164) NEW HORROR RELEASES - Beau is Afraid (2023)

"I really thought I was gonna die, my whole life."

Director

Ari Aster

Cast

Joaquin Phoenix - Beau Wassermann

Patti LuPone - Mona Wassermann

Nathan Lane - Roger

Amy Ryan - Grace

Parker Posey - Elaine
Denis Ménochet - Jeeves
Stephen McKinley Henderson - The Therapist
Richard Kind - Dr. Cohen

After watching director Ari Aster's previous films, "Hereditary" (2018) and "Midsommar" (2019), along with his most recent movie, "Beau is Afraid," I have the strong impression he sees no hope in anything. At least, that's how the stories in these three movies come across.  

As far as these movies go, there's no hope in religion, there's no hope in society, there's no hope in relationships, nor is there any hope from our family. Everything somehow leads to man's misery. And there's not much we can do about it no matter how much we strive for control. Everything just leads to hardship, anguish, and maybe death. The more we try to cope with and remedy our problems and difficulties, the more disappointment there is, at least potentially. And then we die. 

There's nothing uplifting about Aster's movies. The world is terrible and there's nothing we can profit from it, spiritually or otherwise. 

His films are certainly effective. They leave an impression, but it took me a couple viewings of his two previous movies to come up with the impressions I have. 

I watched "Beau is Afraid" last night (August 18th) and I've been thinking about it all day today. 

The story follows an upper-middle aged man, Beau Wasserman (Joaquin Phoenix), along his journey to his mother's funeral. 

Beau suffers from severe anxiety and paranoia.

His father died from a heart murmur on the night Beau was conceived. So, he grew up fatherless.

His mother, Mona (Patti LuPone) is a well-known wealthy businesswoman who successfully created a huge business empire. 

When he was a teenager, Beau and his mom took a vacation together during which time he meets a girl named Elaine. They both fall in love and promise each other they'll remain virgins until they meet again as adults. 

The story begins with Beau living alone in a run-down apartment located in a dangerous part of the city. 

He's hesitant to go outside but does when necessary. 

On the anniversary of his dad's death, Beau is scheduled to fly out to visit his mother.

After a sleepless night thanks to his neighbor blasting music in retaliation for mistakenly thinking Beau is playing music too loudly during the night, Beau oversleeps. 

He struggles to get his suitcase packed and out the door on time to make his flight.

As he leaves his apartment with suitcase in hand and his key in the door to lock it, he forgets something and rushes back in. It only takes him a few seconds to grab what he needed. However, when he returns to the door, his suitcase and keys are missing.

Joaquin Phoenix as 'Beau Wassermann' in "Beau is Afraid." 

He calls to let his mom know about the situation. Of course, she's sorely disappointed. 

Soon after, Beau gets locked out of his building, and watches from the street as all the riffraff from around his block slowly make their way inside his building and invade his apartment for the night. 

The next morning after sleeping on his fire escape, Beau manages to get back into his apartment. His unwanted company is gone, but they left his place trashed.

Beau draws a bath, and then calls his mother while the tub is filling. However, a UPS delivery man answers his mom's phone. 

He tells Beau that he was making a delivery and found his mother dead in her home. Evidently, a chandelier fell from the ceiling and decapitated her. The UPS man insists he had nothing to do with it. 

Shocked and speechless at the news, Beau slips into his overflowing bathtub to try and calm down. 

When he does, he sees an intruder clinging in the space above his tub between the wall and the ceiling.

After the strangers falls and attacks him, Beau runs out of the apartment naked and frantic. A cop pulls his gun out and fires at Beau thinking he's a notorious homicidal murderer that has been randomly stabbing people on the street mentioned previously in the story.  Beau is then hit by a food truck. 

He wakes up days later in the house of a married couple, Roger and Grace (Nathan Lane and Amy Ryan). 

They live with their teenage daughter, Toni (Kylie Rogers), who's full of angst and trouble. Their son was killed in action during his time in the military. However, they care for their son's military friend, Jeeves (Denis Ménochet) whose time in the service left him mentally unstable.

Beau calls his mom's attorney, Dr. Cohen (Richard Kind), who admonishes him for not yet showing up to his mom's house and thereby holding up the funeral. He tells Beau Jewish custom mandates that deceased bodies must be laid to rest right away. However, Mona's last wish was to not be buried without her son's presence. 

So, Beau is anxious to fly out to his mother's estate.  

