The Pope’s Exorcist (2023) (4K Ultra HD Review)
DIRECTED BY: Julius Avery
STARRING: Russell Crowe, Daniel Zovatto, Alexandra Essoe
RATED: UR/Region: 0/2:39/1080P/NUMBER OF DISCS 1
AVAILABLE FROM Sony Pictures
Ah, The Pope’s Exorcist — because apparently, even the Vatican has a customer service department for demonic possession, and Russell Crowe is the guy they send when the regular priests can’t get the job done. Based loosely on the cases of real-life Vatican exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth, this movie takes a potentially creepy premise and wraps it in enough familiar horror clichés to make you wonder if the demon himself has been recycling scripts from the bargain bin.
Russell Crowe plays Father Amorth, a priest who investigates a young boy’s possession and uncovers a much bigger supernatural conspiracy. Crowe seems to be having a pretty good time, at least. He’s got an amusing accent, a motorcycle, and the sort of confidence you’d expect from a guy whose job description involves telling Satan to piss off. Honestly, watching him swagger around like a Vatican-approved paranormal detective is probably the most entertaining part of the movie. He’s less The Exorcist and more The Exorcist: International Man of Mystery.
Unfortunately, the rest of the movie feels like it raided the horror clearance aisle. We’ve got the possessed child, the creepy noises, the contorted bodies, the obligatory Latin shouting, and enough demonic growling to make you think the devil has been gargling gravel. If you’ve watched more than a handful of possession movies, you’ll recognize most of these tricks before the demon even finishes warming up his vocal cords. The movie occasionally manages to get a decent scare out of its effects, but too often it relies on the cinematic equivalent of jumping out from behind a door and yelling, “BOO! I’M EVIL!”
And then there’s the plot, which eventually decides that a simple exorcism just isn’t enough. Why settle for one demonic problem when you can throw in secret Vatican history, ancient evil, and a conspiracy that makes the whole thing feel like The Da Vinci Code got possessed after binge-watching The Conjuring? The movie keeps expanding its mythology until you half expect Father Amorth to discover that Satan has been secretly running the Vatican’s accounting department for the last thousand years.
The biggest issue is that The Pope’s Exorcist never quite figures out whether it wants to be a serious religious horror movie or a campy supernatural adventure. There are moments where it tries to be genuinely disturbing, followed by scenes so over-the-top that you can practically hear the movie elbowing you in the ribs. The tone is all over the place, and while a little ridiculousness can be a good thing in horror, there’s a difference between knowingly entertaining and accidentally becoming the cinematic equivalent of a haunted-house attraction at a theme park.
Still, I won’t pretend there’s absolutely nothing to enjoy here. Crowe brings some personality to the role, the production looks slick, and the movie occasionally delivers the kind of ridiculous demonic spectacle that makes for decent late-night viewing. It’s not boring every second, and there’s something amusing about watching a priest approach Satan like he’s an unruly tenant who hasn’t paid rent.
But the film also feels like it wants to launch a whole cinematic universe around Father Amorth, which is a pretty ambitious goal for a movie whose biggest revelation is that demons are bad and the Church has some skeletons in its closet. Somewhere between the predictable scares and the increasingly silly mythology, I started wondering whether the real miracle would be making it through the movie without rolling my eyes.
Ultimately, The Pope’s Exorcist is watchable, occasionally entertaining nonsense that mistakes a charismatic lead and a handful of decent scares for a truly memorable horror experience. Russell Crowe deserves credit for committing to the role, but even he can’t completely exorcise the generic screenplay lurking inside this thing.
It’s not the worst possession movie you’ll ever see, but it certainly isn’t going to send The Exorcist running to the confessional. Think of it as a serviceable horror movie with a fancy Vatican title, a few good tricks, and a demon that really needs to find some new material.
Final verdict: Father Amorth may be able to kick Satan out of a little boy, but getting the clichés out of this screenplay would require divine intervention. And judging by the results, Heaven was apparently unavailable that day.
Extras
- Introducing Father Amorth
- What Possessed You?
- Optional English, English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles for the main feature
