The Pope’s Exorcist

2023   Sony Pictures

Rated:  R

Length:  1 hr  43min

Horror ~ Thriller ~ True Story

Directed by:  Julius Avery

Starring:  Russell Crowe, Daniel Zovatto, Alex Essoe,  Peter DeSouza-Feighoney and Franco Nero.

“When we jeer at the Devil and tell ourselves that he does not exist, that is when he is happiest.”

Russell Crowe stars as Father Gabrielle Amorth, The Pope’s personal exorcist. As we learn in the movie he answers to no one but The Pope. He is tasked with handling the most extreme cases of possession that the Church encounters. He travels by moped and carries his case filled with Exorcism tools and Holy water. In the first case in the movie, Father Amorth goes to an Italian village where a man is being possessed by a demon. He asks the farmer to bring in the pig that he saw him with outside. Father Amorth then proceeds to trick the demon into leaving the man’s body and possessing the pig. As soon as he does they shoot the pig, killing it, freeing the man from the demon.

Father Amorth is then sent to San Sebastian Abbey, where a widow and her two children have come from America to renovate the building. They inherited it when her husband died in a horrific car accident. He was impaled in the car and her son Henry, who was in the backseat, witnessed the horrible death of his father. He has not spoken since, and upon removing a stone in a basement wall, has apparently become possessed. As Father Amorth begins to investigate the boy and the demon, he senses something deeper and sinister within the property.

He uncovers evidence that the church long ago covered up something deep within the property to seal off a demon and a gateway to hell. He has to learn the name of the demon in order to defeat it and free the little boy Henry before the Demon destroys him. He learns that the demon is Asmodeus, The King of Hell. And he goes head to head with the Demon to free Henry, assisted by Father Esquibel, a younger less experienced priest.

It is supernatural horror at it’s best. The little boy possessed by a demon conjuring, cussing, screaming obscenities, and wreaking havoc on the poor little boy’s body. Peter DeSouza-Feighoney plays Henry, the little boy. He is a newcomer to the movie scene, this being his Hollywood debut. Peter…I give you a standing ovation for that performance. WELL DONE! Alex Essoe plays his mother Julia, she has done a number of horror movies. I am not familiar with her work but I like her and will keep an eye out for her. Father Amorth is a very likeable fellow, completely faithful to his faith and his work. He even carries around a little flask of whiskey to quench his thirst after fighting with The Demons. I really like Russell Crowe in this, I thought he did a really good job of portraying Father Amorth.

This is based on the true life story Of Father Gabrielle Amorth, a Roman Catholic Priest who performed over 60,000 exorcisms in his lifetime. He also helped found The International Association of Exorcists. He wrote more than 30 books in his lifetime, I have bought this one and am reading it now:

There is a sequel in the works, slated for release sometime next year, THE POPE’S EXORCIST 2 with Russell Crowe again playing Father Amorth. I am looking forward to it, I am becoming a fan of Father Amorth and this movie series.

It is Horrorful Halloween season and I will be watching and reviewing a lot of Horror movies over the next couple of weeks.

This was a good one.

Yes I recommend it.

Two Thumbs Up!