Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		1.5

The Crucifixion Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 26, 2017

There’s a really interesting idea at the core of The Crucifixion, but unfortunately the film itself is something of a mess, an overlong and meandering journey through traditional Exorcist tropes, albeit absent many real scares. What’s so disappointing about The Crucifixion is that it definitely had potential had its creative staff simply eschewed the whole “let’s make a scary film about possession” angle and concentrated on what is in fact the single most interesting aspect of the story: was a nun who died during an exorcism truly under the influence of a demon, or simply mentally unbalanced? That’s fair game for a new take on “exorcist” material, and it’s one that The Crucifixion dances around for a while before giving in to whatever influences filmmakers in the horror genre these days, resulting in a flat, unaffecting experience that casts any ambiguity as to what’s been going on by the wayside. The film has a few stylistic flourishes courtesy of director Xavier Jens, but the screenplay by Chad Hayes and Carey W. Hayes (of The Conjuring fame) might have been more forceful had it simply refused to answer the question which is central to the story, at least to begin with.

Some politically incorrect types (ahem) may see the title The Crucifixion along with a tag line “inspired by true events” and come to the conclusion this is some kind of Easter film, but the only resurrections this outing offers are recycled horror clichés. The film begins with a visceral sequence, one of very few the film offers, where a nun is shown being tethered to a cross and then summarily exorcised. Already the film hedges any ambiguities by showing a person with all those CGI signs of demonic possession, including coal black eyes and weird colored veins. That conceit would seem to argue against the supposed “factual” basis for the film, which evidently did involve a “failed” exorcism where it was decided the supposedly possessed nun actually suffered from mental illness. Her death at the hands of her ostensible saviors led to their trial and incarceration, something that this film pretty much avoids altogether (there’s a brief coda at the end courtesy of some text cards detailing what happened to various characters).

The film quickly moves on to gung ho reporter Nicole Rawlins (Sophie Cookson), who has somehow found about the death and wants to investigate. There’s some kind of quickly elided relationship with her editor, Phil (Jeff Rawle), a character who shows up interstitially to have brief phone conversations with Nicole and urge her to be careful. Yeah, right. Nicole journeys to Romania and the film weirdly spends long swaths just showing her driving around and/or walking through various locations. That said, this is one of the more scenic exorcism films, for those that care about such things.

Nicole interviews a number of people involved, including the priest arrested for the nun’s death, and at least for a little while there’s the hint that the film may explore a Rashomon like dialectic of differing viewpoints about what really happened. But almost immediately the film tips over into damsel in distress mode, though weirdly nothing frightening ever really happens, even in a supposedly climactic showdown. Instead we get endless vistas of Nicole driving her rental car through gorgeous sylvan valleys, on the hunt for some existential truth necessitated by a recent family trauma that has made her question her faith.

The Crucifixion is perhaps especially disappointing since its source material is certainly ripe for exploration, and there’s no denying that the film’s setting comes with almost built in mood potential. But this is a film that wastes virtually every opportunity. Even supposed jump scares barely raise a goosebump, in a film that could have been quite interesting had the writing team decided to be less by the numbers.

The Crucifixion Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Crucifixion is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb lists both the Arri Alexa and Red Epic Dragon as having been utilized, and, as stated above in the main body of the review, this is often a rather unexpectedly scenic film, at least for a supposed horror outing concerned with a possible possession. A lot of the aerial material is quite impressive in terms of general and fine detail levels, and depth of field is also often commendable. Even outdoor shots tend to have a kind of suitably dreary and rainy ambience, and so some fine detail levels tend to falter in these and even darker moments. There are some occasional issues with banding that can be noticed on elements like the fog that regularly rolls over the Romanian hillsides.

The Crucifixion Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Crucifixion features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix which repeatedly exploits time honored use of sudden jolts of LFE to provoke startle effects. Several outdoor scenes also contain quite a bit of ambient environmental sound placement, and even the cacophonous exorcism scene (which is revisited at least a couple of times throughout the film) provides some immersion, but for the most part surround activity is somewhat curtailed due to long stretches of near silence while Nicole tools around, either in her car or on foot, or, conversely, in longer dialogue sections which tend to be anchored front and center. Fidelity is fine throughout, and there are no problems to report.

The Crucifixion Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Crucifixion: The Director's Vision (1080p; 6:45) is a brief EPK featuring Xavier Jens.


• The Crucifixion: Trailer (1080p; 2:07)

The Crucifixion Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Doesn't a film that never lets you know whether or not someone was actually possessed sound at least potentially more interesting than a film that revisits hoary exorcist tropes for the umpteenth time? That's the really almost annoying thing about The Crucifixion — it had the potential to be something really different, and perhaps even remarkably effective. Instead, it's the same old, same old, without even any really effective scares. Technical merits are generally strong for those considering a purchase.