The Exorcist Ripoff On Netflix That’s Better Than Exorcist: Believer
Over the weekend, David Gordon Green brought The Exorcist franchise back to life with The Exorcist: Believer. Unfortunately for Green, Universal Studios, and Blumhouse Productions, fans were less than happy with the freshly dreamt-up sequel. But, Netflix subscribers can check out the other possession-based movie that came out earlier this year by streaming The Pope’s Exorcist.
The Pope’s Exorcist, starring Russell Crowe, is streaming on Netflix.
Starring Russell Crowe, The Pope’s Exorcist tells the haunting based-on-a-true-story tale of the Chief Exorcist of the Vatican, Father Gabriele Amorth. Writers Michael Petroni and Evan Spiliotopoulos crafted a screenplay based on the Father’s 1990 book, An Exorcist Tells His Story as well as his 1992 book An Exorcist: More Stories. Directed by Julius Avery (Samaritan, Son of a Gun), the film chilled and thrilled audiences when it arrived in cinemas back in April.
With Russell Crowe starring as Father Gabriele Amorth, The Pope’s Exorcist tells the story of Amorth’s battle to exorcise a demon from the body of a young child. With no one else to turn to, the child’s family looks to the Catholic Church for help, and, being that he is the top man for the job, Amorth travels to their town to aid in the possession. While there, he and his assistant discover ancient secrets buried by the Catholic Church.
[S]hortly after its release, it was announced that The Pope’s Exorcist would be heading into sequel territory.
Along with Russell Crowe (Gladiator), The Pope’s Exorcist also features performances by Franco Nero (John Wick: Chapter 2), Alex Essoe (The Haunting of Bly Manor), Daniel Zovatto (It Follows), Cornell John (Adulthood), Ralph Ineson (the Harry Potter franchise), Laurel Marsden, Ryan O’Grady, and Peter DeSouza-Feighoney.
Although it met mixed reviews from critics and fans, The Pope’s Exorcist managed to hold its own at the global box office against other films including The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Renfield, Suzume, Mafia Mama, and Sweetwater. While it may have come as a shock to those who weren’t overly impressed by the feature, shortly after its release, it was announced that The Pope’s Exorcist would be heading into sequel territory.
As of right now, no further details have been released about what the story will be about or when fans can expect it, but it has been confirmed that Russell Crowe will reprise his role as Father Gabriel Amorth.
While The Pope’s Exorcist is in another universe of possession horror flicks, William Friedkin’s classic 1973 film, The Exorcist played a big part in the story. Apparently, Father Gabriel Amorth was a huge fan of the Linda Blair and Ellen Burstyn-led film, so much so that he connected with William Friedkin with the Father and director striking up a friendship. T
he duo’s friendship blossomed so much that in 2017, Friedkin helmed the documentary, The Devil and Father Amorth, which would turn out to be the last production released before the filmmaker’s death on August 7, 2022.
There’s no doubt that the world has been in need of a really great exorcism film over the last few decades as the final two The Exorcist franchise prequels came out almost 20 years ago.
As for the eye behind The Pope’s Exorcist, Australian native Julius Avery has long been in the game of making pulse-pounding films for the masses. His debut feature-length film, Son of a Gun, starred Ewan McGregor, with his sophomore vehicle, Overlord, led by Jovan Adepo and produced by J.J. Abrams.
Just before The Pope’s Exorcist, Avery worked alongside the legendary Sylvester Stallone in Prime Video’s feature-length adaptation of the Mythos Comics graphic novel, Samaritan.
There’s no doubt that the world has been in need of a really great exorcism film over the last few decades as the final two The Exorcist franchise prequels came out almost 20 years ago.
Although The Pope’s Exorcist scratched the itch, many fans were holding out hope that David Gordon Green’s The Exorcist: Believer would be up to the same bar of excellence as the Friedkin film that started it all. Bringing in stars including Leslie Odom Jr., Jennifer Nettles, and Ann Dowd as well as Ellen Burstyn and Linda Blair reprise their roles from the original film, The Exorcist: Believer didn’t do quite as hot during its opening weekend as was to be expected.
With a sequel on the way, The Pope’s Exorcist stands in a place of power and possibility to overtake the rest of David Gordon Green’s The Exorcist trilogy as the top possession movies of the decade. Of course, only time will tell which franchise will come out on top.
