THE CRUCIFIXION (2017)

Studio:       Lionsgate
Director:    Xavier Gens
Writer:       Chad Hayes, Carey W. Hayes
Producer:  Peter Safran, Leon Clarance, Chad Hayes, Carey W. Hayes
Stars:     Sophie Cookson, Corneliu Ulici, Ada Lupu, Brittany Ashworth, Catalin Babliuc, Matthew Zajac, Ivan Gonzalez, Javier Botet

Review Score:

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Summary:

A skeptical journalist investigates the case against a Romanian priest accused of murdering a nun during an exorcism.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Bucharest, Romania 2004 – Father Dumitru and several nuns perform a violent exorcism on Sister Adelina Marinescu, who is believed to be possessed by the demon Agares. Dumitru and four nuns are arrested for murder when the three-day ordeal culminates in Adelina dying after being tied to a cross.

New York Sentinel journalist Nicole Rawlins convinces her editor Phil, who is also her uncle, to let her investigate the case. Phil cautions Nicole to not allow her personal views on faith or the death of her mother to affect her objectivity.

Nicole begins by interviewing Father Dumitru in jail. Dumitru claims he could have saved Adelina, and she only died because Bishop Gornick interfered with the unauthorized rite’s completion. The demon exploited the rift between the two clergymen by forcing Adelina to die on the way to the hospital.

Nicole consults Dr. Dorojan about Adelina’s unusual autopsy report.

At Adelina’s funeral, Nicole briefly meets Adelina’s close friend Sister Vaduva, who insists the young nun wasn’t murdered. Nicole follows a secret passage into the underground chamber where the exorcism was performed. Nicole takes pictures of the cross where Adelina died before Bishop Gornick kicks her out.

Nicole checks into a small hotel in the village of Tanacu. She then meets local priest Father Anton, whom she noticed at the funeral. Anton identifies Sister Vaduva as well as Adelina’s brother Stefan Marinescu, whom Vaduva lives with on a nearby farm. Anton directs Nicole to speak directly to Bishop Gornick at St. Joseph’s Cathedral.

Bishop Gornick tells Nicole that Adelina was mentally ill, not possessed. Gornick goes on to infer that Father Dumitru was a rogue priest who overzealously performed an inordinate amount of exorcisms.

Nicole sneaks into Adelina’s room where she finds deep scratch grooves in the floor along with numerous crosses. Nicole steals a picture of Adelina with Vaduva. She then has a strange encounter with mute gypsy boy Tavian Amanar outside.

Nicole returns to Father Anton. Anton theorizes that the demon allowed Adelina to die because it no longer needed her and could transfer its evil into someone else for another possession.

Nicole begins having terrible nightmares as well as waking visions involving strange activity.

Vaduva again tells Nicole that the demon killed Adelina. Vaduva recounts how the seeming suicide of Father Gabrielle, a close mentor who unexpectedly threw himself from the monastery’s bell tower, triggered Adelina’s transformation.

Over dinner with Father Anton, Nicole confides in him how she lost her faith when her terminally ill mother died following a decision to abandon medical treatment for trust in God. Anton warns that Nicole is an easy target for the demon.

Nicole has another odd encounter with Tavian on her way back to the hotel. Following a sexual fantasy involving Father Anton, Nicole wakes to a frightening vision of Adelina.

Nicole tries to visit Tavian’s family, but a dog frightens her away.

Another visit with Vaduva reveals that Adelina fell in love with a man who led her away from the church, but the relationship ended unexpectedly. Adelina’s plea for God’s forgiveness seemingly invited The Devil instead. Vaduva describes what Adelina’s exorcism was like.

Father Anton brings a bottle of wine to Nicole at her hotel as an apology for how he left things the night before. They drink together and Nicole dreams of sex with Anton once again, but the priest leaves without incident when Nicole falls asleep after drinking one glass.

Nicole interviews Dr. Funar, who diagnosed Adelina as a schizophrenic. Dr. Funar recalls a demonic vision Adelina had during her diagnosis.

Nicole’s car dies on her drive back to Tanacu. A vision of a faceless man compels Nicole to run into a cornfield. The vision chases Nicole back to the road, where Anton comes to her rescue.

Despite Father Anton’s insistence that she stay and fight, Nicole informs Phil that she intends to return to New York and drop the story. While driving, Nicole notices rays of sunlight, which her mother once said were signs from God, seemingly directing her to a cemetery. Nicole finds Father Gabrielle’s grave, and learns he died on the same day as her mother.

Connecting that the demon possessed Adelina after it killed Father Gabrielle, Nicole rushes to the monastery. Gabrielle’s records show that his last appointment was with Tavian Amanar.

Presuming that Father Gabrielle performed an exorcism on Tavian, Nicole goes to see the boy’s father. Mr. Amanar reveals that Tavian actually retrieved Gabrielle to exorcise his father, as Mr. Amanar was hearing voices telling him to kill Tavian.

