Russell Crowe versus the satan, and never a Vespa in sight.
Possession horror motion pictures are sometimes fairly boring affairs, partially as a result of they usually strive too exhausting to repeat William Friedkin’s The Exorcist (1973) in a method or one other. The harmless sufferer, the troubled man of religion, the coarse supernatural antics of vile entities, the triumphant denunciation of evil. 2023’s The Pope’s Exorcist dodged that bullet by discovering a recent spin, a way of enjoyable, and actual character — together with a Vespa-riding Russell Crowe — and now Crowe is again within the collar for an entirely unrelated exorcist story referred to as The Exorcism. Don’t let the tasteless title idiot you, although. This one takes a highway much less taken too even when its meta footing can’t maintain that highway practically as properly (as a Vespa).
Anthony Miller (Crowe) is a widower, a single dad, a washed-up actor, and an addict who can nonetheless style the alcohol he gave up lower than a 12 months in the past. He’s struggling to connect with his teenaged daughter, Lee (Ryan Simpkins), who’s lately been suspended from faculty and refuses to name him dad. A preproduction incident on the set of an upcoming horror remake — it’s by no means talked about by title, however the film inside the film is supposed to be a remake of The Exorcist — leaves a gap within the lead position as a priest battling for the soul of a younger girl. Miller lands the job and brings Lee aboard as a PA as a chance to bond, however pleasure quickly curdles as one thing evil settles inside him. What do you do when it’s the exorcist who wants an exorcism?
There’s sufficient in that setup to make for a reasonably simple piece of possession horror, however horrible title apart, The Exorcism isn’t excited by being simple. Rather than merely let that story unfold, director/co-writer Joshua John Miller as an alternative takes a extra meta method, each onscreen and off. You see, not solely is Miller a previous youngster actor — River’s Edge (1986), Near Dark (1987) — however he’s additionally the son of actor Jason Miller, who famously performed the doomed Father Karras in The Exorcist. The movie feels, in some ways, like a defensive assault towards the Catholic church and Hollywood, two towering entities recognized for chewing up and spitting out the harmless. The concepts are unavoidably intriguing, however the satan is within the particulars.
The script, by Miller and writing accomplice M.A. Fortin, is one thing of a floor degree riff on the well-documented troubles that confronted Friedkin’s movie throughout manufacturing. It’s not attempting to match the real-life issues they confronted, however the director of The Georgetown Project — the movie inside the movie’s title — performed right here by Adam Goldberg, is portrayed as a controlling, demeaning, and oblivious prick who pushes Anthony in more and more insensitive methods. Once the actor begins behaving unusually, it’s assumed by everybody that he’s again on the sauce because of the stress and strain. That they proceed to assume that even after witnessing his face change earlier than their eyes and his physique float within the air, properly, Hollywood people are self-centered and silly, apparently.
The church, in the meantime, is dealt a two-pronged poke beginning with the presence of Father Conor (David Hyde Pierce) who’s on-set as an advisor regardless of being a person lengthy missing in religion of his personal. It’s revealed that Anthony was molested by a priest when he was a toddler serving as an altar boy, and Miller movies the primary assembly of Anthony and Father Conor as if their paths had crossed earlier than. Nothing’s executed with the implication, although, and the minor age-gap distinction between the 2 actors makes it unlikely anyway, nevertheless it’s simply one in all many threads that feels untethered and flapping within the breeze. Lee is given a romance subplot, a youthful actor (Sam Worthington) has a dilemma over changing the declining and unstable Anthony, and Anthony himself is tempted again by the bottle.
Miller clearly has loads on his thoughts with The Exorcism, and it more and more begins to really feel as if the horror side of all of it is definitely the factor he’s least excited by. Goldberg’s director character describes his remake as a “psychological drama wrapped in the skin of a horror movie,” and that’s truly a good evaluation of The Exorcism itself. There’s nothing incorrect with that method, clearly, nevertheless it all will get greater than a bit cluttered because the third act ramps up the very horrors that these earlier themes appear detached to. Jump scares, shadow play, CG assists to contorting faces — style beats begin dropping quick and livid whereas character components slowly diminish.
Miller and Fortin beforehand gifted style followers with 2015’s The Final Girls, a horror/comedy that takes an much more meta method whereas additionally delivering laughs, thrills, and real emotion. It’s a terrific movie, and the promise that Miller confirmed as director there are noticeable right here in smaller doses. The opening that includes a priest strolling by means of an ominous house sees the digicam pull again to disclose it as a soundstage, and it’s each an important visible and a tease concerning the artificiality of Hollywood. Too a lot of it feels far much less impressed, although, leaving the movie’s tone and ambiance greater than a bit unmoored. His digicam rightfully loves Crowe, although, and the actor as soon as once more compels your consideration as he faces issues each acquainted and supernatural.
Whether by unique design or by belabored post-production efforts — the movie was shot in 2019 and has been within the can since 2020 for varied causes — The Exorcism feels as if it’s being pulled in opposing instructions. The metaphor of all of it, whether or not for the soul-sucking nature of Hollywood and the church or for Jason Miller’s expertise throughout and after The Exorcist, stays fascinating, and there’s a much more managed tackle all of it that exists (most likely nonetheless in J.J. Miller’s head) ready to be advised. The horror beats that finally take over, in the meantime, are all a bit too generic. Still, because it stands, these concepts and Crowe’s devoted presence are sufficient of a draw right here to make the movie value a watch. Or you would simply skip it and rewatch The Pope’s Exorcist…
Related Topics: Horror, Russell Crowe
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