As horror goes, The Pope's Exorcist is more on the action-packed and classic side, with a possession story that combines elements of grief, mysterious objects, haunted house, history, deception and jump scares. It is well executed and played, and feels like a good, solid horror story with great action energy. As such it deserves a higher rating here than it gets.
Although frightening, the film will definitely not be the scariest horror you'll ever see. It relies on well-known horror tropes, which allows it to quickly get to the point of exorcising and drive the story forwards, sometimes more akin to an action-thriller.
This reliance on established cues however, also means it can mix new elements in it. The contentious relationship of main protagonist priest Gabriele Amorth (Crow's character) with the church being the absolute highlight for me. The dialogue in these scenes is often better than the horror elements all together. And a nice hidden sense of humor about faith tops it off well.
Amorth as a character is also highly lovable (what's in a name), and Crow's depiction of him is another highlight for the actor. Which is saying something... because in real life Amorth was quite controversial. However, this is more of a fantastical historical demon story, that seems to just use a name to make a good movie, and in no way seems historically accurate. There seems to even be a mild setup for future story, so maybe we'll see more.
All in all, don't let the lower ratings from reviewers fool you. Horror always gets a bad rap from them. This is a well-executed and entertaining exorcism story with a focus on action, twists and turns and some deeper historical thoughts. In other words, you'll have a good time.
Although frightening, the film will definitely not be the scariest horror you'll ever see. It relies on well-known horror tropes, which allows it to quickly get to the point of exorcising and drive the story forwards, sometimes more akin to an action-thriller.
This reliance on established cues however, also means it can mix new elements in it. The contentious relationship of main protagonist priest Gabriele Amorth (Crow's character) with the church being the absolute highlight for me. The dialogue in these scenes is often better than the horror elements all together. And a nice hidden sense of humor about faith tops it off well.
Amorth as a character is also highly lovable (what's in a name), and Crow's depiction of him is another highlight for the actor. Which is saying something... because in real life Amorth was quite controversial. However, this is more of a fantastical historical demon story, that seems to just use a name to make a good movie, and in no way seems historically accurate. There seems to even be a mild setup for future story, so maybe we'll see more.
All in all, don't let the lower ratings from reviewers fool you. Horror always gets a bad rap from them. This is a well-executed and entertaining exorcism story with a focus on action, twists and turns and some deeper historical thoughts. In other words, you'll have a good time.