When it comes to exorcism films, I doubt that The Rite adds anything new to the genre. However, I was drawn to the film because of the fact that it was directed by Mikael Håfström, who previously directed 1408 (one my my favourite haunted house films of recent years), and stars Anthony Hopkins (who has always been great in the horror genre).
The films deals with a young faith-challenged priest who goes to an exorcism seminar in Rome and is tutored by an experienced exorcist. The focus of the film is about the young priest slowly regaining his faith, so he can be able to perform an exorcism himself.
There are undoubtedly better exorcism films out there (last year’s The Last Exorcism featured similar themes, with somewhat creepier results). However, the film features a great demonic performance by Hopkins in the latter portion of the film when he becomes possessed himself. It’s for that alone that the film was worth seeing.
8/10
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