Such has been the glut of movies featuring possession/exorcism, film fans could be forgiven for asking if this particular sub-genre of horror has become as tiresome as superhero films. The excellent Late Night With The Devil and The Exorcist: Believer providing two recent examples on both ends of the success scale.
Back in 1973, it must have been difficult to envisage amongst the controversy and media whirlwind surrounding the release of The Exorcist, that any film of the same ilk would even be greenlit by another movie studio. The devil however, was seemingly let out of the bottle and cinema screens have never been more than a couple of years away from the next demonic possession flick.
The latest release in this particular genre, The Exorcism, starring Russell Crowe, at least has an intriguing plot device that helps it stand out a little from the crowd. Rather than a straight-laced possession horror, Crowe plays Anthony Miller, a troubled actor, who begins to unravel while shooting a seemingly cursed supernatural horror film.
His estranged daughter, Lee (Ryan Simpkins), wonders if he is slipping back into his past addictions or if there is something more sinister at play. We as the audience effectively see a behind the scenes view of a movie within a movie. The novel surroundings of a movie set consisting of a three storey house with the fourth wall removed, is a quirky feature and frankly one that should have featured more heavily throughout.
A recovering alcoholic, Miller lands the recast role of an exorcist following the original actor due to play the part suffering a curtain opening demise. He is however plunged quickly into a relapse and his performance or lack thereof, draws the ire of deplorable director Peter (wickedly played by Adam Goldberg).
Fresh off the back of another exorcism movie in 2023, The Pope’s Exorcist, Russell Crowe gives a curious performance as Miller. Having suffered his own real life misgivings and altercations, Crowe on paper seems a good fit for the role of a disgraced actor looking for redemption. Where other films in the same bracket often serve up slightly nuanced questions of failed faith and protagonists searching for redemption, The Exorcism instead feels stuck in purgatory.
Not quite a horror, not quite family melodrama, but somewhere in the middle. A little push one way or the other may have moved some of the half baked ideas into major plot points. Little background is given to the origin of the demon here, nor is the obvious cynicism and shots aimed towards the movie industry.
Some impressive and unexpected scares demonstrate director Joshua John Miller’s chops for horror, after all, his dad Jason Miller played Father Damien Karras in The Exorcist. David Hyde Pierce brings some welcome sinister undertones as Father Conor, but both Sam Worthington and Chloe Bailey are served underdeveloped characters with limited screen time to make us fully invest in their fates.
The Exorcism focuses less on questions about keeping your faith, instead focusing on the symbolism of all of us having demons we must face, whether that be alcoholism, the death of a loved one or even sexual assault. A solid if not spectacular entry into the ever expanding library of possession films, there are more than enough redeeming features to enjoy here, but not enough to propel the genre any further forward than we were in 1973.
