Anthony Miller (Crowe), a troubled actor, begins to unravel while shooting a supernatural horror film. His estranged daughter (Simpkins) wonders if he is slipping back into his past addictions or if there is something more sinister at play.
Joshua John Miller directs The Exorcism, which stars the talents of Russell Crowe, Ryan Simpkins, Sam Worthington, Chloe Bailey, Adam Goldberg, and David Hyde Pierce. Not so coincidentally. Joshua John Miller is the son of famed, Academy Award-nominated actor and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Jason Miller, who played Father Damien in the original The Exorcist (1973).
Going into this movie, I had a lot of reservations as I’m not the biggest fan of Russell Crowe and movies about exorcisms tend to be hit or miss, falling into the latter more often than the former. Fortunately, by the half-hour mark, I was greatly enjoying the movie. The concept I feel is a fresh take on what is really an oversaturated sub-genre of horror movies; The plot is–in part–about a production being cursed rather than explicitly a priest performing an exorcism and potentially swaying skeptics and thee of little faith.
The Exorcism rises above other exorcism movies as it is actually more focused on an actor’s backward slide into addiction while wrapped in a love letter to The Exorcist (1973). While on its surface there appears to be a demonic presence from the beginning, I feel people like me who have experience with addiction would be aware that even in the most horrifying moments there is a very elegant plausible deniability that what Anthony is experiencing is more based in addiction than in the supernatural.
While most exorcism movies would beat you over the head with faith, Anthony is shown to have legitimate reasons to have a strained relationship with Christianity and the church. Meanwhile, the priest brought on as a consultant for the movie (played by David Hyde Pierce) is skeptical of demonic possession existing and prefers to broach the subject from a psychological perspective.
Usually in exorcism movies the major conflict is centred on the possessed victim but in this movie, it is Anthony’s estranged daughter Lee (Ryan Simpkins). Lee finds herself in the unfortunately familiar spiral her father is going through and is simply looking for answers–answers she can use to help the only person she has left in her life. As emotional as this can be, the movie has some very horrifying moments featuring body horror and cringe-inducing gore which keep you in suspense right out of the gate. The Exorcism also doesn’t pull any punches emotionally and goes straight for the gut. Peppered throughout the movie are references to The Exorcist (1973) from technical mishaps that reportedly haunted the production, to easter eggs, to effectively using techniques from the movie. This isn’t a movie where you can glance at your phone for a second and you won’t want to.
Despite my apprehension toward Russell Crowe, he was a perfect casting choice and I couldn’t have picked a better actor to play Anthony. The role is self-aware in that sense as the major conflict of the character is almost identical to what made me hesitant about Russell Crowe as an actor; which makes his performance all the more poignant and heartfelt. His appearance though was what stood out to me- No chiselled gladiator physique; Anthony appears to be in his mid-to-late-50s, is overweight with a graying patchy beard, and has several blemishes on his skin. This works tremendously in the film’s favor and does a wonderful job of giving you a sense of who the character is and with the self-awareness of the role, that is well in mind for how the audience would react to seeing Russell Crowe portrayed that way.
All said, The Exorcism stands well above other exorcism movies as a suspenseful, tense, but ultimately emotionally driven horror movie. The movie is also dense with small details that add a lot of rewatchability to it. The last half hour is ripe with reasons to dissect the ending of the movie, which I feel was also intentional. Ultimately, The Exorcism is a well-thought-out, wonderfully executed movie that rises where other exorcism movies fall short. The Exorcism, after what seems like 5 long years sitting on a shelf, will be coming to UK Cinemas from 21st June, 2024. The artwork and trailer are below.
