You’d be forgiven an eye-roll or two on hearing of yet another ‘exorcisty’ film. Five follow-ups to The Exorcist, William Friedkin’s unholy grail of a classic from 1973, and countless unrelated exorcism-titled movies have nearly all been diabolically disappointing.
If that eye-roll morphed into a full-on, Regan-esque head spin on learning Russell Crowe is the star of another one – The Exorcism – that would be understandable too. An Oscar-winning colossus following 2000’s Gladiator, Crowe’s box office seems to have fallen off a cliff – having him on a poster now feels like a guarantor of mediocrity (see: 2014’s Noah, 2020’s Unhinged, 2022’s Poker Face).
