The Exorcism (2024) Movie Review

The Exorcism (2024) Movie Review

The exorcism and possession genres have become quite crowded and synonymous with the horror genre as a whole, ever since the 1973 William Peter-Blatty and William Friedkin’s masterpiece ‘The Exorcist’ hit theatres and mesmerised audiences all over the world. We have seen a number of films try to re-capture the pure cinematic brilliance of that film but fail to reach its heights. Given the legacy and lasting imprint of the film, it’s unlikely a movie will ever achieve the heights of ‘The Exorcist’, as it is no doubt one of the best films ever made, however, it doesn’t stop an exorcism film from being entertaining as hell (no pun intended) and providing a few scares along the way.

In 2024, we got a unique new horror film starring Russell Crowe from the exorcism genre, simply titled ‘The Exorcism’. The film follows a troubled actor, Anthony Miller (played by Russell Crowe) who starts to exhibit troubling behaviour on-set whilst filming a new horror film. He re-connects with his estranged daughter who begins to think his past addictions are beginning to take hold again, but quickly realises there is indeed something more sinister at play. As a fan of the exorcism and possession sub-genres, I was excited to see what this one was like and given Russell Crowe’s surprise hit ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ (which currently has a sequel in the works), was a surprise success, I was excited for his involvement. I am pleased to say, ‘The Exorcism’, was another fun horror flick.

‘The Exorcism’ benefits from its unique premise and meta look at the horror genre as a whole. With the sheer number of exorcism films made each and every year, taking this metatextual approach to the genre is fresh, innovative and highly original, whilst also borrowing some ideas from Wes Craven’s ‘New Nightmare’, his meta meditation on the horror genre, which serves as a precursor to his other meta riff on the slasher genre with 1996’s ‘Scream’ and its subsequent sequels. Breaking down genre tropes and clichés through this lens provides the audience with a new take on the genre. Whilst the film still uses cliché’s, jump scares and other horror tropes here to its advantage, giving audiences the horror sequences they have come to expect from the possession genre, it still maintains a sense of originality that has been missing from the genre in recent years. Seeing the impacts working on these films can have on the human psyche is a fantastic way to re-invigorate the genre. 

The real strength of the film here for me is Russell Crowe’s performance. In recent years, he has starred in a number of horror films, including the previously mentioned ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’, ‘Unhinged’ and now ‘The Exorcism’. Crowe has really done it all during his career, working across every genre in a variety of different roles and to great success both through critical acclaim and box office receipts. Crowe finds himself in a very unique stage of his career now, he’s worked hard at establishing himself as one of Hollywood’s premier dramatic performers, but now he is taking on character driven performances, clearly having fun on screen with these characters and enjoying the current stage he finds himself in. There is a meta-aspect in the casting of Crowe in the role of troubled actor Anthony Miller as well, given Crowe’s public troubles and his turn to the horror genre. It’s all meta and if you look between the lines, you will have a blast trying to decipher what’s being said, with each frame drenched in subtext.

 ‘The Exorcism’ is a smart and well-executed horror film. Its hinged-on Russell Crowe’s performance as Miller, giving one of his better turns in recent years, with a lot of his personal life and baggage shining through here. Whilst it still plays off many different horror films, it’s in the execution where the film shines, paving its own way as a fun and memorable exorcism and possession film. Be sure to pick-up your copy of ‘The Exorcism’ on DVD or Blu-Ray today, you won’t want to miss out on this one!

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Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here