‘Shamefully entertaining’ horror film with huge Hollywood icon finally coming to Netflix-Rebecca Sayce-Entertainment – Metro

A divisive new horror film dubbed both ‘enjoyably silly’ as well as ‘soulless’ is coming to Netflix.

The Pope’s Exorcist, released in 2023, stars Russell Crowe as Father Gabriele Amorth, the chief exorcist for the Vatican.

The film sees Amorth visit a young boy named Henry in Spain, who travelled there from America with his family to take over an old abbey. Amorth is tasked to investigate the boy’s strange behaviour which science cannot deduce a cause for.

It is based on the book based on the 1990 book An Exorcist Tells His Story and the 1992 book An Exorcist: More Stories by Father Gabriele Amorth, who is said to have performed more than 60,000 exorcisms.

The Pope’s Exorcist comes to Netflix on January 19 to kickstart 2025’s exciting slate of horror releases, both in cinemas and streaming.

It received mixed reviews from critics, with many praising Gladiator star Crowe’s ‘outstanding’ performance as Amorth.

The Pope’s Exorcist is coming to Netflix this month (Picture: Screen Gems/Everett/REX/Shutterstock)

It is based on the book by Father Gabriel Amorth about his experience with exorcisms and possession (Picture: Screen Gems/Everett/REX/Shutterstock)

‘This movie is shamefully entertaining; it’s an act of dorky blasphemy,’ TIME Magazine wrote in a review.

The Australian added: ‘It is a powerful historical drama and Crowe is outstanding as a real life Vatican exorcist-in-chief.’

Empire echoed the same sentiments: ‘It’s not just the demonic possession victims whose eyes will be rolling back in their skulls – none of this should work, really, and yet the film just about gets away with it, proving the Lord truly does move in mysterious ways.’

Others were not so complimentary, with The Guardian saying: ‘Crowe is by far the film’s strongest suit, pre-empting (some of) our gigglier responses and mitigating against (some of) the material’s flimsiness.’

A scathing comment in Observer’s review reads: ‘An absurdly plotted, blood-drenched haunted house movie…with all the vitality and vivaciousness of a 15th-century corpse.’

RogerEbert.com branded the film ‘a watchable but far-from-special rehash of exorcism movie cliches.’

It stars Russell Crowe as Father Amorth (Picture: Screen Gems/Everett/REX/Shutterstock)

The horror films proved divisive among critics (Picture: Screen Gems/Everett/REX/Shutterstock)

The Pope’s Exorcist currently holds a 51% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes but sits far higher with fans at a respectable 80%.

Speaking about the role, Crowe discussed the research that went into playing Amorth and what made him believe the real priest’s accounts of possession.

‘The key thing for me on this was getting fascinated by him,’ he told Collider.

‘I know it makes me seem very naive, but I had no idea there was a job called the Chief Exorcist of the Vatican. I was like, “Oh, okay.”

‘I thought that was something that somebody had made up, and then I looked it up and realized it was real. And then just tracking back through Father Amorth’s life, it’s a fantastic journey. It’s a fascinating journey.’

The Pope’s Exorcist will be available to stream on Netflix from January 19.

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