Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Bad Exorcist’ On Netflix, A Polish Animated Series About An Inept Demon Hunter And His Inept Crew

Why do animated series creators think it’s funny to watch their cartoon creations drop f-bombs and talk about bodily functions and genitals? Granted, all of that stuff can be funny. But some creators seem to throw those gags in at the expense of anything related to story or character development. That’s the case with an NSFW animated series Netflix imported from Poland.

BAD EXORCIST: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: The outside of a seedy bar. All of a sudden, someone is thrown out the window.

The Gist: The guy getting thrown out is Marcin, who battles demons along with a demon named Domino and their boss, Bogden Boner (Bartosz Walaszek, who we believe does all three voices). To say they’re ragtag is an understatement. Domino, who was banished from Hell for some egregious mistake, doesn’t even know where to kick other demons in the nuts, and Boner handles a gun sort of like a toddler handles a bowl of spaghetti. Oh, and Boner is also cheap — he hasn’t paid Marcin for all of his demon fighting work — and likes his booze.

Teenagers are causing so many drunken shenanigans in Hell — we see a newly-minted drinker on his 18th birthday spread poop on a statue — that the Devil decides to up the drinking age from 18 to 21, and continue the ban on all smoking, including e-cigs. Driven above ground by the prohibition, teen demons are stealing booze all over the city.

The local police chief hires Boner and his crew to flush out the thirsty demons who are popping out of pentagram-clad portals; Boner comes up with a rave, with Domino as a DJ. The idea is to spray them with holy water (Domino desensitized himself), but they have to scramble for their lives when the water runs out before all the demons die. They’re bailed out by Father Natan, “who scares the hell out of Satan,” and likes to giggle when he says the word “ass.”

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Take South Park-style animation and pair it with the raunchy oeuvre of Roger Black and Waco O’Guin (Paradise PD, Farzar, Brickleberry), and you have Bad Exorcist.

Our Take: Apparently, the two seasons of Bad Exorcist (original title: Bogdan Boner: Egzorcysta) that have been dropped on Netflix aren’t the only places where you can see the exploits of Bogdan Boner; there was a previous series, Egzorcysta, that ran from 2017-19, with the Boner character an unnamed exorcist. How this series is different than that one, we’re not sure. But what we’re wondering is how Walaszek, the creator of both series, was able to squeeze four seasons out of this character.

Like the Black/O’Guin series, Bad Exorcist likes to dwell on jokes related to genitals and bodily functions, one after the other, hung on a barely-functioning plotline. Given that each episode is in the 11-17 minute range, there is admittedly little room to develop a plot. But the first episode had extended scenes of Hell’s teenagers smearing poop and another where a husband tries to cover up that he guzzles booze in the middle of the night, so that room is actually available.

The first episode felt like it was about 40 minutes long, and we didn’t want to subject ourselves to any more than that. Are there aspects of Boner, Domino or Marcin that will come out in subsequent episodes? Maybe. But we had such a headache from the yelled dialogue and herky-jerky animation, we weren’t going to stay around to find out.

Sex and Skin: None, in the first episode, thankfully.

Parting Shot: Natan says, “Thanks for saving my… ass,” and giggles at the last word. Boner tells him he wasn’t aiming the broken bottle at the demon that was attacking him.

Sleeper Star: None.

Most Pilot-y Line: “I’ve got some news, sir. The first news is that you have to watch the news,” one of Satan’s assistants tells him. Uh, ok.

Our Call: SKIP IT. Bad Exorcist is harsh to watch, harsh to listen to, and isn’t at all funny.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.