The devil has been covered to hell and back in movie history. Starting most notably with the 1973 horror staple The Exorcist and its succeedingly forgetful sequels into a string of mixed 2000s fare, the exorcism movie is a well-worn genre. They began to rely less on practical thrills as they did CGI as time and technology wore on, going from green sludge to green screen. Countless spinning heads, levitations, and demonic voices later, we have arrived at the latest entry in the catalog, The Pope’s Exorcist, starring Oscar winner Russell Crowe.
The movie follows the real-life figure Father Gabriele Amorth (Crowe), who purportedly performed 100,000 exorcisms in his role as the Pope’s chief demon slayer. The Pope’s Exorcist is described by the official Sony release with the line “(Amorth) investigates a young boy’s terrifying possession and ends up uncovering a centuries-old conspiracy the Vatican has desperately tried to keep hidden.” So we won’t get the typical distorted voice of the devil coming from a child-predictable plot this time. On the other hand, an expansive story could serve the genre well, as it seems most exorcism movies revolve around a person strapped to a bed hurling blasphemes at the man of the cloth. The Pope’s Exorcist has released an effectively creepy trailer; here’s a breakdown of the video.
Arriving for Duty
The trailer begins with the classic image of a suited figure arriving at a home surrounded by family and curious onlookers, seemingly in homage to the classic The Exorcist poster showing the priest under a streetlight heading into work. We are introduced immediately to Father Gabriele Amorth being grilled in the background by a Vatican committee. He is being questioned about a recent exorcism where the possessed girl jumps to her death from a high roof. He is seen holding the lifeless body as he describes the case as not being an exorcism.
“The majority of cases do not require an exorcism,” states Amorth, followed by a fellow man of the cloth saying that 98 percent of his cases are shuffled along to doctors or psychiatrists. Amorth goes on to say that the other two percent of cases are “evil.” He does this as he pulls a thick and dusty volume from a sprawling library, opening to a page with an elaborate illustration of a fire-breathing devil.
Amorth abruptly rises from his seat, leaving the panel of questioners behind, who urge him to stay as they have further questions for him. “You have a problem with me, you talk to my boss,” says Amorth. Quite the name-drop as he works directly for the Pope himself. He is seen kissing the hand of said employer just before showing the scratched-up and menacing face of a possessed child. “There is a case that needs your attention,” says the Pope to his chief exorcist. The aforementioned young boy is then seen coughing up a bloodied dead bird onto his bed. The devil’s voice comes through in the child’s demanding the priest be brought before him.
Facing a Demon
The child’s family does indeed call in a priest, but apparently, one too low on the totem pole as the demon psychically flings the man out of the room and into a glass cabinet. “Wrong priest!” screams the demon. Father Amorth is called in and is told to take caution as there are secrets buried in the house in question. The line is said as Amorth holds a lighter to a circle of human skulls.
He is next seen taking a sledgehammer to a brick wall, toppling a section of the structure to reveal a hidden room on the other side. Mummified bodies line the room, along with one sitting on a throne with some elaborate scepter. “The church has fought against this demon before,” says Amorth, claiming that this battle was covered up by his bosses in Rome.
It cuts to a close-up of a cloudy blue and purple eye, followed by the demon’s voice telling him, “You’ve been played, and you took the bait.”
Raising Stakes
The child’s eyes are emphasized again, this time glowing yellow with a serpent-like effect. Amorth tells him that anything he does only transpires because it’s allowed by god. A woman is seen being thrown into a mirror, and another levitated, her neck twisted and broken. “Did he allow that?” asks the demon. Amorth is seen hastily signing himself with the cross and dashing out of the room.
Amorth is then seen levitating himself under duress as the question is posed, “Imagine what could happen if the devil possessed the soul of the Pope’s exorcist?” A series of shots of the demon child roaring, glass shattering, and a woman upside munching on some unknown chunk of viscera precedes a vision of the Virgin Mary rising out of the ground in front of Amorth. A young possessed girl shrieks and Amorth is seen spewing up some black liquid as the trailer concludes.
As frequented a path as the exorcist movie is, the genre still holds potential. Attracting an A-lister like Russell Crowe is a good start to keep this gnarly corner of movies going strong. The Pope’s Exorcist will arrive in theaters on Apr. 14.