Every year, at least one horror movie comes along that is so bafflingly mediocre, so spiritually confused, so aggressively beige, it causes you to momentarily believe in demons—not because the film is scary, but because clearly someone cursed the production.
The Exorcism (2024) is exactly that movie.
Russell Crowe, who just last year gleefully scooted around Rome on a Vespa in The Pope’s Exorcist, returns to the genre—but this time he looks like he wants to exorcise himself from the film contract. The energy he gives off isn’t “possessed by a demon”; it’s “I read the script too late.”
The Plot: Exorcising Audience Expectations
The film opens with an actor being murdered by a supernatural force on the set of a horror movie called The Georgetown Project—and honestly, this is the most exciting part. The movie peaks in the first five minutes. It is all downhill, like a priest on roller skates.
Enter Anthony Miller (Russell Crowe), a formerly alcoholic, formerly successful actor, formerly someone who made good career choices. He’s hired to replace the dead man, which is exactly the energy this movie radiates—“eh, you’ll do.”
He’s joined by his daughter Lee, a teen so chronically stressed that she looks like she’s been in this movie longer than Crowe has. She becomes increasingly concerned that her father is either:
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Regressing into addiction,
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Having a mental breakdown, or
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Victim to supernatural forces.
Unfortunately, the correct answer is:
4. Stuck inside a film that doesn’t know what it’s doing.
The Characters: Possessed, Depressed, and Poorly Addressed
Anthony Miller (Russell Crowe)
Crowe gives a genuinely strong performance, and that is the saddest part of the movie. He tries. He sweats. He screams. He convulses so hard you’d think the director was tasering him between takes. But the script gives him nothing to do except wander around sweatily, mope about trauma, and occasionally shout Latin like a man trying to read a menu in a language he learned on Duolingo.
Lee (Ryan Simpkins)
Lee is written like a walking Tumblr post. She’s worried about her dad. She’s grieving her mom. She’s avoiding school like it’s been possessed by FAFSA. She befriends Blake, who seems cool until the script remembers women in horror movies aren’t allowed to have personalities unless they’re possessed.
Blake (Chloe Bailey)
Chloe Bailey’s character mostly exists to wear heavy makeup, scream, and deliver lines like she’s working overtime on a CW show. She plays a possessed girl in the movie-within-the-movie and ends up—surprise—almost possessed in real life. I guess method acting only goes so far when demons are involved.
Father Conor (David Hyde Pierce)
This is the one moment of true horror in the movie:
Niles Crane from Frasier is now doing exorcisms.
Sadly, he is the best actor in the movie, which only highlights how bad everything else is. He speaks half his lines like he’s explaining wine pairings, even while fighting Satan.
The Script: A Possession Movie Possessed by Half-Finished Ideas
The film desperately wants to be:
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a meta satire of exorcism films,
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a serious drama about childhood trauma,
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a Hollywood commentary,
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a supernatural thriller,
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AND a father-daughter redemption story.
Instead, it succeeds at being none of these, but it does accomplish the rare feat of feeling like five separate films edited together by someone who fell asleep.
Every time it tries to say something meaningful about trauma or abuse, it immediately undercuts the moment with a generic scare, random death, or Crowe violently throwing himself into furniture.
This movie is so confused it might actually need an exorcism.
The Horror: More Snooze Than Boo
Let’s talk scares.
Actually, let’s not, because the film barely has any.
The “possession” sequences mostly consist of:
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Crowe twitching like he’s passing a kidney stone
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mirrors breaking for unclear reasons
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actors staring into space like they forgot their lines
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sudden noises so predictable even the popcorn doesn’t jump
By the time Joe (Sam Worthington) dies via flying glass, I was more concerned about the crew having to sweep it up than the actual death.
The demon itself is so underwhelming that I started to suspect it was shy, or maybe even embarrassed.
The Third Act: Exorcism by PowerPoint
The climax takes place on a soundstage, because the movie is very proud of being meta. Father Conor attempts an exorcism. Anthony is possessed. Blake is paralyzed. Lee shouts at everyone. Russell Crowe contorts like a man trying to win limbo.
There is fire.
There is Latin.
There is yelling.
There is a crucifix stabbed into someone.
And yet… nothing feels scary.
The demon goes down about as convincingly as a kid pretending to faint in a school play. Even the fire looks tired.
The Ending: Hallmark Vibes After 90 Minutes of Demonic Confusion
After defeating evil, Miller and Lee reconnect in a soft, sentimental moment that feels like it escaped from another movie entirely—a movie with far fewer demons and far more emotional competence.
Lee starts writing a screenplay, likely titled:
“What I Would’ve Done Differently If I Wrote This Movie Instead.”
The Final Verdict: Needs an Exorcism, a Rewrite, and maybe a Priest
The Exorcism is what happens when you take:
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the bones of a good story,
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the budget of a mid-tier horror flick,
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a talented cast,
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a meta concept with genuine potential,
…and then smother it with clumsy writing, messy editing, and the pacing of a Gregorian chant.
Russell Crowe delivers a performance far better than the movie deserves, but even he cannot save a script that feels like it was written during a séance gone wrong.
For a film meant to expose Hollywood demons, this script is the real monster.
Rating: 2/10
One point for Crowe.
One point for David Hyde Pierce doing exorcisms like he’s recommending Cabernet.
If you want good exorcism horror, watch The Exorcist.
If you want good Russell Crowe exorcism chaos, watch The Pope’s Exorcist.
If you want to cleanse your home of evil spirits, light a candle.
If you want to waste 90 minutes?
Congratulations—this film has you covered.
