The Pope's Exorcist trailer: Russell Crowe's exorcist faces a powerful demon in this horror movie. Watch

A trailer for The Pope's Exorcist is here. The supernatural horror film is directed by Overlord helmer Julius Avery and stars Russell Crowe as Chief Exorcist of the Vatican Father Gabriele Amorth. The film has Amorth investigating a demon who has possessed a young boy. The demon, in the boy's body, demands the presence of a particular priest, who turns out to be Amorth. The first priest who is brought in meets a grisly fate, along with many others. Apparently, the powerful demon has faced the Vatican before, and it was all covered up for some reason. The demon seems to have a score to settle. The film is based on Amorth's memoir An Exorcist Tells His Story, and yes Amorth, an Italian Catholic priest and exorcist, actually existed. he claimed to have performed 160,000 exorcisms.

The film looks interesting, but a lot like countless horror films based on exorcism, starting from the king of such movies — The Exorcist — itself. And Avery does seem to have been inspired by that iconic film in terms of the horror elements and how demon possession transpires. Crowe's presence alone justifies the ticket price, we hazard. And knowing Avery's work in Overlord, he will instill his own brand of humour in the movie to lighten the dark and gloom in the movie a little.

Daniel Zovatto, Alex Essoe, and Franco Nero also star in The Pope's Exorcist. Michael Petroni and Evan Spiliotopoulos have penned the screenplay with a story by Michael Petroni and R. Dean McCreary & Chester Hastings.

The official synopsis reads, "Inspired by the actual files of Father Gabriele Amorth, Chief Exorcist of the Vatican (Academy Award®-winner Russell Crowe), The Pope’s Exorcist follows Amorth as he investigates a young boy’s terrifying possession and ends up uncovering a centuries-old conspiracy the Vatican has desperately tried to keep hidden."

The Pope's Exorcist releases on April 7 in India and on April 14 in the US.

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