The Rotten Tomatoes score has been revealed for Russell Crowe’s new horror film The Exorcism. The film tells the story of an actor struggling with addiction and personal issues who goes to work on the set of a horror movie only for his pysche to unravel during the shoot. Crowe takes the lead role in The Exorcism, with a supporting cast that includes Ryan Simpkins, Sam Worthington, Chloe Bailey, Adam Goldberg, Adrian Pasdar, and David Hyde Pierce.

Now, the Rotten Tomatoes score has been revealed for The Exorcism. At the time of writing, the Exorcism has a rotten 32% Tomatometer. This score comes from 22 critics, and is subject to change as the film is being released this weekend. As such, The Exorcism also does not have an audience score yet.

Why The Exorcism’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Isn’t Necessarily Dismal for the Film

So far, critics are saying that The Exorcism has a weak narrative a overdone acting from lead performer Crowe as well as many of the movie’s supporting characters. Others commented on the film’s disjointed tone, including Collider‘s Emma Kiely, who said that “it can’t find its footing between comedy and horror.” The San Francisco Chronicle‘s Mick LaSalle was even more biting in his response, saying that the film “goes to hell in all sense of the phrase.” While a number of critics agree that The Exorcism has great cinematography, complaints about the acting and weak script were a common refrain.

The Exorcism‘s negative reviews may be disappointing for fans of Crowe’s previous work, The Pope’s Exorcist, who were looking for a Crowe horror to keep them satiated while waiting for the sequel, The Pope’s Exorcist 2. When looking back on The Pope’s Exorcist, however, it is important to note that the film had only a 50% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes. Even with this mediocre Tomatometer, The Pope’s Exorcist managed to get an 81% approval rating among audiences. So too could The Exorcism break the critical curse by being well-liked by audiences.

The Pope’s Exorcist also had a unique success story when it came to the box office. Made on an estimated $18 million budget, The Pope’s Exorcist‘s $76.9 million gross made the film profit, though it was not an exorbitant box office take home. Despite its modest earnings, The Pope’s Exorcist went on to be a major streaming success, later topping the Netflix charts. As such, neither The Exorcism‘s early reviews nor what it ends up doing at the initial box office run are indicative of doom for the Crowe horror film.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes