The Supernatural Thriller That’s #1 On Netflix
Despite being a month away, the scary season is open on Netflix, with The Pope’s Exorcist, a 2023 supernatural horror movie starring Russell Crowe, hitting #1 on Netflix, surpassing Gal Gadot’s Heart of Stone and a popular family animation Despicable Me, along with several other high-grossing titles. Considering that it arrived at the platform just over a week ago, on August 16, the Pope’s Exorcist didn’t take long to shoot to the top.
The Pope’s Exorcist Is Based On Books By A Vatican Priest
For the uninitiated into the genre of religious horrors, The Pope’s Exorcist is based on An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories books, written by Father Gabriele Amorth, the Chief Exorcist of the Vatican, with Crowe portraying the real-life Father Amorth, the personal exorcist to the Pope, and an earthy, scooter-riding, humorous, practical man.
To be entirely honest, there’s nothing spectacular about The Pope’s Exorcist, apart from Crowe’s performance, which is probably the reason why the movie shot to #1 place on Netflix charts.
Russell Crowe is an accomplished actor whose portfolio houses several astonishing performances, but his knack for portraying evil embodiments is massive, though often overlooked or underappreciated.
Take Mr. Hyde from 2017’s The Mummy as an example; it was a brilliant performance, and quite possibly the best Mr. Hyde we received since 2003’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen—though Crowe’s version is noticeably eviler than Jason Flemyng’s portrayal. But, we digress.
The Pope’s Exorcist‘s narrative follows Crowe’s Father Amorth, who is sent to Spain to visit a possessed boy named Henry in Spain. Enlisting the help of a local priest, Amorth attempts to exorcise Henty, but without success, as he utters blasphemous phrases during the rite.
Unlike traditional religious horrors, which typically end with the protagonist dying, like in 1999’s Stigmata, or quite ambiguously, like 2010’s The Last Exorcism, The Pope’s Exorcist has a lighter ending that promises the continuation of the story.
Through a series of events in the film, the Pope falls ill, Amorth finds an underground complex that was sealed off by the Church as demonically dangerous and finds evidence that the founder of the Spanish Inquisition, also an exorcist, was actually demonically possessed, which allowed demons to infiltrate the Church.
The two priests then participate in the sacrament of Confession and Absolution and ready themselves to exorcise Henry once again; however, things go awry and Amorth offers himself to be possessed.
By the film’s end, Amorth drives the demon away, the Pope and Henry recover, and the Vatican purchases the Abby with the underground complex, which was previously sealed off. The movie ends with Amorth joking that he and the local priest are going to Hell after the Church informs them that they will be visiting another 199 evil sites revealed by the map in the complex.
The masses loved The Pope’s Exorcist—the movie has an 81/100 audience score at Rotten Tomatoes based on more than 500 verified ratings.
Unlike traditional religious horrors, which typically end with the protagonist dying, like in 1999’s Stigmata, or quite ambiguously, like 2010’s The Last Exorcism, 2014 The Taking of Deborah Logan, and 2018’s Hereditary—though the latter actually isn’t a religious or exorcism horror—The Pope’s Exorcist actually has a lighter ending that promises the continuation of the story. However, the film’s average reviews among the critics post question of how, not if, the narrative will continue.
However, the movies aren’t made for the critics but for the masses, and the masses loved The Pope’s Exorcist—the movie has an 81/100 audience score at Rotten Tomatoes based on more than 500 verified ratings. The movie owes part of its success to its stellar cast, which, apart from the Academy Award-winning Russell Crowe, also includes Danial Zovatto (It Follows), Alex Essoe (Midnight Mass), Franco Nero (Letters to Juliet), Cornell John (EastEnders) and Peter DeSouza-Feighoney, in his feature film debut.
In terms of numbers, The Pope’s Exorcist was a quiet box office hit when it debuted in theaters back in April, grossing a worldwide total of $72 million against a pretty modest budget of just $18 million.
The movie was released alongside Renfield, Mafia Mamma, Sweetwater, and Suzume but quickly rose to a position second to holdover The Super Mario Bros. Movie. As previously stated, the critics didn’t really like the movie, calling it a standard-issue holy horror without much to offer apart from the sanctified performance of its cast.
A Sequel Could Be On The Way
Following the average response among the critics and the positive response among the audiences, Bloody Disgusting reported that the sequel to The Pope’s Exorcist is already in early development, with Crowe reprising his role. Those interested can watch The Pope’s Exorcist on Netflix.
