There are urban legends abound that paranormal activity is seen on horror movie sets. The director takes his cues from that and presents moments that have no explanation. But the film goes deeper than that. It has been indicated that Miller was abused by a priest during his childhood. Hence playing the role of a priest in itself proves painful for him. Add to this the presence of real-life priest, Father Connor (David Hyde Pierce) and things get worse. It doesn’t help that she doesn’t get along with her 16-year-old daughter, Lee (Ryan Simkins), who has run away from boarding school after a fight with her principal over gay rights. Lee is joined by her father’s co-star Blake Holloway (Chloe Bailey), who plays a demon-possessed girl in the film. Fed up with his insecurities and the fact that his director (Adam Goldberg) is an insensitive person, he begins drinking again. But there’s a lot more going on here. It might not just be the alcohol that’s consuming him. He himself may be a victim of demonic possession…
It seems that director Joshua John Miller plans to make a psychological horror film that pays homage to The Exorcist and then eventually make a full-blown horror film. Coincidentally, Miller’s father Jason Miller played Father Damien Karras, one of the protagonists in the original film. So there’s a lot of subtext going on here. Sam Worthington plays Karras in a brief, brief role here. The Exorcism faithfully copies moments from its parent film, including the priest jumping from a high-floor window and offering to sacrifice his life for another.
Do you really need to show the hero in a movie being an actual monster battling his inner demons? Russell Crowe, who previously played an exorcist in The Pope’s Exorcist (2023), seems just as clueless as the rest of us. But even bad material doesn’t stop you from being an Oscar-winning actor. So he plays brilliantly and delivers another brilliant performance. But even the best actor in the world can’t drive away the ghost of a badly written script. If the actual exorcism scene is weak and doesn’t scare the audience, then no amount of low-light camerawork (which raises another question – why does no one turn on the light switches in this movie?) or jump scares will not work. Will do.
The Exorcism film provides fan service for horror film lovers, especially those who consider The Exorcist to be the greatest horror film of all time. Watch the film to see how a great actor can act even amidst faded glory…