THE EXORCISM: 2 STARS. “begins with a good premise and goes to hell shortly after that.”
LOGLINE: In “The Exorcism,” a new horror film now playing in theatres, Russell Crowe plays a troubled actor whose life crumbles while shooting a horror film. As he descends into devilish behavior, his daughter is torn between wondering if his conduct is the result of his personal demons, or something actually demonic.
CAST: Russell Crowe, Ryan Simpkins, Sam Worthington, Chloe Bailey, Adam Goldberg, Adrian Pasdar, David Hyde Pierce. Directed by Joshua John Miller.
REVIEW: You know those social media posts that challenge you to change one letter or word in a song or movie title to alter the meaning? Let’s play that with “The Exorcism.” Change the “m” to a “t” and you get one of the greatest horror films ever made. Leave the “m” in place and you get “The Exorcism,” a sluggish, scare-free movie that begins with a good premise and goes to hell shortly after that.
“It’s a psychological drama wrapped in the skin of a horror film,” says the director-within-the-movie, played by Adam Goldberg. That was, perhaps, the goal of the real film, the one we’re seeing in theatres, but the result is a mixed bag.
A riff on the legends of the supernatural events that allegedly plagued the sets of “The Exorcist” and “The Omen,” the new film mines a potentially rich vein of Hollywood history, but the plodding set-up and hokey finale fail to deliver an engrossing character study or pulse-racing horror flick.
At the heart of it all, for better and for worse, is Crowe. His considerable star power goes a long way to keep “The Exorcism” watchable. His descent into bad behavior gives the movie whatever steam it has, but the film’s lack of overall lack of drama and scares is a sin.
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