Nicole calls Father Anton to confirm his demonic transference theory. Nicole is suddenly possessed by Agares and becomes supernaturally locked inside the Amanar farmhouse.

Father Anton races to the farmhouse to find Nicole violently possessed and levitating. While Tavian and Mr. Amanar hold her down, Anton performs an exorcism, pleading for Nicole to renew her faith. Nicole has a vision of her mother as the demon is ultimately expelled from her body.

Nicole returns to New York. Father Dumitru and the four nuns serve seven years in prison for Sister Adelina’s murder.

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Review:

“Inspired by actual events,” director Xavier Gens’ “The Crucifixion” comes from the 2005 case of a mentally ill nun who died following a haywire exorcism in Tanacu, Romania.  23-year-old Maricica Irina Cornici had been formally diagnosed with schizophrenia.  Maverick priest Daniel Petre Corogeanu stuck to a second opinion of demonic possession.  With nuns helping to hold her down, Father Corogeanu led a several-day ceremony culminating in Sister Cornici being chained to a cross.  It also culminated in her death from dehydration, exhaustion, and a lack of oxygen.  Corogeanu lost his frock as well as his freedom, when he and the nuns went to prison for Cornici’s murder.

The names have been changed.  The date too.  But the basic story remains the same for the fictionalized film.

Plucky New York reporter with an English accent Nicole Rawlins wants to cover the arrest of Father Dumitru for Sister Adelina’s crucifixion death during a failed exorcism.  Her editor Phil, who is also her uncle for an additionally irrelevant character connection, worries Nicole’s fractured faith gives her too much of a cynical slant to be impartial.  Phil signs off on her pitch anyway, sending Nicole to Romania for a series of sit-down as well as walk-and-talk interviews with everyone involved.

Nicole follows a connect-the-dots conversational trail between medical professionals and the bishop responsible for interrupting the exorcism, all of whom corroborate official claims that Father Dumitru killed a sick woman.  On the other side of her investigation, Nicole meets another young nun and a local village priest who are certain a dangerous demon named Agares did indeed possess Adelina.

Not knowing what to think initially, Nicole’s own beliefs are challenged when haunting nightmares infer that the full story isn’t as open and shut as she assumed.  Complicating matters is Nicole’s unexpected romantic interest in her top source Father Anton.  More worrisome is Anton’s insistence that Agares has the power to possess anyone, and Nicole’s doubts about God make her the demon’s ideal next target.

When Screamfest announced its first wave of programming for their 2016 festival, “The Crucifixion” had a prominent place in the promised lineup.  When the festival schedule was formalized one month later however, the film weirdly disappeared without a whisper as to why.  “The Crucifixion” never actually screened and it would be another year before a public audience could finally see the movie.

That’s not a particularly interesting tidbit of trivia.  Truth be told, “The Crucifixion” is such a generically shallow exorcism thriller that I fear there isn’t enough notable about it to work into a full-length review.  Hence my attempts to create content using the “true story” recap and sudden pull from its L.A. premiere, possibly because someone thought a retool or quieter release would be preferable.

What’s there to say about Chad Hayes and Carey W. Hayes’ script?  The deep characters and deeper creeps of their “The Conjuring” screenplays are nowhere to be found in this yawningly calm story centered almost exclusively on verbal interactions.  What can I say about the acting?  Sophie Cookson reads like Emilia Clarke-Lite, either pouting or emoting next to no expression at all for a charmlessly detached protagonist.  What’s left to say about the overall film?  Xavier Gens knows how to visually construct a movie, as editing is sharp, Romanian scenery looks terrific, and the camera creatively captures Gens’ careful staging.  Too bad these techniques aren’t applied to gripping fiction.

Now what do we talk about?

“The Crucifixion” plays a lot like a really boring Nancy Drew mystery.  Nicole’s journalism skills are seemingly limited to silently and slowly skulking about old churches, monasteries, and subterranean cellars.  She’s not a richly developed personality.  She’s an eyeline motivating continuous cuts to establishing shots of architecture, horizons, or other images of momentary interest.

Up until a climactic possession sequence, and save for a few frenzied flashbacks, the most action seen in the movie involves Nicole hopping a high fence to get past a locked gate, or a car making a screeching U-turn after a phone call provides urgent information.  Dull spooks come from cobwebbed environments, candles blowing out by themselves, or similarly tame portents of minor evil such as a dead fly appearing in Nicole’s wine.

I could stretch this space more by illustrating how Gens gives away his desperation to add weight that the thin setup won’t allow.  Seeing as how I am at the desired word target after all, I’ll stop with a satisfied feeling that I’ve made my middling opinion of the movie clear.  With unimpressive scope and a casual approach to inducing unease, “The Crucifixion” is a mediocre at best entry in the demonic possession subgenre, and one that won’t be applauded for any significant reason.

Review Score:  40

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