Review of The Pope's Exorcist (2023) by Rebecca31 — 02 May 2023

Russell Crowe is back in Rome, but instead of battling gladiators, he’s battling demons. His own and the scary possessive kind. When a mother and her two children move into the super creepy and so totally not haunted Abbey in Spain they very quickly start to feel an evil presence and it’s not long before her son Henry shows signs of possession. With the doctors baffled and insisting there is nothing physically wrong with the boy, it’s now time to call in a professional and who better to get than the best of the best, the Pope’s Exorcist himself to save the child. Cue Russell Crowe on his little scooter and honestly that image alone might be enough to scare the demon away.

While he admits that many of the cases he deals with are people with mental health issues, in some rare cases, he is faced with unspeakable evil that must be handled delicately before it’s too late. With the help of the local priest he confronts the malevolent force that has taken hold of Henry and begins to uncover a conspiracy that the Vatican tried to keep secret (sounds about right). Turns out when Crowe looks hard enough, quite a few skeletons come tumbling out of the Vatican’s closet.

Right if you’re expecting The Exorcist then throw those hopes right out the window because in terms of standard The Pope’s Exorcist doesn’t even come close. Hell it’s not even as scary as the first two Conjuring movies. In fact it’s not scary at all, seasoned horror movie fans won’t scare easy but The Pope’s Exorcist might be the least scariest horror movie I’ve ever seen. At no point does it create any sense of terror or dread. The possessed child (aside from saying all sorts of lewd comments), with his monster voice and manic grin just made the whole sequence seem very silly. Even the most recent Conjuring movie, which was a mess, featured a good opening scene with a child possession that was a standout piece for the film. It’s got the usual stuff you’d expect, lights flickering, upside down crucifixes, people sent flying across rooms, etc. All the possession stuff that happens in this movie is badly executed, not scary and tries its very best to shock you and fails at every attempt. So why bother seeing it at all then? Well for some mad reason this is one of the most entertaining exorcism movies due to Russell Crowe as Father Gabriele Amorth (yes he’s based on the real life character), I don’t know why it works so well but it does. For all the wrong reasons it’s entertaining and funny. He’s clearly having a lot of fun with the character, he’s showing off his unique Italian accent and brings unexpected humour to what otherwise would have been a snoozefest.

The Pope’s Exorcist is a generic and “seen this done before only better” exorcism movie but is made watchable by Crowe flying around Italy and Spain on his little Vespa, with a case full of tricks ready to exorcise the demons whilst also facing his own. Arguably Crowe’s attempt at the horror genre has gone better this time compared his performance as Dr. Jekyll in The Mummy. Though the bar wasn’t very high. He’s clearly won over some fans and considering it’s financial success don’t be surprised if a new horror franchise is born.

The Pope’s Exorcist is far better than it has any right to be and I’ll recommend it to Russell Crowe fans or those who enjoy goofy horror movies. But if you’re looking for something to scare you, then look elsewhere because The Pope’s Exorcist will not do the job. Evil Dead Rise might be more successful at that.