Russell Crowe's two exorcism films actually couldn't be more different

This week, cinemagoers get to see Russell Crowe dress as a priest and yell at a demonic entity. That may remind some people of the movie last year in which Russell Crowe dressed as a priest and yelled at a demonic entity, but with an Italian accent.

On paper, there are lots of similarities between last year's The Pope's Exorcist and this year's The Exorcism. It's even more remarkable, in fact, given the absence of horror in Crowe's filmography up until 2023. You wait 30 years for a Russell Crowe exorcism movie to turn up and then two arrive within a year like spooky buses.

But actually, these movies couldn't be more different to each other. They'd make for a fascinating double bill, showcasing the two disparate ends of the exorcism sub-genre. Let's dig into both films and explore why they don't have much in common at all beyond Crowe and his costume.

The Pope's Exorcist

First off, it's worth pointing out that The Pope's Exorcist is a brilliant title. It's just the right amount of absurd to make the movie sound fun, particularly when combined with a trailer that featured Crowe growling to those who oppose him: "You talk to my boss... the Pope".

Read more: Yes, The Pope's Exorcist is about a real person (Entertainment Weekly)

The Pope's Exorcist sidled quietly into cinemas without much fanfare, but it quickly gained a bit of a cult following online. Crowe had a great deal of fun with his performance, amping up the ludicrous Italian accent and pootling around on a Lambretta.

But he also understands that storytelling this ridiculous needs arrow-straight gravitas and so he removes his tongue from his cheek in order to sell the horror moments.

It would be wrong to declare The Pope's Exorcist to be a deeply innovative take on the genre because it isn't that at all. Anyone who has seen more than a couple of exorcist tales will know exactly where it is going, but director Julius Avery — who previously had splattery fun with Overlord — is willing to turn up the chaos dial to blast us through all of the clichés.

Read more: Russell Crowe talks The Pope's Exorcist, faith and what he really thinks of Gladiator 2 (Yahoo Entertainment)

Surprisingly, The Pope's Exorcist rose from its humble roots to become a decent-sized box office success, earning $77m (£61m) from a budget of just $18m (£14m). Unsurprisingly, there's a sequel on the way, which will see Crowe make yet another exorcism movie. We're counting down the days.

The Exorcism

The Exorcism was actually filmed way back at the tail end of 2019, years before Crowe took on The Pope's Exorcist. But reshoots were needed and the pandemic got in the way, with the window for that additional filming only swinging open last year. It's actually a little unfortunate that the film has now arrived in the shadow of The Pope's Exorcist.

Read more: The Exorcist is getting another reboot after Believer flop (Digital Spy)

There has been some retooling of the film in that time. Most notably, its more interesting and unique title The Georgetown Project was nixed in favour of the very generic moniker it now has. But there's some real intrigue in the central concept. Crowe plays an actor who's just taken on the role of the priest in a remake of The Exorcist — famously filmed in Georgetown, Washington — and gradually becomes plagued by supernatural spookiness.

Watch: Trailer for The Exorcism, starring Russell Crowe

There's even an extra added wrinkle to all of this in the shape of the film's director and co-writer Joshua John Miller. Previously best known for making the excellent horror-comedy The Final Girls, he's the son of actor Jason Miller, who played one of the lead roles in the original version of The Exorcist as Father Karras.

The sad thing is that, despite all of this, The Exorcism ends up feeling every bit as ordinary and generic as its title. It fails to make the most of using a film set as its setting and mostly deals in just slathering Crowe with ghoulish eye make-up.

Read more: Never before seen footage of The Exorcist hits the internet (Total Film)

While the tone of The Pope's Exorcist is fun ghost train scares, The Exorcism very much goes for the idea of serious drama with horror elements, giving Crowe's character a traumatic back-story. In fairness, that's what The Exorcist did so well back in the 1970s, but it doesn't work here.

So it might look on the surface as if these two Russell Crowe exorcism movies are so similar as to essentially be the same film. But they take very different approaches to the sub-genre's tropes, tricks, and conventions. In my view, one is vastly more successful than the other, but much depends on the sort of horror you like and enjoy.

Read more: Russell Crowe: People want to go to the movies because the 'crazy s*** happens on screen' (Yahoo Entertainment)

Either way, we can now see that Russell Crowe has been a horror icon in the making for his entire career and he's now making good on that potential. If he wants to make many more exorcism movies in the years to come, we're more than willing to watch him wield the crucifix as many times as he likes.

The Exorcism is in UK cinemas now, while The Pope's Exorcist is currently streaming on Sky and NOW.