The Exorcism movie review

Russell Crowe’s filmography is characterized by a wide variety of roles, among which any viewer will find a character interesting according to their personal preferences. But there are nuances. In 2023, The Pope’s Exorcist was released, in which Crowe played a priest fighting evil forces, and it may seem that in The Exorcism 2024, the actor is simply repeating the image he gave us quite recently.

But with the new The Exorcism everything is a bit more complicated. Because it’s not really a movie about faith and the devil, but about the process of making a movie about faith and the devil. In other words, we have a metanarrative work of art that is interesting for its concept alone. And even if the realization is noticeably lame, you can still enjoy watching it.

The Exorcism tells the story of actor Anthony Miller (Russell Crowe), whose career has been limping along for the past few years. It’s all because of Anthony’s addiction to alcohol and drugs, which has ruined his life and his relationship with his daughter Lee (Ryan Simpkins) after his wife’s death. However, the role of a priest in The Georgetown Project seems to be able to bring the actor back to his senses. However, some mysterious forces interfere in the filming process, the previous lead actor has disappeared, and the religious theme of the movie has a bad effect on Anthony’s morale, as it is connected with some terrible secret from his past.

The Exorcism is one of those movies that you’d rather not know anything about and go to the screening without any unnecessary thoughts. Then the movie will really surprise you and evoke sincere emotions. So this is the last warning and a request to close the review if you are really interested in the movie. And if you have already watched it or just want to know what is so special about it, then feel free to continue reading.

Working with a metanarrative is always an incredibly difficult task. If you fail to combine reality and fantasy well, you will end up with something completely confusing and incoherent. On the other hand, a decent realization of this style leads us to outstanding stories like Alan Wake II and Inland Empire by David Lynch. In this regard, The Exorcism falls into the category of “rather yes than no,” but it is carried out according to very minimal parameters.

The story of The Exorcism juggles three main plot threads: the filming of a movie about exorcising a demon from a child, the drama of a failed actor, and the family relationship between him and his daughter, which is still separate from Anthony’s personal worries. And the script seems to be unable to cope with the task of fully revealing all the elements of the story. Because of this, it sometimes seems that certain scenes exist solely to fill the running time, which is already relatively short. And sometimes, on the contrary, it seems that the authors leave something important off-screen, so you have to think of some moments on your own.

However, working with the viewer’s imagination, encouraging their thought processes, is one of the main elements of any horror film, which is also the most difficult to realize. After all, if you reveal too many secrets of the story you want to convey, the element of horror will disappear. And if you reveal too little, the viewer will not understand anything at all. “In this respect, I would like to praise The Exorcism only, because it is one of the few horror films for the big screen that does not hesitate to hide many important nuances, relies on your thoughts and interpretations, but still does not lose its integrity and its own narrative.

The metanarrative component only enhances the effect of the ephemeral approach to storytelling. Even after watching the movie, you will definitely have questions about the reality of the events experienced by the main characters in The Exorcism. Was it really the influence of evil forces? Or did drugs and alcohol affect the actor so much that he went crazy? Or did Anthony’s past resonate with current events and remind him of old traumas? The ambivalence of the plot is a pleasant surprise, because this is not common in contemporary cinema.

The chosen style makes The Exorcism a tangibly creepy movie. And this is coming from a person who has watched a lot of horror movies, so it’s hard to surprise him. The Exorcism doesn’t surprise you, because you’ll see even a few banal screamers here, but the whole movie maintains a frightening atmosphere and keeps you in suspense.

The Exorcism is frightening because of its atmosphere, story and some creative decisions. But if we evaluate its directing and visual style in general, everything turned out to be rather bland. The story feels as localized as possible, and the camera focuses on close-ups.

Against this backdrop, the panoramic camera shots over the city and the screens with the countdown of filming days look a little strange. They seem to be meant to enhance the atmosphere, but they don’t quite fit with the central story. This gives the impression that the filmmakers have simply added extra scenes to the movie, artificially stretching the film.

But still, I can’t say anything outright bad about the movie. Yes, it is sometimes confusing and fussy, and in the traditional sense of film criticism, it does not give you anything special. But the central concept and its implementation were surprisingly good, and after watching the movie, you want to discuss it, you want to think about it. And this is usually an indicator that you have not spent your time watching it in vain.

And Russell Crowe himself is very interesting. It’s not his usual image, but in some places you can feel the irrational eerie power that comes from his character. Crowe perfectly complements the plot and brings the atmosphere to a higher level.

And finally, here is an additional interesting fact that may also change the attitude to The Exorcism and strengthen its metanarrative impact. Joshua John Miller directed and co-wrote the screenplay for this movie. He is the son of Jason Miller, who played the priest in the classic The Exorcist of 1973. There are rumors that the filming of The Exorcist was connected with mystical events, so in a sense, Joshua Miller is simply sharing his father’s experience.