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<\/p>\nA former star actor with a dark past tries to make a comeback in Joshua John Miller\u2019s The Exorcism.<\/p>\n
Russell Crowe plays the actor, Anthony Miller. He\u2019s cast as a priest, Father Arlington, in a supernatural horror film involving an exorcism. Miller was an altar boy who was molested. His wife became very ill with cancer and died. He took to drink and drugs. He has an uneasy relationship with his 16-year-old daughter Lee (Ryan Simpkins). She calls her father \u201cTony\u201d, much to his chagrin. She\u2019s been expelled from school, but Miller has managed to reduce it to a suspension. But, as she isn\u2019t due to resume school until the following semester. So when he\u2019s cast in the horror movie, she becomes his personal assistant.<\/p>\n
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Miller struggles with the role. He can\u2019t remember his lines. He doesn\u2019t invest in the character, causing angst to the director Peter (Adam Goldberg), who took a big risk in casting him. Peter is seeking authenticity and implores Miller to confront past traumas in realising Father Arlington. But this only hastens Miller\u2019s decline. Miller goes back to the bottle, gets off his meds, sleepwalks and has blackouts. Meanwhile, Lee \u2013 a budding scriptwriter \u2013 strikes up a relationship with Blake Holloway (Chloe Bailey). Holloway is the young actor cast as the possessed person in the film.<\/p>\n
Lee is beside herself watching her father\u2019s descent. She eventually turns to a consultant priest on the movie, Father George Conor (David Hyde Pierce) \u2013 who is also a clinical psychologist \u2013 for help. As chaos reigns, the only answer is to perform an exorcism on Anthony Miller.<\/p>\n
Director Joshua John Miller wrote the script for The Exorcism alongside M.A. Fortin. The film\u2019s origins stem from the mother of all horror movies, The Exorcist. As a child, Josh watched his dad, Jason Miller as doomed Father Damien Karras, fling himself out a window in that film\u2019s climax. Jason told Josh how \u201ccursed\u201d The Exorcist was, outlining the litany of disasters that accompanied the picture.<\/p>\n
The filmmakers have employed all the tools of the trade \u2013 darkness, flickering lights, creepy sounds, religious objects \u2013 in bringing the subject to life anew. I appreciated the first two thirds of the film more than the run home, when matters really got out of hand for the protagonists. I thought the set up was strong and the acting solid.<\/p>\n
With that superb timbre in his voice, Russell Crowe is credible as the angst-riddled protagonist. He\u2019s a bundle of contradictions, with much repenting to do. Ryan Simpkins is a dab hand in establishing the awkward relationship between daughter and father. I thought the push-and-pull in her persona was one of the movie\u2019s highlights. Chloe Bailey adds another layer, playing a character with her own issues. Sam Worthington is under-utilised as another actor cast in movie.<\/p>\n