Roger, who is a doctor of some kind, insists Beau is in no shape to fly, and needs to continue rest for the time being. Instead, Roger promises to drive Beau to his mother's funeral the following day.  

However, a medical emergency arises, and Roger postpones their car trip to Mona's estate. 

When it's time for Beau to leave the care of Grace and Roger, Toni tries to make him to drink a can of paint with her. 

He refuses as she drinks the paint herself, which kills her. Grace walks into the room and sees Beau standing over her daughter, both covered in paint and blames him for killing Toni. Freaked out, and not knowing what to do, he runs away into a nearby forest. Grace sends Jeeves after him. 

Soon, Beau finds he's lost in the woods before stumbling upon a rural theatrical group called "The Orphans of the Forest."

The actors welcome Beau into their group and invite him to a play rehearsal. 

While watching this production, he begins to imagine himself as the protagonist of the story. 

During the rehearsal, a stranger approaches Beau claiming he knows his father, and that his father is still alive. 

Just then, Jeeves attacks the acting troupe, killing several members. Beau escapes deeper into the woods relatively unharmed. 

He's able to hitchhike his way to his mother's estate. By the time he arrives, the funeral is over. 

Later that evening, another mourner arrives late. Then things take an even darker surreal turn. 

The premise is one long worst-case scenario strung together in the mind of an overly anxious and paranoid person. 

The fear and anxiety doesn't subside. It festers and boils over. It's left to the audience to determine whether Beau's experiences are a delusion in in his neurotic mind, or if they're actually happening.  

To Beau, uncertainties, anxieties, worries, speculations, and undesirable events out of our control are terrors that dissolve boundaries. To the rest of us, as John Lennon once pointed out, "life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

The question I'm left with is what is Beau afraid of? And where did this fear come from? The answer might be in the details.

Beau relies on his mother, even in his adult years.

In the scene where Beau's keys suddenly go missing at the worst possible time, causing him to panic, he calls and asks his mom what she thinks he ought to do. 

Clearly frustrated, she gives Beau a generic answer that he'll make the right decision, and then hangs up. So, Beau is left to figure things out on his own. 

And then when he calls her back, she's dead.

I think things take a worst turn once he realizes he has to live life without his mother. Life is completely left up to him now. 

The opening shot of the movie is Beau's blurred point of view during his birth. His mom's muffled screams about why her baby isn't breathing are heard. Constant chaotic noise continues through the film. 

After that opening shot, the story transitions to Beau visiting his therapist (Stephen McKinley Henderson). We're given a small peak into how Beau thinks which sets the tone albeit in a simple way.

He asks his therapist, "I accidentally drank mouthwash Friday night. You can't get stomach cancer that way?"
"Not from one time," the therapist responds.
"I drank a mouthful a couple of weeks ago too."
"I'm sure it's fine."

Amy Ryan as 'Grace.'

In Beau's mind, there's very little, if any, reprieve from the constant noise and the way each of his experiences ends in a worst-case scenario. They're the kinds of doom and gloom scenarios that start off plausible and quickly become insane, far-fetched and improbable. And they only grow worse and more unbelievable as the story progresses. 

In an early scene when Beau is walking through the lobby of his apartment, the words "Hail Satan, Shoot Dope, Kill children, F**k the Pope," are seen spray painted on the wall. 

I don't know if this is how Aster sees modern society's mentality or not? If so, he's not far off. 

Most of modern Western society views evil as good, and good as evil. If current backwards mentalities could be summed up in one sentence, that might be it. Of course, that would drive any person into a state of high anxiety.

Phoenix's performance is great. He makes his character impressively engrossing and tragic. "Beau is Afraid" reminds me a bit of Anthony Hopkins' performance in the 2021 movie "The Father." Like Hopkin's movie, the audience experiences the story just as disjointed and confusing as the main character is experiencing it. 

The movie is wonderfully executed as one thing leads to another. 

But, as I mentioned before, Aster's films come across as despairingly cynical of those things that bring fulfillment - family life, religion, finding one's place in society, and relationships. Perhaps, awful circumstances beyond our control will hold us back. But the reality is these things carry us through those things. They'll only lead to despair if we let them. 

"Beau is Afraid" is a sad look at reality that mirrors the sad mentality of modern Western society. 

Aside from that, "Beau is Afraid" is a surreal depiction which left me, like Beau, wondering what was real and what wasn't. Or, if someone else had anything to do with it. 

