From the moment The Exorcist hit theaters in 1973, it was clear that this was no ordinary horror film—it was a cultural phenomenon. With its gripping storyline and spine-tingling scares, it quickly became one of the most profitable and groundbreaking movies of the century. Decades later, and despite countless imitators, The Exorcist remains a towering achievement in the horror genre, a film that still manages to shock and terrify audiences to this day.
The Pope’s Exorcist is a film that draws its inspiration from the real-life experiences of Father Gabriele Amorth, the former chief exorcist for the Vatican. While the story is based on the priest’s memoirs, the film takes significant creative liberties that could have been avoided. Despite being a work of fiction, The Pope’s Exorcist is heavily influenced by other horror movies, and its derivative nature is hard to ignore. Although the film tries to maintain a balance between treating the subject matter seriously and adding its own brand of horror, it struggles to do justice to the fascinating life of the central figure.
Screenwriters Michael Petroni and Evan Spiliotopoulos are tasked with the unenviable job of balancing the life story of a real person with the demands of a horror film. The end result is a movie that falls short of expectations, failing to bring to life the compelling personality of Gabriele Amorth. The biggest issue with The Pope’s Exorcist is that it barely scratches the surface of Amorth’s life and his incredible experiences as a Vatican exorcist. The film focuses on a single exorcism case in 1987, and the character of Gabriele Amorth is portrayed as a skeptical priest who reluctantly takes part in the exorcism. There is so much more to Amorth’s life than what is depicted in the film, and it is a shame that the screenwriters didn’t explore this in greater detail. With a more engaging and vibrant voice, the movie could have delved deeper into the character and made him more compelling.
Father Gabriele Amorth (Russell Crowe) is the Vatican’s appointed exorcist, but he’s not your average exorcist. He’s a man with some style and charisma who rides around on a Vespa and isn’t afraid to connect with the possessed children he encounters. In the late 1980s, we find him in Italy, seated across from a demon-possessed child who claims to be Satan himself. Instead of immediately exorcising the demon, Amorth engages in a conversation with him, using his wit and charm to try and understand the demon’s motives. Eventually, Amorth uses his Catholic faith to expel the demon, but not before trapping it inside a pig, which ultimately ends up getting the most gruesome and exciting death throughout the entire movie, which is very disappointing.
After a brief introduction to our protagonist and his unique methods of exorcism, the film takes us to Spain a month later, where we meet Julia (Alex Essoe), a single mother who has recently inherited a grand castle from her deceased husband. With her teenage daughter Amy (Laurel Marsden) and traumatized son Henry (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney) in tow, they arrive at the castle only to find that something sinister lurks within its walls. Almost immediately, they are confronted with the presence of a malevolent spirit that possesses Henry. As the family struggles to cope with the situation, the film takes a disturbing turn that is both unsettling and downright extremely weird.
Now, here is Henry, who is possessed by what appears to be a sex demon, who ends up groping his mother’s breast and condemning her for not breastfeeding him (weird). But anyway, things get pretty bad for the family, which mind you we don’t really know much about them, not even something as simple as their surname. They require a priest, so Father Esquibel (Daniel Zovatto) comes and offers his services, but nope, this priest isn’t going to do anything, so the cool drunken priest Gabriele makes a trip and comes to the rescue, and from this point on the film becomes extremely predictable, and nothing of its nature is enjoyable.
The makeup used to create the possessed characters in the film feels uninspired and lacks creativity. It fails to capture the true essence of demonic possession and instead comes off as a mediocre attempt at creating something truly frightening. The accompanying CGI is also lackluster and fails to deliver the impact needed to truly terrify the audience. While the filmmakers tried to infuse multiple subplots and religious themes, the overall effect was disjointed and detracted from the potential of the film. By trying to cram too much into the plot, they failed to give proper attention to building suspense and creating a sense of dread. This ultimately leads to the film falling short of delivering the scares it promised.
The film makes you wonder how they even got an Oscar-winning actor to lead the film. Nothing is redeemable here. I’m just going to say it now: I sure hope they don’t try and turn this into the next Conjuring and create an entire universe for this movie; this does NOT need a sequel. Trying to turn it into a franchise would be like trying to squeeze blood from a stone. Sure, Crowe does have some compelling moments when they’re there, but he’s a skeptical priest who reluctantly gets involved in an exorcism, and there’s not much else to him beyond that. Sounding like a cool title with the name The Pope’s Exorcist is everything else but cool. There isn’t enough here to carry a whole franchise’s worth of movies. Plus, the movie barely scratches the surface of Amorth’s character—it’s like trying to navigate an iceberg with a rowboat. I didn’t have high hopes for the film, but somehow it managed to disappoint me even further. Overall, the movie fails to make anything work and ultimately is easily forgotten as soon as you leave the theater.
The Pope’s Exorcist is currently playing in theaters courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Sounding like a cool title with the name The Pope’s Exorcist is everything else but cool.
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GVN Rating 2
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It all started when I was a kid watching Saturday morning cartoons like the Spider-Man: Animated Series and Batman. Since then I’ve been hooked to the world of pop culture. Huge movie lover from French New Wave, to the latest blockbusters, I love them all. Huge Star Wars and Marvel geek. When I’m free from typing away at my computer, you can usually catch me watching a good flick or reading the next best comic. Come geek out with me on Twitter @somedudecody.