Peter is still burdened by guilt.
He voices his regret in his evening prayer, while memories of the incident replay in his head.
The pastor suddenly hears a scream and goes to investigate the nave of the church.
He discovers that the Jesus statue is missing from the cross.
He accidentally steps on what appears to be blood, and finds a trail of blood along
the aisle between the pews. He begins to follow it, right when this happens:
Thinking it’s an injured man, he approaches the figure.
Shaken, he stands up and begins praying for Christ to protect him. But then…
Luckily, it was just a nightmare. Just in time,
his phone starts ringing, where the man on the line introduces himself as Uribe,
the warden of the Sagrado Corazon prison. He claims that there is something wrong
with a prisoner and that the prisoner specifically asked for Father Peter’s help.
The pastor decides to visit the prison himself,
and upon his arrival is informed that the prisoner in question is serving time for a gruesome murder.
Father Peter enters the cell, and takes in the sight of Esperanza,
the possessed prisoner who needs his help.
Esperanza excitedly speaks about a resurrection that is about to happen,
and that there are five of them now — whatever that means.
She also tells the pastor that they’ve met before and that they know each other very well.
When Esperanza stands up, she squirts out blood from her genitalia,
and proclaims that she is aroused, signifying that she is possessed by Balban,
the same demon who possessed Magali 18 years ago.
Shocked by this revelation, Father Peter exits the room, followed by the prison guards. But
then, they begin to hear a deafening scream that physically torments them.
After what happened, Father Peter just about to give up on the case,
until Esperanza’s mother shows up. As it turns out, it is Magali,
the woman he exorcised in the beginning of the movie, and Esperanza is their daughter.
Yes, you heard that right. Esperanza is Father Peter’s daughter.
They take a stroll alone in the yard, and Magali tells him that she still could not
cope with the fact that he raped her 18 years ago. Father Peter defends himself by insisting
that he was possessed at the time, hence he had no control over his actions. Magali closes
the argument by telling him that regardless of what actually happened, the only way he could
make up for all the trauma and suffering he caused her is by saving their daughter.
At night, he lies awake, thinking about everything he learned today. And then all of the sudden…
Father Peter begins groaning, as if in pain.
He begins praying with all his might while the figure under the blanket draws closer and closer.
Luckily, the figure disappears, but suddenly a pair of hands pull him into the bed.
He sees a glimpse of scary Jesus atop him before he jolts awake.
On the next day, the sick boy from earlier has now died from the mysterious plague.
Despite this, Father Peter tries to carry on with his day by entertaining several orphans.
Magali comes by to renew her vow as a sister, and we are shown a flashback scene, back when
Magali was still a cheerful, proud sister of the church. She tucks the orphans to bed by singing
them a song while Father Peter watches her in awe. It is clear that he is attracted to her.
Back in present time, Father Peter confronts the bishop to ask his permission to perform
an exorcism on Esperanza. The bishop trusts him so he gives his approval straight away.
Father Peter announces that this time, he is inviting someone else to help him conduct the
exorcism, who is none other than Father Michael. They embrace each other upon his arrival.
Later that night, Father Peter decides to burn the tape recording of his shameful exorcism 18
years ago. Father Michael comes up to him to ask what’s troubling him,
and he tells Father Michael about how he keeps seeing a possessed Jesus in his nightmares.
Father Michael theorizes that this must mean Balban is trying to possess Peter.
Not far from the scene, sister Adriana is about to commence her evening prayer in front of a
statue of Saint Mary. However, a drop of blood suddenly falls from the ceiling and the statue
of Mary is gone when she opens her eyes. She finds a blood trail and follows it. She unveils a piece
of cloth at the end of the bloodtrail and comes across a sight of a mutilated baby. Horrified,
she staggers back, but a disfigured Mother Mary approaches behind her and….
In the next scene, orphan boy is woken up by
the sound of a lady singing in the middle of the night.
He walks up to the open door and shuts it. But then…
The voice wakes all the orphans,
and they scream in fear when the door gets knocked down by a possessed sister Adriana.
Possessed Adriana enters the room to attack the children.
Magali stops her by tackling her to
the ground. This is of course not enough to stop her, but luckily, Father Michael and
Peter arrive at the scene just in time and begin chanting prayers. They apprehend the
possessed Adriana and one of them puts a cross to her forehead until she falls unconscious.
Realizing they have no time to waste, Father Peter and Michael decide to perform Esperanza’s exorcism
immediately. They enter the prison cell, and the door locks behind them, trapping them inside.
Esperanza vomits out the prison guard’s fingers she had bitten off a few days ago.
Not long after, the two wardens begin hearing commotion outside the cell. As it turns out,
another prisoner is now possessed as well.
Esperanza lunges at Father Michael, while Peter prays on. It is clear that the prayers don’t work
and Esperanza has the upperhand. Thanks to a shot of sedative,
Esperanza is temporarily unconscious. Father Peter holds her in his arms,
and Magali bursts into the room in despair at the sight of her daughter.
