This new exorcist movie comes in with the usual tropes, nothing really new or refreshing but still entertaining. I’m not the biggest fan of Horror movies. I try to avoid them as much as possible. The Exorcist really scarred me as a kid and seeing the Exorcism of Emily Rose as an adolescent didn’t help ease my fears. 

Especially films about exorcism in general, I hide behind the fact that there aren’t really a lot of good exorcism movies to justify not watching them. “When you’ve seen one you’ve likely seen them all.” is my excuse to scroll further on my Netflix recommended list. The only thing that made me stop at this movie was Russell Crowe’s face. 

The Acting

I know Russell Crowe from various other movies and particularly some that I really like namely Gladiator (2000). Great movie. I also remember him from the movie adaptation of Les Misérables (2012). Less nice. But my favorite of his works, A Beautiful Mind (2001). Amazing. Safe to say, Russell Crowe is a great actor because of his many nominations and that’s why I was intrigued. 

Though Russell Crowe is great in this film what with his character’s wit, confidence and, he said it himself in the film, pride. But he wasn’t the only one I was impressed by. I have to hand it to Peter DeSouza-Feighoney who portrayed little boy Henry in the film. He gave wonderful facial expressions when things were starting out. This is his first movie I’ve seen and I like what he’s shown so far. 

The other actors did a good job too. Daniel Zovatto, Father Tomas, did better in the latter part of the film than the first part. Alex Essoe and Laurel Marsden, portrayed Julia the Mom and Amy the older sister respectively, did alright. Nothing too much to rave about. Though I couldn’t shake the fact that Laurel looked so much like Chloe Grace Moretz the entire movie. 

The acting was very solid with Russel Crowe leading the charge and Peter DeSouza-Feighoney doing really well in my opinion. 

The Story… with some commentary

You have to keep in mind that this movie is based on a real person. There is really a person named Gabriele Amorth and he really was the Pope’s Exorcist. Father Amorth died in 2016. He did author a lot of books and, at least according to the movie, the books were good. The movie in itself, while referencing some real life events such as Emanuela Orlandi’s disappearance in 1993 and the Spanish Inquisition, is fictional. 

Now the story boils down to Father Gabriel Amorth, portrayed by Russell Crowe, proving to the other cardinals that exorcism is a necessary part of the church and newer priests should learn more about its history and exorcism rites. There was a whole winding story of the 200 Angels that fell from heaven and cursing parts of the earth etc. etc. to justify it.

The Vasquez family, Julia, Amy and Henry move to Spain from the United States to restore an old Abbey that Julia’s late husband left for them. Little did they know that this Abbey sat on cursed land that one of the 200 angels that fell down from heaven had landed on. Making this land cursed and a hotbed for demonic activity. 

There was a whole catacomb underneath the structure that was sealed off by the vatican to hide the real reason why the Spanish inquisition happened. Crazy. I know. They really tried to rationalize why the Spanish Inquisition happened and used demonic possession to explain it. According to the film it was because of Friar de Ojeda who convinced Queen Isabella of Castille to start the Inquisition. 

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Back tracking…

Henry gets possessed shortly after moving into the dilapidated abbey. I’m not really surprised. Henry looked super frail at the beginning and was clearly a little detached from his family. It was a bit obvious that he was the one to be possessed by Asmodeus.

Yes, I did say Asmodeus, King of Demons according to Jedeo-Islamic lore and Singing cartoon demon in YouTube webseries Helluva Boss. 

While all that was happening, Amorth was being questioned in the Vatican by some cardinals who wanted him to vacate the position of Chief exorcist for performing an unsanctioned exorcism in Italy. Being the proud man that he is, Amorth clapped back at the cardinals and mentioned that only the Pope can fire him because it’s the Pope that appointed him. 

Amorth then meets with the Pope in a chapel and they talk about how new priests and cardinals don’t really believe in the reality of demons. Pope then sends Amorth to Spain to check out the San Sebastian Abbey and the Vasquez family. This is where $#!7 hits the fan. 

