2 Stars
Starring: Russell Crowe, Sam Worthingon, David Hyde Pierce, Ryan Simpkins
Rating: CTC
In Cinemas: now
When you see Russell Crowe is playing a priest in a new exorcism movie, you could be forgiven for experiencing a sense of deja vu.
After all, we saw him doing exactly that in The Pope’s Exorcist last year.
That film was a surprise hit at the box office — who knew there was a market for Crowe doing a thick Italian accent and hooning around Europe on a Vespa.
Talk of a sequel is underway, but The Exorcism isn’t it. It is, bizarrely, a completely separate movie, which also happens to feature Crowe as a Catholic priest, performing an exorcism.
If you’re wondering why the world needs two of these things, you’re not alone, but it should be pointed out that Crowe’s latest exorcism film is technically his first.
The Exorcism wrapped shooting in 2019, then languished in development purgatory during the pandemic, while The Pope’s Exorcist was made in 2022.
The origin of it goes back even further, and that’s where things get really interesting.
The film sees Crowe play Anthony Miller, a once-famed actor trying to rebuild his life and relationship with his teen daughter, Lee (Ryan Simpkins), after descending into alcoholism following the death of his wife from cancer.
He hopes to get his life back on track playing a priest in a supernatural horror film, The Georgetown Project, but things quickly go off the rails when his behaviour becomes increasingly erratic.
Is he back on the booze, or is something more sinister at work here?
Horror afficionados will appreciate the references littered throughout the film to arguably the greatest movie of the genre, the 1973 classic, The Exorcist, which was shot in Georgetown, in Washington DC.
Fun fact: director Joshua John Miller is actually the son of Jason Miller, who of course played Father Damien Karras in The Exorcist, and one suspects Joshua grew up hearing stories about the fabled cursed production.
Knowing that gives The Exorcism an added layer of complexity for those who love looking for Easter eggs, but it’s not enough to excuse the film’s shortfalls.
Crowe is solid, but his character becomes borderline unwatchable as things start to unravel, and Simpkins gives an odd performance that feels tonally out of whack.
Sam Worthington makes an appearance, for some reason that’s not justified by the plot, although Frasier star David Hyde Pierce is legitimately great as a Catholic priest.
A good premise and a decent build-up is undone by a second half that becomes increasingly nonsensical, and you’d do well to forget it ever was inspired by The Exorcist, because the comparison is unkind.