Directed by Julius Avery
Starring Russell Crowe, Alexandra Essoe, Daniel Zovatto, Franco Nero, Peter DeSouza-Feighoney, Laurel Marsden, John Cornell, Bianca Bardoe

There’s a couple of high hurdles for any movie that deals with exorcisms. The first is that it will always be compared to The Exorcist (1973), no matter what. No matter how unfair that may be, it’s going to happen. The second one is that because there are SO many films dealing with this subject, that it is really hard to do something different, especially when you probably have some executive saying “We got to have someone spitting up pea soup” or “their head has to spin around”. That being said, going into to this film, I can’t say I was too excited, because as the saying goes, been there, done that.

What set this film apart, at least for me, is that the story is based on the work of a real person, Father Gabriele Amorth, who reported had performed over 150,000 exorcisms in his lifetime, as well as written two books on the subject, An Exorcist Tells his Story and An Exorcist: More Stories, which this movie’s story is taken from. Father Amorth seemed to have a sense of humor about him, which makes him quite different than the normal priests we see in these films that are very serious. And Crowe brings that part of him to life onscreen and was one of the things I really enjoyed about the story.

The whole possession parts are pretty much as we’ve seen many, many times before. Great makeup effects, very intense and talented actors bringing these characters to life, but when it comes down to it, at this point, it really is hard to do something different. Not that the film doesn’t work, or isn’t well made, it’s just nothing really new, except it focuses more on the priest.

The story is about a young mother, played wonderfully by Alexandra Essoe, and her two kids moving into an old abbey in Spain to try and restore. After some weird happenings, the workers leave, refusing to work there. The son, Henry, starts acting strangely. Of course, all the medical tests show everything normal, until Henry asks, in a demonic voice, for a priest. When Father Amorth finally shows up, the battle really begins. A younger priest, Father Esquibel, played by Daniel Zovatto, had been assigned to assist Father Amorth, and learns much more about demons and possession than he cared to!

The cast here is top notch, even having Frano Nero playing the Pope (!!!), with a well-crafted script, and some really good and creepy effects. So, for what it is, and something we’ve seen over and over again, I did enjoy it and is worth seeing.

This 4k release, which looks really incredible, contains a featurette on the real Father Amorth, which is pretty fascinating. There is also another featurette called What Possessed You?, and the theatrical trailer.

Thanks again to AV Entertainment for supplying this review copy. You can purchase this movie, along with many others, by clicking HERE.