Directed by Joshua John Miller and featuring Russell Crowe, The Exorcism revolves around actor Anthony Miller and a series of strange sinister occurrences that follow when he is offered a role in a horror film. The role of the priest was previously accepted by another actor, but while rehearsing his lines on the set, he experienced supernatural phenomena, which led to his mysterious death. After he struggled with addiction, Anthony was out of work. The horror film was his last hope of reviving his career. His daughter, Lee, was expelled from school, and she returned home to live with her father. They shared a strained relationship, and Lee preferred to keep their interactions to a minimum.
Spoiler Alert
How did Anthony Miller’s past affect his present?
Anthony took to drinking and drugs after his wife was diagnosed with cancer. While his wife was sick, he partied. After she passed away, he felt guilty for not having been there for her. He blamed himself for using her sickness as an excuse to let loose. It was not just his wife who needed him then, but also his daughter. She was young and impressionable, and instead of being a good parent, he tried to drink away his pain. He decided to revive his career after his time in rehab. Anthony was searching for a sense of purpose, and he thought maybe acting would bring discipline into his life. He also hoped that his daughter would feel proud after seeing him on screen. He had been a terrible father figure and was eager to become better. He prepared for the audition for the film titled ‘The Georgetown Project”. Lee helped him memorize his lines, and their conversation indicated how disappointed Lee was with her father. She had worked on a script and sent the draft to him for feedback, but she never received a response. A year ago, Anthony was in rehab, and he had no clue about it. Lee was trying her best to forgive her father, but the past was not as easy to forget.
Anthony struggled with his lines when he arrived at the sets for the audition. The director tried to make him feel comfortable in front of the camera. He discussed his addiction journey and also his life as an altar boy when he was young. But the memories reminded him of his past trauma. The director, Peter, was well aware that Anthony was abused during his time as an altar boy at the church, yet he did not hesitate to learn more. Anthony was visibly uncomfortable, and he decided to leave, assuming that he was not right for the role. Before he stepped out, Peter asked him to repeat the lines from the mass that he had learned as a young boy. Maybe he wanted to see the trauma on Anthony’s face since his role as the priest would require him to pour all his emotions (but even then, the technique was quite triggering). Anthony was ultimately selected for the role, and the moment he became the priest, there was a sudden shift in his behavior.
Why was Anthony acting strange?
Anthony was quite happy when he was selected for the role, but he started to notice that his past trauma continued to haunt him. When he met Father Conor, a priest he could consult with for the role, he felt quite uncomfortable. He was reminded of his days as an altar boy and the abuse he went through. There was something eerie about the set that, from the moment Anthony started to get ready in his vanity van, he was not feeling alright. Lee joined her father on the set as his personal assistant, and even though she did not believe in the supernatural, her romantic interest, Blake Holloway, showed her around the set and expressed how such films tended to have an indescribable impact. She had her assistant burn sage leaves for protection. The uncanny robot replicas caught Lee’s eye, and seeing them short circuit added to the horror. Lee was spooked upon entering the cold room; she could almost feel the presence of a spirit there.
The first sign of attempted possession in Anthony was when his nose started to bleed after he saw himself in the priest costume. Soon, his behavior at home changed, and he often seemed dazed and lost. One night, Lee followed him to the basement and was shocked to see him standing there naked. His eyes were not the same, his behavior was erratic, and he moved at an incredible speed. Lee tried to deal with it logically, and she assumed he was not taking his medication. But more signs of possession started to appear—the blue-black patches on his skin indicated that the spirit was gradually taking control of the body. As desperate as Anthony was to nail the role, he struggled to deliver his lines on set. He could sense that the entire schedule was being delayed because of him, yet he could not concentrate, and he sweated profusely throughout the shoot. To deal with the confusion and embarrassment, Anthony took to drinking again.
One night, Lee returned home to find her father covered in blood. He had cuts on his face and fingers, and Lee assumed he had blacked out once again. She was afraid that her father had resorted to drugs, but he aggressively stated that he was not under the influence of any substance. The entire situation was traumatic for Lee, considering a large portion of her childhood was spent watching her father not in his right senses. Lee was not ready to go through it again, and she warned her father that she would leave if he failed to take his medication and get his life together. The spirit in possession of Anthony’s body was enraged, and it used its force to shut the door, and the lights started to flicker. Anthony walked towards his daughter and reminded her that she had no place to go, and he was all that she had. The next morning, when Lee interacted with her father, he was his old self again. He was ashamed that his daughter had to take care of him, and all he wanted for her was to go back to school again.
