THE POPE’S EXORCIST | ©2023 Sony/Screen Gems

Rating: R
Stars: Russell Crowe, Daniel Zovatto, Alex Essoe, Franco Nero, Peter DeSouza-Feighoney, Laurel Marsden, Cornell John, Ryan O’Grady
Writers: Michael Petroni and Evan Spiliotopoulos, story by R. Dean McCreary & Chester Hastings and Jeff Katz, based on the books AN EXORCIST TELLS HIS STORY and AN EXORCIST: MORE STORIES by Gabriele Amorth
Director: Julius Avery
Distributor: Sony/Screen Gems
Release Date: April 14, 2023

The title of THE POPE’S EXORCIST is a bit misleading. The opening notes tell us that Father Gabriele Amorth, played here by Russell Crowe, served as the official exorcist for the Vatican from 1986 through 2016, but he’s not the Pope’s personal exorcist. Furthermore, at least in this movie, the Pope himself doesn’t require an exorcism. So, we don’t get the full-tilt insanity that might have come from a depiction of a possessed pope.

Instead, THE POPE’S EXORCIST provides an unsurprising but decently-done tale of a situation worthy of the Vatican’s attention. Just when Father Amorth is being questioned by a bunch of skeptical Church officials about the value of his specialty, he is summoned from Rome to deal with a crisis in a remote part of Spain.

This is where American Julia (Alex Essoe), a widow with sullen teen daughter Amy (Laurel Marsden) and silent preteen Henry (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney), has inherited a ruined abbey from her late husband. Julia is determined to fix the place up to sell it, as she and the kids are broke. Too bad all the construction work has awakened an ancient demonic evil.

To give THE POPE’S EXORCIST a bit of added heft, writers Michael Petroni and Evan Spiliotopouos, working from the screen story by R Dean McCreary & Chester Hastings and Jeff Katz, allow the demon some specific ambitions with historical precedent. In addition to upping the jeopardy, it’s refreshing to see a movie steeped in Catholic faith that acknowledges some of the Church’s worst actions, even if the designated culprit is supernatural.

Father Amorth was a real person. His books, AN EXORCIST TELLS HIS STORY and AN EXORCIST: MORE STORIES, are the inspiration for THE POPE’S EXORCIST. He wrote others as well (see Amazon for a list of those currently available).

Crowe and the script allow Father Amorth to have a twinkly sense of humor, but he has the requisite gravitas to ground both the character and the film around him. Daniel Zovatto is good as a nervous young Spanish priest pressed into service, Essoe is properly maternal and distraught, and the venerable Franco Nero plays the Pope.

Director Julius Avery largely avoids the pitfalls common to exorcism movies, going for creepy rather than full-on big scares. This allows him to achieve a couple of genuinely memorable moments, even though these sequences tease something bigger than what the movie delivers.

The production design by Alan Gilmore is invaluable, making the abbey look appropriately sinister and dangerous.

There are some big unanswered questions. For starters, how it is that Julia’s family, rather than the Church, owns a Catholic abbey? Why can’t she just sell it back to the Church? Why doesn’t the Pope intervene more strongly with the cardinals on Father Amorth’s behalf?

Most of all, how does THE POPE’S EXORCIST expect us to fear for Father Amorth’s ultimate well-being when it’s set in1987 and tells us at the start that he remained in his position until 2016?

This aside, THE POPE’S EXORCIST doesn’t break new ground, but it’s a solid enough entry in its horror subgenre.

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