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.