Directed By : Julius Avery
Cast : Russell Crowe , Daniel Zovatto, Alex Essoe, Franco Nero, Peter DeSouza-Feighoney
Language : English
Where To Watch : Netflix
Duration : 103 min
The Pope’s Exorcist, is a 2023 horror movie based on the books by Father Gabriele Amorth,
An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories . The movie had a worldwide release on April 5,2023 and started streaming on Netflix India.
Synopsis:
Set in 1987 ,The Pope’s Exorcist, follows the experience of Father Gabriel Amorth (Russel Crowe) the Pope’s personal/ chief exorcist. The film begins with Father Amorth summoned for an exorcism of a young man in a village in Italy,Amorth who is shown as a very practical, grounded funny guy instantly realizes that this is not an actual possession but rather a mentally disturbed youth who requires help. Father Amorth later when talking to a tribunal makes a point about how 98 percent of the time when he’s called for an exorcism -it doesn’t really require exorcisms but just psychological help and theatrics to help the mentally disturbed but it’s only 2 percent that actually requires exorcism and that is when he’s confronted by actual evil.Simultaneously the movie shows us the Vesaques family who moves to Spain- the recently widowed Julia, her teen daughter Amy and young son Henry.The Abbey they shift into owned in the deceased husbands family for a long time has a long history of unnatural incidents that the family is unaware off. Soon Henry is possessed and the Pope sends Father Amorth to Spain where he's met by Father Esquibel who assists him in the exorcism. But things take a darker turn when they realize that this is not a usual kind of possession.
Overall Remarks:
The Pope’s Exorcist is not a groundbreaking or particularly original horror movie, it’s predictable and relies on certain cliches from the horror genre. We do get a strong and very enjoyable performance from Russel Crowe who plays Father Amorth as a badass funny priest and some impressive special effects.Otherwise there’s nothing memorable about the movie and there’s definitely better options from the genre out there.Let me know what you thought in the comments.
