A new video series called Modern Horror Movie Talk recently made its premiere on the Arrow in the Head Show YouTube channel, and with each episode of this show we’ll be joining host Tyler Nichols as he covers all new horror releases, the latest horror movie news, and new horror trailers. Films discussed in previous episodes of Modern Horror Movie Talk include Cocaine Bear, Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving, The Pope’s Exorcist, the newly released entry in the Children of the Corn franchise, The Blackening, Scream VI, 65, Infinity Pool, Terrifier 2, Knock at the Cabin, Renfield, and Evil Dead Rise. Now, for the tenth episode, Tyler is joined by special guest John “The Arrow” Fallon to discuss The Pope’s Exorcist, a film that pits Russell Crowe against the forces of evil! You can read our review HERE, and to find out what Tyler and Lance thought of the movie, check out the video embedded above.
A few years ago, The Exorcist director William Friedkin made a documentary about Father Gabriele Amorth (and you can read our review of The Devil and Father Amorth at THIS LINK), who passed away in 2016 at the age of 91. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Screen Gems acquired the rights to tell the story of the exorcist’s life from Michael Patrick Kaczmarek and faith-based media company Loyola Productions. That deal included rights to Amorth’s two international bestselling memoirs An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories, as well as other “detailed accounts of his exploits of pulling the devil out of people all over the world.”
For The Pope’s Exorcist, Crowe takes on the role of real-life figure Father Gabriele Amorth, a priest who acted as chief exorcist of the Vatican and who performed more than 100,000 exorcisms in his lifetime. Amorth wrote two memoirs and detailed his experiences battling Satan and demons that had clutched people in their evil.
Overlord‘s Julius Avery directed The Pope’s Exorcist from a screenplay by Evan Spiliotopoulos, with revisions by Chuck MacLean. The script was based on original drafts by Chester Hastings & R. Dean McCreary, which received revisions from Michael Petroni.
Crowe is joined in the cast by Alex Essoe, Daniel Zovatto, Laurel Marsden, Cornell S. John, and newcomer Peter DeSouza-Feighoney, with Franco Nero, star of the original Django, as the Pope. Ralph Ineson provides the voice of a demon.
Scott Strauss, Michael Bitar, and Giselle Johnson oversaw the project for Screen Gems. The film was produced by Michael Patrick Kaczmarek through his company Jesus & Mary, Loyola president Eddie Siebert, Doug Belgrad of 2.0 Entertainment, and Jeff Katz of Worldwide Katz.
A sequel to The Pope’s Exorcist is now in development.
What did you think of this episode of Modern Horror Movie Talk and of The Pope’s Exorcist? Let us know by leaving a comment below!
A couple of the previous episodes of Modern Horror Movie Talk can be seen below. To see more cool content, head over to the Arrow in the Head Show YouTube channel… and subscribe to the channel while you’re there!