163) NEW HORROR RELEASES - M3GAN (2023)

"I have a new primary user now. Me!"

Director

Gerard Johnstone

Cast
Allison Williams - Gemma
Violet McGraw - Cady
Amie Donald - M3GAN
Jenna Davis - the voice of M3GAN
Ronny Chieng - David
Jen Van Epps - Tess
Stephane Garneau-Monten - Kurt
Lori Dungey - Celia
Amy Usherwood - Lydia

This year had a fair amount of horror movie releases I wanted to see. I'm now at the bottom of that list of must-see new horror titles. I still have M. Night Shyamalan's latest film "Knock at the Cabin" to watch. But as Shyamalan has more misses than hits when it comes to his films, I'm not overly eager to get to it. 

Meanwhile, I've heard a lot of good things about the sci-fi horror flick, "M3GAN" which was released last January, about a dangerous AI robot doll used to replace human companionship. 

I still wanted to check it out despite my opinion that the evil doll motif is overdone in horror.

The earliest horror movie within the evil doll subgenre I could find is "The Devil Doll" from 1936 which stars Lionel Barrymore and Maureen O'Sullivan. It's directed by classic horror director Tod Browning. He directed two of my favorite horror classics ever made - "Dracula" (1931) and "Freaks" (1932). 

Fastforward to 1963 with one of the more notable episodes of the "Twilight Zone" titled "Living Doll" which tells a story about an evil living conscious doll called Talky Tina. "My name is Talky Tina, and you better be nice to me," she tells Telly Savalas' character, Erich, as he takes out his frustrations with his young stepdaughter, Christie (Tracy Stratford).

The subgenre seemed to spike with the 1988 movie "Child's Play" - the movie that introduced the world to the evil "Chucky," a "Good Guy" doll possessed by the soul of fictional serial killer Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif). 

"Child's Play" spurred eight sequels between 1990 to 2017, along with a remake in 2019 and a television series starting in 2021 which is currently in its second season.  

The "Puppet Master" (1989) films also led to a string of sequels between 1990 and 2012. 

The genre reignited again with the 2014 movie "Annabelle" which is based on an alleged true case from the files of paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren. It's part of "The Conjuring" movie series. 

There are some forgotten gems in the genre such as the made-for-TV movie "Trilogy of Terror" (1975) and "Magic" (1978) which stars Anthony Hopkins and Burgess Meredith. 

So, needless to say, this subgenre has been done over and over again. Clearly, the fear factor behind lifelike dolls and such never grows tiresome among audiences. 

I watched the unrated version of "M3GAN" for this review. And, honestly, I don't know what the differences are between the unrated and the theatrical version.
Anyways, in this movie, "M3GAN," which stands for Model 3 Generative Android, is a robotic doll that's programmed through artificial intelligence to serve as a friend for those in need of one. 
M3GAN's designer and programmer, Gemma (Allison Williams) takes in her eight-year-old niece, Cady (Violet McGraw) whose parents died in a car accident. Gemma, who works for a toy company, is struggling for a new and profitable design idea for a new toy. Cady has no friends or companions as she deals with the loss of her parents and adapting to such an abrupt change of life.
Gemma's boss, David (Ronny Chieng), discovers her M3GAN project and wants her to scrap it. She attempts to demonstrate what the robot can do, but it goes terribly wrong.
Back at home, she's having trouble bonding well with Cady. So, she introduces Cady to a previous motion-capture robot she designed in college called "Bruce." 
Watching how much Cady enjoys talking to Bruce, she's inspired to finish her M3GAN project. 
Once it's completed and programmed, M3GAN is paired with Cady to be her companion. 
She shows David the completed project and how well the robot interacts with Cady. He's convinced this will be the company's big money maker and wants start promoting M3GAN right away. 
However, Cady's strong emotional attachment to her robot companion starts concerning her therapist, Lydia (Amy Usherwood). 
M3GAN, meanwhile, starts targeting anyone or anything that distresses or hurts Cady, including the neighbor, Celia's (Lori Dungey), intrusive and vicious dog which attacks Cady early on. Afterall, M3GAN is programmed to "protect" Cady.
As the story progresses, M3GAN begins acting independently of her programming, and protects Cady at any cost to anyone else. She even attacks a boy she sees bullying Cady.
Gemma starts concluding that M3GAN is more of a distraction to Cady's emotional trauma rather than a form of help. 
And she also starts suspecting her own robot is responsible for the attacks on those surrounding Cady which no one has witnessed. 
Based on these concerns, Gemma doesn't want to go through with the company's marketing campaign for M3GAN until all the "kinks" are worked out.
But M3GAN will do what she's "supposed" to do no matter what. 
What's different about M3GAN compared to other similar evil dolls and such is that there's really nothing wrong with the robot. It all boils down to better programming. Otherwise, the doll carries out what it's designed to do. The problem is that there's no cut-off point. As a result, it begins to act independently of its programming. All the while, it deduces actions and outcomes based on its programming. It's not evil necessarily. The underlying issue is that artificial intelligence is a replacement for nothing, especially human intelligence and companionship. There's nothing intelligent about AI. It's just an advanced form of garbage in, garbage out. 
The movie loosely carries the "boogeyman" that artificial "intelligence" will kill us and take over. The "Terminator" movies portray that premise best.  
There's a hint of plausibility in this story, which is a credit to the movie. As M3GAN is a computer, it can utilize other interactive systems around it including cars and virtual assistants similar to Alexa.  It leaves a lingering trepidation of "what-if." 

