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The Pope’s Exorcist is a film based on the books written the real Father Gabriel Amorth (played here by Russell Crowe – Thor: Love And Thunder), who was in the role from 1986, right up until his death in 2016, at the age of 91, so he didn’t exactly get a retirement plan.
But this movie begins on June 4th 1987, with an exorcism taking place in English, even though the script occasionally varies between that and the characters’ original Italian. Naturally, English is often used as it’s just easier for the purposes of storytelling, and this time round, a pig is used in the process, but on the film set, no animal would actually be harmed. As for how this one ends up, you’ll have to see it to believe it, but get ready to crack out the bacon sandwiches!
Then fast-forward almost a month to July 1st, where a family – mother, Julia (Alex Essoe – Doctor Sleep Director’s Cut), daughter Amy (Laurel Marsden) and younger son, Henry (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney) – move into an abbey, left behind by their late Dad, with plans to renovate like Homes Under The Hammer and sell on, but there’s no time for Martin Roberts to pop up – even though it might be interesting to see him have his soul possessed by the devil!
Naturally, they get affected by possession in one way or another, with lots of things going bump in the night, and a ton of weird stuff happening, so it’s all batshit mental!
Throw in a side plot where Russell forever feels responsible for the death of a young woman who he thinks he failed to protect, plus he is in danger of his job being literally exorcised from the Vatican by a panel of snooty individuals. Plus, a lot of the time he’s partnered with Daniel Zovatto as Father Esquibel.
However, there’s nothing at all that’s scary in this. Maybe in 1973, William Friedkin’s The Exorcist was to its audience at the time.
Elsewhere, Franco Nero is the Pope, but spends his entire time looking constantly confused and bemused; Ralph Ineson as the voice of the devil, so when I heard him speak, it made me laugh, since I could only see Chris Finch from The Office; and overall, The Pope’s Exorcist feels like it’s entirely shot in the dark, as well as being incredibly slow.
I presume if this is a big hit, then sequels will ensue, but it does come across as a one-off project only, as they don’t suggest any potential cliffhanger, and instead, confirm that he wrote a load of books and that they were… “good”. Well, surely they’d want to make more? I wouldn’t go and see them, but this only cost $18m to make, and in its first week it took $12 in India and parts of Europe, with the US release date being April 14th, so the bulk of the opening weekened monies have still to be figured out.
On the plus side, the soundtrack includes The Cult’s She Sells Sanctuary.
The Pope’s Exorcist is in cinemas now, and is available to pre-order just on DVD, so far, but other formats will be announced in time.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 103 minutes
Release date: April 7th 2023
Studio: Sony Pictures Entertainment
Format: 2.39:1
Cinema: Cineworld Didsbury
Rating: 4/10
Director: Julius Avery
Producers: Doug Belgrad, Michael Patrick Kaczmarek, Jeff Katz
Screenplay: Michael Petroni, Evan Spiliotopoulos
Story: R Dean McCreary, Chester Hastings, Jeff Katz
Based on the books by Gabriele Amorth
Music: Jed Kurzel
Cast:
Father Gabriel Amorth: Russell Crowe
Father Esquibel: Daniel Zovatto
Julia: Alex Essoe
The Pope: Franco Nero
Henry: Peter DeSouza-Feighoney
Amy: Laurel Marsden
Bishop Lumumba: Cornell John
Cardinal Sullivan: Ryan O’Grady
Rosaria: Bianca Bardoe
Voice of the Devil: Ralph Ineson
Roberto Vasquez IV (Henry’s Dad): Santi Bayón
Interpreter: Paloma Bloyd
Father Gianni: Alessandro Gruttadauria
Enzo / Halphas: River Hawkins
Carlos: Jordi Collet
Adella: Carrie Munro
Worker 1: Marc Velasco
Young Amorth: Edward Harper-Jones
Cardinal Abato: Matthew Sim
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.