When Lee Miller (Ryan Simpkins) returns home after being expelled from school she finds her actor dad Tony (Russell Crowe) has got a plum role in a new horror movi, when the intended star suffers a mysterious accident while rehearsing the role of an exorcist priest attempting to drive a demon from a teenage girl (Now where have we heard about that before?). Lee is initially delighted for Tony because at last he seems to be getting his life back on track after going to pieces after his wife’s death and turning to drink and drugs, and she blags her way onto the film set as a runner.
Well so far so good, but then the weird stuff starts happening and it looks as if Tony is going to pieces again as he fluffs lines and then hits the bottle again leading to some very scary dark brooding Russell Crowe behavior. Is it a resumption of the old addictions, or is it a reaction to long suppressed childhood memories of abuse suffered from Catholic clergy from when he was an altar boy, or is it something altogether much more sinister. All I can say spoiler free is that it is just as well the film has a resident Catholic priest as a special advisor in the shape of Father Conor (Frasier Crane’s little brother Niles or David Hyde Pierce as he is known) .
The Exorcism is based upon director Joshua John Miller’s father Jason Miller’s experience playing The Exorcist’s Father Karras. Miller senior’s tales of The Exorcist’s shoot being plagued by actual demonic forces during production are pretty evident in the roots of The Exorcism. .However there are jump scares a plenty, excellent sound design and some lovely broodingly atmospheric camera work in The Exorcism. Crowe as Tony Miller is essentially the Russell Crowe who descends into squalor and madness while gestating some horrible potential future violence that we all know and love, I’m not knocking Crowe’s performance it’s very entertaining, but by far the biggest revelation from The Exorcism cast is just what a great straight actor David Hyde Pierce is, he should definitely do more horror.
Atmospheric broody horror with plenty of scares we give The Exorcism a 666/666. Daily Mail offence scale: smoking, drinking, violence, sex and supernatural threat.
The Exorcism is in UK cinemas from 21 June.
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