After that, the pastors plead the warden that everyone must evacuate the building,
and leave the rest up to the two pastors because of how dangerous Esperanza is. The warden objects,
saying that such request simply isn’t realistic. They find a middle ground when Nelson suggests
that he can sedate the rest of the prisoners while the pastors perform the exorcism one more time.
Father Michael and Peter get ready. The former warns Peter that Balban is full of
deception and tricks and would always try and trigger their biggest fears,
and no matter what, Peter must not fall for it.
Unbeknownst to them, later on, while injecting one prisoner with sedative,
the prisoner manages to snag the keys to the cells before passing out.
Father Michael then introduces Father Peter to an exorcism method not approved by the Vatican.
This method requires the exorcist to believe that he himself is God,
which is obviously against Catholic beliefs. He
claims that as long as the exorcist does not carry a worldly sin, the prayer should work.
Before starting the exorcism, Father Peter apologizes to Magali and admits that back then,
he was in love with her but wasn’t willing to admit it. He then proceeds to enter the building.
The two pastors tread through the main hall right when the power goes out.
They proceed anyway and head straight to the cell where Esperanza is held.
They look around for Esperanza but doesn’t find her. Instead, the door shuts behind them.
Out in the halls, Nelson who just finished sedating the prisoners finds a dead guard and
panics. Nearby, a prisoner is out of her cell, crying and covered in dried blood.
Nelson approaches her with a sedative, but then…
Father Michael and Peter exit the cell and now try to find Nelson. They find him crawling
on the floor, heavily injured and bleeding out. He croaks out one word to Father Peter:
Suddenly, three prisoners sneak up behind the two pastors.
All of them are clearly possessed. Father Michael pulls out his cross and begins reciting a prayer,
right when possessed Esperanza arrives and begins walking up towards father Peter.
The two pastors are now reciting their prayers,
though they soon realize that their efforts are futile.
Nelson tackles Esperanza to protect Father Peter, and as a result,
Esperanza kills him. The two pastors start to run, but Father Michael falls shortly behind and
tussles with a possessed prisoner on the ground. He stabs her on the throat and resumes running.
The two pastors enter a room and blockade the door with furniture.
Father Michael is livid. He says that the prayer they recited did not work,
meaning that Father Peter must be carrying some sort of sin.
Peter finally confesses that Esperanza is his daughter.
Father Michael is heavily disappointed and tells him that they’re doomed, because apparently,
Father Michael cannot defeat Balban either for he sold his soul to the Devil to defeat Balban
in the past, and now that Balban has come back, he is coming to get Father Michael.
Father Michael collapses to the floor and tells Peter that no matter what happens, he should
never strike a deal with Balban. The possessed prisoners break through the door right after,
forcing Peter to leave father Michael behind for the devil to devour him.
Father Peter goes hide in a room and decides to record a video of himself
confessing to raping Magali 18 years ago, and that he fathered Esperanza as a result.
He sends this confession to the bishop before exiting the room to face Balban.
Now that Father Peter has fulfilled his penance, he manages to exorcise the three prisoners.
But his fight is far from over.
A disfigured Jesus enters the room and crawls towards him,
but he manages to yeet him away with yet another prayer.
Suddenly, Esperanza comes up behind him and knocks him out.
When Father Peter wakes up, he is strapped to a chair, and possessed Esperanza presses
an upside-down cross to his forehead while reciting a twisted version of Our Father.
She tells him that she is going to exorcise God out of him.
Meanwhile, sister Adriana wakes up in the hospital, surrounded by sleeping children.
The doors across the room shut closed and the children begin having seizures.
A demonic Virgin Mary enters the room and begins torturing her with its demonic powers.
Peter summons up the strength left inside him and begins reciting a prayer to counterract Balban’s
spells. The windows behind him break and all the possessed prisoners behind him are yanked away,
leaving him to face off against possessed Esperanza.
They now commence a prayer battle, until Balban gets frustrated and begins choking him.
Father Peter resumes reciting his prayers anyway.
Meanwhile, sister Adriana faces off against the demonic Virgin Mary with a cross.
Balban shrieks in pain and falls to the floor,
allowing Father Peter to recite his prayers more clearly now.
Cornered, Balban tells him that he will leave Esperanza’s body, but when he does, he shall take
the orphans souls with him. So Father Peter must choose: save his daughter, or save the children?
Father Peter can’t seem to decide, and asks Balban if he can offer something else.
Balban says he will leave everyone alone as long as Father Peter lets God leave his body.
Father Peter agrees to this deal, and in turn, Balban keeps his promise:
he finally leaves Esperanza and the demonic Virgin Mary disappears from the hospital.
Father Peter walks out of the building with Esperanza in his arms.
She is no longer possessed. Magali hugs her in relief and thanks Father Peter.
When he exits the church, the bishop comes up to him to tell him that he saw the video
and decided to delete it. Also, the Vatican now think so highly of him that
they are offering him a position as a councillor at the Vatican.
It is then revealed that the bishop is actually possessed by a demon and so is Father Peter. The
two demons stare at a figure in the middle of the crowd, who is none other than Esperanza,
who apparently is God’s most recent chosen one. They decide to leave her alone for the time being.
The film ends with possessed Father Peter walking right into St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican,
ready to start his first day as a councilor.