The Exorcism
review by Bobby Blakey
In 2023 Russell Crow took on the horror genre with The Pope’s Exorcist. Prior to that he made another film in a similar vein with The Exorcism back in 2019 and it’s finally getting ready to hit theaters. The film is directed by Joshua John Miller, son of Exorcist star Jason Miller aka Father Damien Karras and co-stars Ryan Simpkins, Sam Worthington, Chloe Bailey, Adam Goldberg and David Hyde Pierce. Could this film bring something worthy of the film that inspired it or is it not worth possessing?
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The Exorcism follows Anthony Miller, a troubled actor who begins to unravel while shooting a supernatural horror film. His estranged daughter, Lee, wonders if he's slipping back into his past addictions or if there's something more sinister at play.
The historical idea of this movie and Miller’s connection to the original Exorcist had me intrigued to what could be done here. The meta-aspect makes for a compelling film on the surface, but sadly gets lost in itself more often than not to deliver a film that has some promising moments yet never lives up to its potential.
Crowe is great in the role and brings every element to the persona needed to make this character work. There is a story here that is very interesting with him dealing with addiction, trauma, faith and finding oneself in their life through a second chance, but it gets bogged down in too much other nonsense. The rest of the cast are good, but Crowe carries the film and the rare shining spot of the whole thing. Despite the smaller role, David Hyde Pierce is fantastic as well offering up the more other side of faith and they have a great moment together in the final act.
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Had they ditched the supernatural elements this could have played out as a much better straight drama dealing with these same issues and probably would have worked better. The build-up is slow and never really does enough to make you really care by the time it gets to the final act when all the great chaos begins.
Once we get to the third act it goes all in with the possession and supernatural. It works well and is the high point of the film even though some of the effects are a bit off. I didn’t hate this film, but was a bit let down by the missed opportunity that it missed the mark on. This might not have fully worked for me, but I hope Crowe keeps making interesting choices like this in his career.
Decide for yourself and check out The Exorcism in theaters now from Vertical Entertainment.