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Fresh Blood
The Pope’s Exorcist and Renfield
By John J. Bennett screens@northcoastjournal.com
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THE POPE’S EXORCIST. Most — nearly all — exorcism movies come off as nasty, pale hokum, and for good reason. The Exorcist (1973) towers over all of them, the alpha and the omega, a procedural examination that presents itself without cynicism and without any seeming agenda. It does the essential work of believing its own story, at least during its running time, and thus treating the audience with intelligence. The movie is exceptionally well crafted, of course, compellingly acted and all of that. But above and within its competence is its inherent honesty, a unique integrity that demands the mental flexibility of a child from both its creators and observers.
I obviously cannot say whether William Peter Blatty, William Friedkin, Linda Blair or Ellen Burstyn believe in demonic possession, but from strictly textual reading of the document they’ve provided, it is apparent that in making The Exorcist, they approached the material with an absence of disbelief; which, of course, is also our job as audience.
Few to none of the copies of copies of that ur-text have come anywhere close to its insight and vulnerability, much less its legitimate scariness — although for my money The Conjuring (2013) should be part of the conversation — partially because they are often quick cheapies manufactured to exploit all-but-guaranteed profitability. But perhaps more vitally, the delicacy of managing skepticism (balancing simple-minded reverence and convenient disbelief), represents an ever-rarer strain of creative intelligence.
In fairness both to the subject at hand and my opinion of it, The Pope’s Exorcist is not necessarily a work of high art or moral philosophy. Rather, it is a sort of action-comedy from the director of Overlord (2018) with Russell Crowe in the titular role going up against the king of Hell in a fallen-angel black site. It also features a naked woman exploding into a fountain of blood; so, you know, caveat emptor.
Because Crowe remains an actor of considerable power, though, and Julius Avery a director capable of transmuting and hybridizing genre with technique and vision, The Pope’s Exorcist is something both greater than and apart from the
