‘The Exorcism’ review: Dir. Joshua John Miller (2024)

After starring in The Pope’s Exorcist and now The Exorcism, it is safe to say that Russell Crowe is firmly in his demonic possession era. Although releasing this week, The Exorcism was actually made prior to The Pope’s Exorcist, and is far less conventional than that film. Rather than follow the classic structure of a priest helping a tormented teenager, The Exorcism mixes things up by setting itself on a film set.

Crowe plays actor Tony who finds himself starring as a priest in a film about demonic possession. As the filming gets underway Tony finds himself the target of a malevolent spirit drawn to set by the authenticity within the script. As Tony begins to succumb, it is left to his estranged daughter Lee (Ryan Simpkins) to try and save his soul. With The Exorcism, director Joshua John Miller attempts to inject new life into the tired formula. The idea of a possessed movie set is sound, but unfortunately some of the execution is lacking, and there is a clear reason why, despite being made in 2019, it has taken so long to come to light. The Exorcism takes itself far more seriously than The Pope’s Exorcist, and its more po-faced tone reverts it back into generic possession territory. 

The biggest pitfall of The Exorcism is that everything feels flat. Although the father / child relationship is interesting to see develop, it has been explored too many times before and doesn’t add any real freshness. More than that Miller uses possession as a metaphor for Tony’s struggles with addiction and sadly the message is as subtle as a hit to the head. Drawing the parallels to addiction also serve to drive away the horror elements. With time spent on this side of the story, Miller forgoes the anticipated jump scares and moments of suspense, creating a horror film that the less imaginative genre watchers will be disappointed with. There is horror to be found if you look closely, but those expecting a rollercoaster of thrills will be severely underwhelmed.