The Pope's Exorcist Movie Review

Russell Crowe is highly regarded as one of the best actors in Hollywood and has been for the best part of 20 years. His stellar career has seen him nominated for 3 Academy Award nominations and 1 win. His career has spanned 4 decades and has seen him tackle many great roles, but rarely does he delve into the Horror genre, until now… In 2023, he has starred in ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’, which recounts a cinematic re-telling of Father Gabriel Amorth (played by Russell Crowe), the Vatican’s leading exorcist, as he investigates the possession of a child and uncovers a conspiracy the Vatican has tried to keep secret.

The Pope’s Exorcist was met with praise from both audiences, grossing $75 million worldwide and an impressive 81% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. The film's popularity has also led to a sequel which is already in pre-production, with the film slated for release in 2024. The film proved that the exorcism genre, whilst tired in theory, still has an audience and a dedicated one at that. After Russell Crowe’s outing in Unhinged and as a massive fan of Russell Crowe and director Julius Avery, who helmed the 2018 criminally underrated Nazi/Zombie horror film, ‘Overlord’, I was really excited to check this one out and am pleased to say it didn’t disappoint.

The Pope’s Exorcist benefits from its Vatican setting. A lot of these films are set in America, so the setting of the Vatican was super refreshing and a big part of why the film worked for me. Julius Avery’s direction is also superb here. He utilises jump scares sparingly, focusing more on the character of Father Gabriel Amorth as he explores the depths of this conspiracy. That leads into the film's biggest strength and that is Russell Crowe. Crowe is fantastic here, in his last few films ‘The Mummy’, ‘Thor Love and Thunder’, ‘Unhinged’ and now ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’, you can really see that he is lavishing these types of roles and having a lot of fun on screen. Crowe is known more for his dramatic performances, but here he is having a tonne of fun which adds to the overall enjoyment of the film.

The scares are also very well done, with jump scares used efficiently and effectively. The film focuses more on the reality of the world it establishes. Whilst the film is based on a real person and his stories, the extent of the exorcisms and the demonic sightings and encounters are all exaggerated for dramatic effect and to emphasise the scares. He works very well for the film. It helps emphasise the horror without ever taking you out of the film. If the film was to follow the real life accounts of Father Amorth to the letter, it would be creepy yes, but I don’t think it would play nearly as well or be as entertaining as the final product.

‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ is one of the better exorcism films in recent years. The combination of Writer/Director/Producer Julius Avery’s direction with Russell Crowe’s fun performance, makes it a memorable outing. I am looking forward to the sequel in 2024 exploring more of his adventures and hopefully the scares will continue. Head on over to Sanity to secure your copy of the film on DVD or Blu-Ray today, you won’t want to miss it. Link below!

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Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here