The Pope's Exorcist

Based on a real character from the murkier side of quite recent Vatican operations, Russell Crowe dons his cassock and travels to a remote abbey in Spain where his meets with "Fr. Esquibel" (Daniel Zovatto). Why? Well it seems that a young boy is being possessed by a singularly nasty demon. Now Fr. Amorth is not unused to these scenarios and is also aware that the vast majority of these situations have nothing to do with satanic practices and more to do with mental health issues. Quickly, though, he realises that this is a serious and potentially deadly demonisation and both he and his colleag...

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"The Pope's Exorcist swings for the fences with well-directed horror sequences by Julius Avery, who wasn't afraid to take advantage of the R rating to deliver a substantial amount of gore. Unfortunately, it isn't able to escape the narrative formulas of "humans possessed by demons" repeated over several decades in this "subgenre" of exorcisms. Russell Crowe elevates the movie quite a bit with a well-rounded performance, seamlessly blending the dramatic moments with his character's comedic personality...

When you buy a ticket for a movie like “The Pope’s Exorcist” it’s pretty clear what you’re getting into. There’s a ton of Catholic imagery like the rosary, crucifixes, holy water, church rituals, and lots of prayers, all used to fight off the demonic possession of an innocent. All of the standard elements are present here, but director Julius Avery‘s film surprisingly offers a refreshing (if somewhat routine) take on the religious horror subgenre.

Elevated by a well thought-out story and an engaging performance from Russell Crowe, the film tells the story of Father Gabriele Am...

Its actually a great movie like it trun into a bit dark one in the end
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I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed The Pope's Exorcist. After initially seeing the trailers, I wrote this movie off as a standard possession film that I have seen time and time again, and while most of that is still true, there is something about this film that made it a joy to watch.

The film does not attempt to do anything particularly new or groundbreaking in the genre, but everything it has is handled with care and precision. The direction is fantastic, with a very quick pace that makes each scene have a sense of urgency as our characters attempt to perform the exorcism. T...