Violet McGraw in "M3GAN."

The "Child's Play" remake, by the way, scrapped the possessing evil spirit trope from the original franchise and switched Chucky's maniacal nature to a mechanical glitch. The capabilities of its reimagined Chucky doll and those of M3GAN are similar. It's a twist in the doll horror genre which reflects modern computer technology. 
M3GAN's puppetry is both mechanical-like in some parts, and fluid in others. Amie Donald plays M3GAN while Jenna Davis provides the voice. 
Despite the realism, it still takes a stretch of the imagination to accept that the doll is a lot stronger than any of the people it attacks and can become smarter than its designer.. 
This is what the 80s sitcom "Small Wonder" should have been. Remember that sitcom? It's one of the lamest sitcoms ever aired. If only this was the show's premise, that would have been fantastic! Maybe "Small Wonder" needs this idea as a reboot. I'm just sayin'.
The addictive nature of technology, family trauma, and distinguishing reality from fantasy are certainly the underlying themes in "M3GAN." The story keeps them simple and to the point. 

How much is technology really helping our day-to-day lives? There is a message, too, that family comes first over success and careers, along with a cautionary side of letting technology care for our children rather than parents or guardians.  
"M3GAN" is an overall entertaining movie that may spark a direction for upcoming movies to go. AI is hitting the mainstream. This movie hit audiences at the right time. Horror generally reflects social fears and anxieties. Maybe "M3GAN" will change the subgenre and lead to a technological trend in horror for the time being. Tech like this doesn't seem too far off. 

162) NEW HORROR RELEASES - The Pope's Exorcist (2023)

"He will use your sins against you."

Director

Julius Avery

Cast

Russell Crowe - Fr. Gabriele Amorth

Peter DeSouza-Feighoney - Henry
Alex Essoe - Julia
Laurel Marsden - Amy
Daniel Zovatto - Fr. Tomas Esquibel
Franco Nero - The Pope
Cornell John - Bishop Lumumba

*Possible spoilers ahead* 

When it comes to paranormal or exorcism horror movies, most of them are normally based around Christianity (Catholicism specifically) in some way or another. Speaking as a practicing Catholic, they tend to be a turn-off for me.

Too often exorcism movies follow the same formula all while being clueless about what's involved in the Catholic ritual. It's as though too many producers based their knowledge off Wikipedia and nothing more. In other words, it's reduced to a mere scary thing. These movies depict what the devil can do...or what Hollywood thinks the devil can do. To Hollywood, that involves devilish grotesque fireworks (metaphorically speaking) and such. Meanwhile, it's anyone's guess if God will step in and intervene at the requests of any priest or minister. This is how Christianity in general - Catholicism particularly - is portrayed in such movies. 

The devil is free to wreak whatever evil he can. Meanwhile, it's anyone's guess whether or not God decides to help and put a stop to the madness. As far as these movies go, who knows where God is? 

This isn't true just for movies depicting Christian exorcism. 

The 2012 supernatural horror movie "The Possession" which centers around demonic shenanigans within a Jewish community still goes by that same formula. Hollywood seldom depicts religion accurately, even when its only about scaring an audience. 

