Father Gabriele Amorth, chief exorcist for the Vatican, battles Satan and innocent-possessing demons. A detailed portrait of a priest who performed more than 100,000 exorcisms in his lifetime.
Director: Julius Avery
Cast: Russell Crowe, Daniel Zovatto, Alex Essoe, Franco Nero, Laurel Marsden, Peter DeSouza-Feighoney
Release Date: April 14, 2023
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Rated R for violent content, language, sexual references and some nudity
Runtime: 1h 43m
Review:
The Pope's Exorcist is a flashy, kinetic bit of mindless exorcism horror that's elevated by a particularly committed performance from Russell Crowe. Julius Avery direction is capable and engaging as he sets up a funhouse ride through a series of clichéd exorcist tropes. Avery and the script doesn't seem all that interested in bringing anything new to the subgenre so there aren't many surprises in store. The film telegraphs most of the big moments but Avery does stage these sequences with an effective edge and energy that keeps the film from being boring. Still, none of it would be as entertaining if not for Russell Crowe's fully engaged performance. Crowe makes the film far better than it deserves be with a nuanced and surprisingly fun and layered turn as Father Gabriele Amorth. He single handily carries the film the way only a real movie star can by making his character more interesting than what's on the actual page. While this story is almost entirely fictional, if you are interested in the real father Amorth I'd suggest watching 2017 documentary The Devil and Father Amorth by William Friedkin, it does lay the groundwork set up an ongoing franchise similar to The Conjuring. I'd personally love to see Crowe take another turn as the character with some slightly more inventive takes than The Pope's Exorcist.
C+
