The Pope's Exorcist

The Pope's Exorcist

Father Gabriele Amorth, Chief Exorcist of the Vatican, investigates a young boy's terrifying possession and ends up uncovering a centuries-old conspiracy the Vatican has desperately tried to keep hidden.

  • Released: 2023-04-05
  • Runtime: 103 minutes
  • Genre: Horror, Mystery
  • Stars: Russell Crowe, Alex Essoe, Daniel Zovatto, Franco Nero, Laurel Marsden, Cornell John, Ralph Ineson, Pablo Raybould, Alessandro Gruttadauria, Paloma Bloyd, Marc Velasco, Tom Bonington, Derek Carroll, Victor SolĂ©, Gennaro Diana
  • Director: Julius Avery
 Comments
  • mimuskantti - 18 May 2024
    A movie that doesn't take itself seriously
    I watched this movie with my boyfriend not knowing what to expect. Given the cast (namely Russell Crowe) and subject matter I assumed it would take itself seriously - I was wrong.

    The story is somewhat predictable but not terrible. I struggled with the juxtaposition of beautiful scenery and cinematography and the clumsy horror comedy atmosphere. I wish the movie took itself seriously, it would have added a lot of value to it. The beautiful scenery and sets were rendered cheap through the (in my opinion) inappropriate tone.

    The movie loses all of its credibility at the end, which is cheesy and Evil dead -like. It felt like the ending to a different story.
  • zarcos-01818 - 17 March 2024
    Massive exorcism.
    This movie gets a notice that it is based on a true story, so I prepared myself for a "down to earth" exorcism. The first scene starts with what turns out to be a carnival of an exorcism, and ends with probably having some good meat for dinner.

    With one of the main themes of the movie being a question on the actual existence of evil and demons or not, unravels to us the main story of a boy who has moved with his family to an old building in Spain, that turns out to be the location of an old paranormal event. The boy gets possessed, and it is the task of our main character, father Gabriele Amorth, played by Crowe, to chase this demon out, in a world where the belief in demons has become mythical, making his work that much harder.

    This summing up the main story, I first have to say that I'm not agreeing with those individualistic tendencies we see in movies. In this one, it is made known to us that a demon was behind the Inquisition that had caused misery for Muslims and Jews in the Iberian peninsula. The demon at hand was waiting for the arrival of the priest so that it would possess him and make its way into the Vatican to wreak havoc once more. And what does the priest do? He risks being possessed by the demon in order to save the individuals present with him. Not a smart move. But hey, it's the movies and the demon is finally chased away as expected.

    Now to the imagery. As I said first, I was expecting a down to earth exorcism, this story being based on true events and all. But with all the physical contorsions, facial transformations, flying and other special effects, that "true" flair is just lost.

    Finally, Russell Crowe makes a commendable effort to portray an Italian exorcist. His presence on the screen is always agreeable and convincing, so nothing but good to say there.

    The main female character had also played in Doctor Sleep, and I also saw that she has acted in other works where the metaphysical is present. Maybe she likes that theme. She makes a good effort here as well. Her character's kids are just ok.

    The actor who plays the second priest supports Crowe well.

    Other than that, the movie is well constructed, the setting works, and me not having watched much exorcism movies to have gotten bored by the genre, for that I give it a passable 6.
  • alfadyr-36212 - 20 January 2024
    Silly movie, but is ok to watch
    Movie was indeed not the best horror movie ever. Russel Crow was doing good. During most of the time gave daddy jokes. While a bit cringy he was relatable and cute. The others apart from the other priest at the place were only there to exist and didn't provide any depth or whatsoever.

    Speaking of the depth. The movie was so on the surface on the time. Not even trying to be slightly original from the "yet another type of a exorcist movie". But that is ok. If you don't take the movie seriously and watch it as an American popcorn movie that is. It is ok.

    It's a perfect movie to watch at home like me, when u are sick. So happy I didn't give money for that. I'm sorry for the people that had to give money in the cinema.