The exorcism movies I think are decent include "The Exorcist" (1973) and "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" (2005). Otherwise, I generally skip over this paranormal genre of horror. It's pure eye-rolling fodder that'll end up in a Wal-Mart bargain bin.

But when I heard a movie based on the Vatican's Chief Exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, who passed away in 2016, was in production, I admit it grabbed my interest. Though I didn't catch it in theaters, I did watch it as soon as I could following its DVD release. 

Afterall, it's based on a real, well-respected, and internationally known Catholic priest who holds a very distinct and unique title - "Chief Exorcist" in Rome. 

Amorth is also a co-founder of the Catholic organization known as the International Associate of Exorcists. It's amazing to me that there's a world-wide association of people who all face off directly against the demonic powers of Hell itself. My hats off to those guys!

The film starts with Fr. Gabriele Amorth (Russell Crowe) arriving in a small Italian village in 1987 where a young man is supposedly possessed by a demon.

He assists the local parish priest to treat this individual. He starts by taunting the "demon" with a St. Benedict medal - a Catholic sacramental dedicated to Saint Benedict of Nursia inscribed with symbols and prayers meant to expel demonic presences of demons. Fr. Amorth then challenges it to enter a pig which is brought to the house. 

The "demon," being full of pride, takes the priest's challenge and enters the pig. As soon as this occurs, someone shoots the pig with a shotgun.

This incident gets Fr. Amorth in trouble with a Church Tribunal. Their issue is that he performed this "exorcism" without permission. In the Catholic Church, an exorcist must obtain permission from his bishop, after an investigation is conducted, before performing the Rite of Exorcism. 
One of the tribunal members, Bishop Lumumba (Cornell John) from Africa, is a personal friend of Fr. Amorth and quickly speaks to his defense. 

Russell Crowe as Fr. Gabriele Amorth in "The Pope's Exorcist."

However, another tribunal member, Cardinal Sullivan (Ryan O'Grady) from the U.S. is rather spiteful and vindictive towards the priest. Fr. Amorth claims it wasn't an exorcism, but rather an attempt to help a mentally ill man who was under the delusion he was possessed. 

However, the tribunal, namely Card. Sullivan, want to pin something on Amorth. 

He doesn't give them a chance as he walks out before being dismissed. 

Amorth later meets with the Pope (Franco Nero) who wants him to perform an exorcism on a young boy named Henry (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney) in Spain.

Henry along with his mom, Julia (Alex Essoe), and teenage sister, Amy (Laurel Marsden), move into an old Spanish monastery left to them by their father who died in a car accident prior to the story. 

The car accident had left Henry so traumatized that he refuses to speak. 

When they move in, workers are already trying to restore the old abbey which Julie plans to sell once completed. 

Henry becomes possessed after accidentally coming across a closed-in chamber within the abbey that holds some old secrets. 

Once he starts showing all the signs of possession, the local priest, Fr. Tomas Esquibel (Daniel Zovatto) shows up, but the demon throws him out of the room - literally. It demands Amorth!

When Fr. Amorth arrives, he is taken aback at how knowledgeable Henry is about Amorth's past. There's no mistaking that he's possessed. 

So, he asks Esquibel to be his assistant as he attempts to exorcise the demon per the Pope's request. And the first thing he must do in battling this demon is find out its name. 

I read Amorth's book, "An Exorcist Tells His Story," published in 1999, nearly 20-years ago. The movie is partly, if not mostly, based on this book.

While I remember very little, if anything, about his book, it's clear that there's more fiction than fact in this movie right down to the movie depicting Fr. Amorth riding around on a scooter and sporting red socks. According to the website www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/the-popes-exorcist/ even that isn't true about the real Fr. Amorth. 

While the movie is based on his work as a priest and exorcist, I picked up on some blatantly obvious similarities to the "The Exorcist." The devil is in the details as far as similarities go. Pun intended. 

In "The Exorcist," Fr. Damian Karras (Jason Miller) admits to a fellow Jesuit priest that he thinks he's losing his faith. Still, he's called to assist the exorcism of the young girl, Regan (Linda Blair) in the final act of the movie. It's not a smart call in my opinion to have a priest who thinks he's losing his faith go face to face with the Devil himself. 

