| Director | Julius Avery |
|---|---|
| Genre | biographical film, horror film, speculative fiction film, supernatural horror film |
| Runtime | 103 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $18 million |
| Box office | $77 million |
In 1987, Father Gabriele Amorth, a World War II Italian partisan and the Pope's personal exorcist, an earthy, scooter-riding, humorous, practical man, visits an Italian village where a teenage boy, Enzo, is seemingly possessed by a demon. With the local priest, Amorth enters the room where Enzo is tied up. While exorcising him, using a Saint Benedict Medal sacramental, Amorth taunts the demon, challenging it to possess a pig; when it does, the pig is killed with a shotgun.
This incident gets Amorth in trouble with a Church tribunal headed by Cardinal Sullivan, who doubts the existence of the Devil, and including Amorth's friend Bishop Lumumba. Amorth replies that evil does exist, yet he did not perform an actual exorcism but rather, some psychological theatrics to help the mentally ill man. Disgusted by Sullivan's lack of faith, Amorth leaves the tribunal.
Julia Vasquez, her young son Henry, and his teenage sister Amy have traveled from the United States to visit an old Spanish abbey, which was Julia's husband's sole legacy to his family after he died in a car accident at which Henry was present. The traumatized Henry has not spoken since the accident. Following a sinister fire, workers, who were restoring the abbey so the family could sell it, are injured and leave. Henry begins behaving bizarrely, but subsequent medical tests reveal nothing physically abnormal.
Henry appears to be possessed, and he demands a priest; Father Tomas Esquibel, a local, arrives, but Henry obscenely derides him. The Pope assigns Amorth to visit the abbey. When he arrives, Henry taunts him with memories of World War II. Amorth advocates the importance of prayer, though Esquibel makes mistakes as an assistant exorcist, including attempting to strangle Henry when Henry antagonizes him, mocking him for his sins.
The duo attempt to exorcise Henry, without success; the demon possesses Amy at times. Amorth finds Julia has not been a religious believer since she was a child; however, he convinces her to pray after she reveals that she believed that her guardian angel helped her in her childhood.
The Pope becomes seriously ill while reading historical documents about the abbey and is hospitalized. Amorth finds a well on the abbey grounds leading to a complex sealed off by the Church as demonically dangerous. He learns that a founder of the Spanish Inquisition, an exorcist, was possessed and left to die in a cage buried underground. Amorth finds the Church concealed this, and eventually discovers the name of Henry's demon, Asmodeus, which knowledge will assist the exorcism.
Amorth and Esquibel participate in the sacrament of Confession and Absolution, mutually confessing and absolving each other of their sins: after Amorth had survived World War II and vowed to serve God in gratitude, a mentally ill woman asked for Amorth's help, and died by suicide when he did not help her due to his pride; and Esquibel fornicated with a young woman he did not later marry. The two ready themselves; Amorth instructs Esquibel to wear a Miraculous Medal necklace. The exorcism succeeds only when Amorth offers himself to be possessed, which fits with Asmodeus's previously stating that he wants to destroy Amorth.
Amorth tries to hang himself, but Asmodeus does not allow it, preferring that Amorth infiltrate and destroy the Church. However, Esquibel helps Amorth drive away Asmodeus and two demonic appearances resembling the women who troubled the men, successfully banishing Asmodeus back to Hell. Both the Pope and Henry recover, and the Vatican purchases and reconsecrates the abbey.
The triumphant duo visit Rome and find Sullivan has taken leave in Guam, and been replaced by Lumumba. Amorth and Esquibel are admitted to a special Church archive; Lumumba tells them they will be visiting 199 other evil sites, with the help of a map Amorth discovered at the abbey, to combat the Devil. Amorth jokes that he and Esquibel are going to Hell.