The Exorcism (2024)

​“The Exorcism” stars Russell Crowe, Ryan Simpkins, Sam Worthington, Chloe Bailey, Adam Goldberg, Adrian Pasdar, and David Hyde Pierce.  Released on June 21, 2024, the film has an actor experiencing a horrific transformation while shooting a horror movie.

The film is directed by Joshua John Miller, known for co-writing “The Final Girls” and “Queen of the South” with M. A. Fortin.  It’s easy to understand the difference between fiction and reality, especially when making a movie, let alone a supernatural horror film.  But when that line starts to blend, it can lead to an experience that could be either revolutionary or traumatizing, mainly the latter.  Those filmmakers better get some big paychecks for this type of job.  We’re continuing this year’s summer of horrors with, you guessed it, another exorcism-related film.  This time, the supernatural chaos takes place during the filming of, you guessed it again, a demonic possession movie.  I’m sensing a “demon-ception” surrounding this concept.  Does it result in another tolerable addition to the ever-lasting horror trend, or does this production deserve to be scrapped as a tax write-off?  Let’s find out. 

The story centers on Anthony Miller (Crowe), an actor with a troubling past involving his previous addictions.  He’s hired to star in a supernatural horror movie called “The Georgetown Project”, replacing the original actor for the role of an exorcist.  Accompanied by his estranged daughter Lee (Simpkins), Anthony performs his duty alongside his co-actors, including Joe (Worthington) and Blake Holloway (Bailey), hoping his latest project would help turn his life and career around.  However, as the filming progresses, Anthony starts to exhibit strange behavior while on set, causing Lee to question if his former addictions are haunting him or if something far darker is taking over his soul.

I was on and off about watching “The Exorcism”, mainly because…well, just look at the title.  That alone is all you need to know about the film.  On the other hand, the only element that immediately caught my attention was its background, with the supernatural action occurring on a movie set.  I initially planned on waiting to watch it at home, but then the movie’s concept persuaded me to see it in the theater instead.  It’s like it knows how much I love film.  Plus, it has Russell Crowe, who continues to provide the presence needed to remain relevant in the ever-changing film industry.  So, you can say that he also piqued my curiosity toward this latest supernatural fright fest.  These two elements should have been enough to turn the horror genre around or at least make it entertaining and scary again.  However, after watching “The Exorcism”, they seem to be nothing but wishful thinking.

The film offers some promising ideas in its plot, but unfortunately, they are overshadowed by its generic and unoriginal spiritual nature. This is mainly due to the screenplay, which fails to infuse the expected cleverness and originality into the familiar genre clichés.  Some of the ideas come from the movie’s first act.  The story explores the estranged relationship between Anthony and Lee, with the former haunted by his wife’s death and drinking addiction amid the film's supernatural encounters.  However, what I appreciate the most is that it references the “incidents” outside production that plagued numerous horror classics like “The Exorcist” and “Poltergeist”.  This led to me discovering that Kevin Williamson, the man behind the “Scream” franchise, was one of the movie’s producers.  This nod would’ve made “The Exorcism” a frightening and crazy reflection of the horrors of blending fiction and reality through filmmaking, primarily through Anthony’s “strange” behavior.  That is until the rest of the movie forgoes that intriguing commentary in favor of its uninspired narrative.  If the filmmakers had kept that reference in and removed the demonic possession element for the rest of the movie, this would’ve made for an unsettling psychological examination of an actor’s difference between reality and imagination.

Joshua John Miller is no stranger to horror, having co-written “The Final Girls”, but he’s also known as the son of Jason Miller, who played Father Damien Karras in “The Exorcist”.  With this fact, it seems the stars have aligned for Miller to carry on the exorcism sub-genre that popularized his late father.  I’ve only seen “The Final Girls” a while ago, and it was quite enjoyable.  However, “The Exorcism” is undoubtedly a far cry from that movie in terms of its tone.  Unlike "The Final Girls," which is a slasher meta-comedy, "The Exorcism" is more of a slow-burning psychological horror drama with a demonic possession element thrown in for good measure.  One thing I can appreciate Miller for is his handling of the atmospheric dread, especially in scenes involving Anthony's descent into madness and a couple of frights.  However, despite its 95-minute runtime, Miller's slow-burn approach has its drawbacks.  While it allows the movie to delve into the characters outside the horror aspect, particularly Anthony and Lee, it also diminishes the tension and scares to the point of being bland.  It’s not as dull as “The Watchers”, but it’s bland enough to make it less entertaining than it should be.

The actors themselves did okay with what they were given regarding their performances.  However, two of them were able to stand out a bit.  One of them is Russell Crowe, whose performance suitably reflects Anthony’s slow yet unsettling transformation.  He may have been in some C or D-level films recently outside his well-known ones, but Crowe knows how to sell the role he’s given, including ones that have him completely unhinged.  The other is David Hyde Pierce, who performed decently as Father Conor, the priest serving as a consultant to Anthony for the movie shoot.  Ryan Simpkins was hit and miss regarding her role as Lee, and Sam Worthington made an honest effort to deviate from his “Avatar” franchise, even if his performance as Joe wasn’t perfect.  The film also featured Chloe Bailey continuing her cinematic path outside her music career.  Her performance as Blake wasn’t groundbreaking, but it’ll surely attract some of her fans regardless of how one-dimensional her character is.

Overall, “The Exorcism” fails to exorcise its demons from its generic and disappointing approach to its intriguing concept.  The movie had plenty of opportunities to make its plot work, especially the first act with its commentary on movie set “incidents”.  Unfortunately, it rather sticks to the basics of its mundane script instead of taking advantage of any of its ideas.  Russell Crowe once again delivered the diverting discomfort of his performance, and Joshua John Miller handled the nightmarish atmosphere well.  However, its cliched plot, some forgettable scares, and dull pacing make this supernatural dud an immediate dead on arrival.

D+