The Exorcism (2024) Review
Anthony Miller (Russell Crowe), a troubled actor, begins to unravel while shooting a supernatural horror film. His estranged daughter (Ryan Simpkins) wonders if he is slipping back into his past addictions or if there is something more sinister at play.
Recently THE FIRST OMEN, IMMACULATE and LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL have all delivered the demonic goods to the big screen so director Joshua John Miller’s THE EXORCISM has a lot to measure up to in the current marketplace. Originally entitled THE GEORGETOWN PROJECT (one of many nods that Miller’s film makes to the 1973 masterpiece THE EXORCIST that starred his father Jason as Father Damien Karras) THE EXORCISM stars Russell Crowe. Initially I had assumed that this was a follow-up to his previous foray into demonic possession with THE POPE’s EXORCIST. It is not.
This American supernatural horror film is produced by Kevin Williamson, the writer of 1996’s SCREAM, and it shares that film’s meta-leanings by having a film within the film have the exact same story as THE EXORCIST, set in the same geographical area as that film, have the lead character share the late actor Jason Miller’s surname, see the climatic face-off between good and evil take place on a soundstage that is practically how Regan’s bedroom looks at the finale of William Friedkin’s groundbreaking horror and tonally capture the sombre mood that added so much to the authenticity of the Seventies classic.
Originally filmed in late 2019, THE EXORCISM was considered unreleasable, and additional filming was required. However, with the advent of the COVID-19 crisis this became impossible, so the film studio opted to shelve the movie instead. When 2023’s THE POPE’S EXORCIST, also starring Russell Crowe, became an unexpected hit, grossing $77million against a budget of $18million, THE EXORCISM was dusted off, new scenes filmed, and a final edit produced earlier this year.
Critics have not been kind to Miller’s movie describing it as ‘an extraordinary mess,’ ‘forgettable’ and not having ‘enough devil-damning bang for your buck.’ For my money this is a damn fine attempt to do something different with the otherwise tired demonic possession genre. It is a damn sight more compelling than last year’s backfire THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER and with its meta-concept it is cleverer than most of this ilk. Sure, it ends up treading the same old tired route come the last moments but then what film with ‘exorcism’ in its title does not.
The Exorcism will be released to theatres in the UK on June 21st by Vertigo Releasing and on the same date in the US by Vertical Entertainment.
