I was bummed that I missed THE POPE’S EXORCIST in its limited theatrical run. The trailer wasn’t great, but I like what I’ve seen of director Julius Avery’s filmography, especially 2018’s underrated action/horror/sci-fi mash up OVERLORD. Also, the synopsis sounded pretty batshit and the fact that it’s based on a “true story” also had me quite intrigued.
Crowe plays “Father Gabriele Amorth” (what a name!), chief exorcist to the Vatican and the Pope’s personal homie. The Pope (who’s played by bloody Franco Nero!!) personally asks Father Amorth to investigate the possible possession of a young boy. The boy, his sister and mother (played by the awesome Alex Essoe) have just inherited an old abbey/castle in the Spanish countryside. The Pope may have ulterior motives though, as it turns out (surprise, surprise) the Vatican might be trying to keep something hidden.
Russel Crowe may not be the major drawcard that he was 15-20 years ago, but that doesn’t mean that he’s fallen off in the acting department. Straight out of the gate Crowe’s character starts speaking fluent Italian. I mean he switches between Italian and English throughout, but it's still pretty impressive, and shows a level of commitment that you just wouldn’t receive from a lot of his contemporaries. He also looks cool as hell cruising around Europe on a Vespa fighting the devil's minions.
I'm fairly certain that this is true.
While Crowe is obviously great as the film's anchor, he is also well supported by his co-stars. The ever reliable Essoe (Starry Eyes, Doctor Sleep) and the legendary Nero are giving committed performances, but it’s Crowe’s priest running mate Father Esquibel played by Daniel Zovatto who genuinely surprised me. His face looked familiar, and it wasn’t until afterwards that I realised he was in It Follows, Lady Bird and Don’t Breathe. He and Crowe have great chemistry and bounce off each other nicely. It starts out as a master/apprentice type of relationship, but ends up being more of a Holmes/Watson type of vibe. I would definitely be keen to see these two share the screen together again.
Daniel Zovatto assisting Father Rusty with his expulsion of the Roosters from the NRL.
Whilst the casting is mostly great, the European settings beautifully captured and the overall themes pretty engaging, there are still a few hiccups. I did just mention that it’s shot (and also edited) well, but the look of some of the cgi demons leave a little to be desired. Heavy cgi anything has a way of completely taking me out of any movie, and that’s kinda my main issue with the film. It’s a common trait of a lot of studio horror films unfortunately, and it more often than not destroys any tension built, therefore eliminating any sort of scare factor. So if you go into this one expecting to see another “Conjuring” or “the Exorcist” then you may be disappointed.
The face Alex Essoe made when she heard she was going to be in a possession movie and not play the character being possessed.
I feel like mid-level studio horror releases similar (on paper) to this are often doomed before release. Sometimes though, things can align, and you come across a diamond in the rough. This may be a poor choice of terminology as the film isn’t a diamond per say, more like a solid genre film that’s well directed and has a super fun performance from its star. I know that I might be a little late to the party on this one, but for those of you out there that haven’t seen it, and enjoy a “leave your brain at the door” type of genre film or just a fun Rusty performance, then The Pope’s Exorcist is definitely worth a watch
THREE out of FIVE crucifixes.
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