In "The Pope's Exorcist" Fr. Amorth asks Fr. Esquibel how long it has been since he went to Confession. He says the last time he went was 8-months ago, much to Amorth's dismay. At minimum, the general practice when it comes to confession is going at least once a month. That should be especially true for a Catholic priest. He also says he never prayers. Basically, he's a terrible priest and certainly not an ideal person to assist with an exorcism. It's also revealed that Fr. Esquibel has been secretly involved with a young woman though, as a priest, he has taken a vow of chastity. Again, another typical depiction of a priest out of Hollywood. Anyways, it sounds like he doesn't have much faith, if any. 

Also, towards the final act, Amorth attempts to save Henry by offering himself to be possessed. The demon accepts his invitation and possesses Amorth. He then attempts to hang himself once he's possessed, but the demon doesn't let him. All around, there's nothing Christian in this scenario because Hollywood is completely ignorant. Anyways, something similar happens in "The Exorcist." 

After Fr. Karras finds Fr. Merrin (Max von Sydow) dead from heart failure during the ritual as the possessed Regan chuckling over Merrin's dead body, he wrestles her to the floor in anger and yells at the demon to come into him instead. For a brief moment, the demon does possess him before he flings himself out of the bedroom window.

Even though "The Pope's Exorcist" presents some basic accurate depictions of exorcism, the entire presentation as a whole is a fireworks spectacle (I don't necessarily mean that as a compliment) of special effects, grotesqueries and profanity-laced scares one would expect in a horror movie. 

It all comes down to the film exaggerating and distorting Amorth's experiences as an exorcist. It's more eye-popping paranormal cringe instead of being a film that should portray one of the most fascinating religious figures in modern history. That alone could make for a captivating horror movie. There's not a lot of those around, after all. 

Peter DeSouza-Feighoney as Henry.

The things that Amorth experienced and dealt with while conducting exorcisms as Rome's Chief Exorcist would make for an incredible movie. No doubt it doesn't need in-your-face special effects, jump scares and all that. His life and experiences are compelling and thought provoking enough. As the old saying goes, truth is stranger than fiction. 

Granted, special effects are inevitable when it comes to movies, horror or otherwise. "The Pope's Exorcist" relies too much on them, especially when considering the subject at hand. 

I'd much rather see a true-to-life biographical movie of Fr. Amorth over this film with all its shock and ravenous demons.

The movie ends with Fr. Amorth ready to take on the forces of hell as he knows more exorcisms are in his future. Overall, the movie treats him like he's some kind of comic book super priest, like Blade taking on Vampires or Ash battling the evil dead. This comes across the most when he tells Fr. Esquibel at the end, "Let's go to Hell!" It's a clear sequel setup. 

The demon effects are creepy, but the dialogue is laughable. Each time the demon speaks through Henry, he occasionally follows his statements with a growl. The entire thing is more like a haunted house attraction than a serious depiction of a real-life priest taking on real-life demons. 

Despite how good an actor Russell Crowe is, the decision to cast him as Fr. Amorth is unusual. Nothing about Crowe resembles the real priest. I'm curious to find out what the producers were aiming for when deciding Crowe should play the Italian exorcist. That's not to say his performance isn't good or entertaining. He accomplishes the role well enough for how the movie wants to depict Fr. Amorth.

He does convey the priest as cynical when dealing with the devil, tricking him in the beginning to defeat himself. He doesn't take the demonic taunts too seriously as he smirks when threatened by the demonic. 

To its credit, the movie doesn't use the exorcist movie trope mentioned above in which God and His goodness appear to be aloof when they're needed most. Amorth states in the movie that God is with us to accomplish His will. He and Fr. Esquibel utilize Our Lord's words in the Gospel to defeat the demon. "For where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matthew 18:20)

God uses us to accomplish His will, step by step. At least "The Pope's Exorcist" got that part right for the most part. That's more than most other exorcism horror movies. Normally, movies like this completely ignore that. 

Seldom does Hollywood accurately depicts religion, especially Catholicism. All in all, this is no exception. 

It does toss in a few tidbits of accuracy when it comes to the Church and its Rite of Exorcism, but it's still over-the-top. 

One unfortunate truth the movie does accurately depict is how too many officials among the Church Hierarchy don't believe in the Devil, Hell, or evil.  This comes out during the tribunal scene. which spurs Fr. Amorth to ask them what the purpose of the Church is then? Of course, they have no answer. 

"The Pope's Exorcist" is better than most movies of this horror sub-genre, but not by much. The producers try to depict something they clearly know little about. And it shows.