What happened to Father Conor?
While the crew members expressed their disappointment in Anthony, Father Conor tried to understand what Anthony was going through. He sensed that there was a distance between him and his daughter, and he encouraged Lee to forgive him. She decided to discuss with the priest the strange occurrences she had recently witnessed. She was afraid that her father was going through an unexplainable change, and that resulted in him sleepwalking and acting erratically. Father Conor had studied psychology in college, and he preferred logical explanation over fear-mongering. He believed that there must have been a past trauma that was bothering Anthony, and he needed to deal with it. Lee played an audio she recorded when her father prayed in Latin all of a sudden. She wanted to know what the words meant, and Father Conor stated that Anthony was asked to make way for the demon Molech, to prepare for his arrival, and to sacrifice children to please the demon. Since Molech was the demon Anthony was supposed to be facing in the film, Father Conor believed that the role had affected him deeply, and maybe it was all part of method acting. Father Conor promised to help Lee, and all he asked for in return was for her and Blake to pray. He could sense that the girls were tense, and he reassured them that the signs were not necessarily indicative of something spooky; he had dealt with many such cases, and they were often meaningless and insignificant.
After the girls left, Father Conor sat down to read more about the demon. It was evident that the situation was not as trivial as he was making it. Anthony’s health deteriorated, and one day when he was at the film set, he distorted his body in a demonic way, leaving the crew members in complete panic. At that moment, Father Conor knew that Molech had taken possession of Anthony’s body. Crew members started to run out of the set as Anthony continuously banged his head vigorously on the table. Anthony was somehow taken back home, and Peter decided to replace him with Joe. That night, when Joe was practicing his lines at the set, Anthony brutally murdered him. Joe was in the priest costume when he was killed, suggesting that Anthony’s deep-seated hatred that seemed to stem from childhood abuse played its part as well.
The demon living in Anthony’s body later attacked Lee, but thankfully Blake was by her side to deal with the situation. The demon (Anthony) jumped out of the window, and while it is not clearly explained what happened to his body, Anthony seemed to have been taken away by the demon. Lee begged Father Conor to save Anthony from Molech. They arrived at the cold room, where Lee had felt the strong presence of the demon. With the Bible in his hand, Father Conor entered the room, ready to perform an exorcism. Lee was worried when Father Conor did not return. She courageously entered the cold room. There was initially no one there, but once she picked up the Bible from the floor, she was transported to the dimension where the demon had held the priest and Blake captive and paralyzed.
Did Anthony and Lee survive?
The demon was still living in Anthony’s body, and it was completely under control now. Lee tried to read from the Bible, but the demon was not affected. Lee needed to believe in the verses, and when she asked the demon to leave, it stated that Anthony had been dead for years, perhaps suggesting that it was because Anthony was filled with self-hatred that it was easy to take possession of him. The demon tried to make Lee hate her father by trying to establish that he never wanted her to be born. When the demon grabbed hold of Lee, she wounded him with the crucifix she had. Father Conor and Blake broke free from their paralytic state.
In The Exorcism‘s ending, the demon needed a vessel, and Father Conor decided to submit himself to the demon. His bold decision allowed Anthony to survive as the demon transferred from his body to the priest’s. Anthony tried to read from the Bible, but the demon burned it down. Anthony realized that he needed to repeat the verses with belief in his heart, and it worked. When Anthony, Lee, and Blake together chanted the names of the saints and angels, the demon was tormented. Anthony stabbed Father Conor to destroy the vessel, and the body ultimately caught fire. Father Conor’s sacrifice saved Lee and Anthony. Even though they were scarred after the incident, Anthony confessed that, strangely, the incident brought him and his daughter close. Their relationship had drastically improved, but Anthony continued to repent for his mistakes. Moving on was not easy, especially after what they had been through, but he looked forward to the future and hoped life would be better for them both. Lee now had faith in her father, and she chose to send a script to him for his insight. A body had to be sacrificed for the demon to leave, and Father Conor volunteered to protect Anthony and Lee. The demon was in search of the bodies of sinners, and that was why he managed to possess Anthony.
The Exorcism ends on a hopeful note, with Lee learning to trust her father again and Anthony trying his best to become a better parent.
