There's nothing nicer than watching a low IQ horror movie on a sunny afternoon, even if it were a semi-horror movie. Here I was, all hyped about the prospect of it and close to two hours later, imagine the level of my irritation! As soon as I saw a quote by John Paul II at the beginning of The Rite followed by "based on a true story" I said to myself ohhhhh, shit. And shit it was. We all watched a trailer and I sincerely hope I was not the only one to mistake an exorcist-type of a plot for a horror-thriller type of movie. Afterall, demons were involved, dark shadows, crosses, holy water and such....
Guess what? This one is pure catholic propaganda. I wouldn't be surprised if the catholic church actually backed-up this movie financially. Based on a book (seriously?!!) and non-fiction characters (again, seriously?!!) it tells a story of a soon to be priest experiencing some religious doubts who is sent to Rome to a seminar (held by Ciaran"Julius Cesar"Hinds) and further educated on the topic of demons by father Lucas (Anthony Hopkins). So, horror elements are all there.
But, it's not a horror. It's a drama - one that aims at your sympathy towards the daily struggles with demons that all catholic priests have to go through - and the stressful effects of performing an exorcism. Only, you don't symphatize (especially if you're not religious). It feels.....insane! The idea of it, Hopkins taking part in it, Rutger Hauer's cameo, the demon's name being Bob (as in Beelzebub?), info on priest Michael and priest Lucas' whereabouts (they're still "working" as exorcists)...one word for it all: demented.
2 out of 10.