Upon arriving Amorth meets Father Tomas who is, I believe, a local priest in the area and has met the Vasquez family when they first got there. Quickly Amorth meets with the possessed little Henry and quickly realizes this isn’t like his previous case in Italy where he deemed it was only a mentally disturbed person. This $#!7 was the real deal. 

Amorth enlists the help of Tomas and finds out that he isn’t trained in exorcism. Furthermore, when confronting the demon again with Tomas, realizes that the local father has some sins that he’s not forgiven himself for, much like he hasn’t forgiven himself for being partially responsible for a missing Vatican girl’s suicide. 

This was the reference to the real life disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi. The 15 year old daughter of a Vatican worker who went missing as she was coming home from school in 1983. Netflix has a whole documentary about her too. You should see that as well. 

In the Pope’s Exorcist, Amorth says he saw the girl, didn’t believe she was possessed, and passed her off to someone else. This led the girl to jump from a tower and commit suicide. Amorth also alludes to some Vatican officials sexually abusing the girl.

While the pair recuperate, Amorth finds a well outside the Abbey that is lined on the inside with skulls and skeletons. Tomas gets part of his ear bitten off by possessed Henry and Julia and Amy are attacked in their sleep. It was wild. Some really cool practical effects were used I assume.

Upon moving the family, with the exception of Henry, to the chapel. Amorth and Tomas explore under the Abbey and discover a whole underground catacomb linking the story to the Spanish inquisition. Left alone in the chapel however, Asmodeus lures Amy to him and, when Julia goes and looks for Amy with a sedative in hand, is also attacked by Asmodeus sending the mom flying to a massive mirror pinning her in place. 

Thankfully Asmodeus drops Amy and she’s able to inject the senadive into Henry’s body, knocking him out. All while the two priests have a heart to heart talk in the catacombs confessing and absolving each other of their sins. 

Oh and they piece together Asmodeus’s plot to take over Amorth’s body and infiltrate the Vatican. They also discover the demon’s name because everyone who’s watched exorcist movies knows that you have to know a demon’s name to be able to banish it.

Honestly I’m glad they didn’t Ex Machina that part, making the priests run to the girl’s aid. Because no way in hell were they going to hear all that commotion from underground.

The film goes full steam ahead from this point on. 

Regrouping, the whole team then faces Asmodeus which doesn’t go very well. The priests see deceptive illusions and Asmodeus uses Amy to attack her mother Julia, after doing some of the usual breaking bones, walking on the ceiling usual exorcism movie tropes. This forces Amorth to concede and let Asmodeus take him. 

While distracted, Tomas gets the Vasquez family out of the house. Amorth tries to kill himself to stop Asmodeus but he fails and finds himself in the catacombs. Tomas quickly follows and after some insane struggles manages to drive Asmodeus out of Amorth with his faith and some Latin words. There was still some struggle with Asmodeus using their inner demons against them again but they overcame that too with their faith and some holy artifacts. It was crazy, a girl exploded. 

The movie ends with Amorth returning to the Vatican with Tomas and the pair being assigned to find the other 199 places on earth that the 200 angels supposedly fell to. Oh and the Vasquez family is safe and back in the US.

The verdict

The story was fine. It was nothing really new. We knew the tropes, they used the tropes. It worked. It was entertaining. The acting was what I liked the most. So if anything, the actors carried this film. 

The pacing was a bit fast starting from Amorth’s arrival in Spain. There wasn’t much character development for the Vasquez family. Some unanswered questions were left in my head like how did Julia’s husband’s family come to own the Abbey in the first place.

Oh and exposition, there was a lot of spoken exposition too. Not saying having the characters speak these things was the worse way to go about it but maybe they could have been a bit more creative in the exposition department.

I do have to commend the Cinematography, I did see some nice camera work being used in there as well as the practical effects. There was a part where Julia was being pulled down onto the bed that was cool. 

All in all, I’d give it a solid 6/10. It was watchable. Entertaining enough. Amorth’s humor was funny enough. It’s another alright Exorcist movie added to the long list of demon possession/ Church related fiction films.

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