The horror film about diabolical possession will make its theatrical debut this month. The Pope's Exorcist (April 13), the new chapter in the franchise The House or The House - Awakening (April 20) and the horror comedy Renfield (April 27).
Film fact sheets accompanied by Italian posters and trailers follow.
EDIT: The release of Renfield has been postponed to May 25.
April 13: The Pope's exorcist
Distributed by Sony Pictures, The Pope's Exorcist (The Pope's Exorcist) arrives in theaters on April 13. The film is directed by Julius Avery (Overlord) and stars Oscar winner Russell Crowe (Gladiator, The Wrong Day).
The Pope's exorcist is inspired by the true writings of Father Gabriele Amorth (1925-2016), the Vatican's chief exorcist, who claimed to have performed some 70,000 exorcisms between 1986 and 2007.
Julius Avery's exorcist horror story sheds light on Father Amorth (played here by Russell Crowe) who, investigating a boy's terrifying possession, ends up uncovering a centuries-old conspiracy that has always been kept hidden by the Vatican.
The cast also includes Laurel Marsden (Ms. Marvel), Cornell S. John (Fantastic Animals: The Crimes of Grindelwald), Tom Bonington (Maleficent 2: Evil Lady), Alex Essoe (Midnight Mass), Daniel Zovatto (It Follows) and Franco Nero (Django, The Third Eye). The latter as Pope.
The screenplay is by Chester Hastings, R. Dean McCreary and Evan Spiliotopoulos.
The House: The Awakening of Evil (aka Evil Dead Rise) will arrive in Italian theaters on April 20, 2023 distributed by Warner Bros. Written and directed by Lee Cronin (The Hole in The Ground), The House: The Awakening of Evil is the fifth installment of the horror saga The House.
The film is produced by Sam Raimi, the creator of the famous franchise, along with longtime partner Robert Tapert and his friend Bruce Campbell, the actor who played Ash Williams in the saga Evil Dead and who does not appear in the cast in this new chapter.
The story features Beth, a girl visiting her older sister Ellie, who is raising three children alone in a small apartment in Los Angeles. The affectionate atmosphere generated by the sisterly reunion is interrupted by the discovery of a mysterious book in the very building where Ellie lives. It is the Necronomicon, a dangerous text containing rituals for summoning demons and which will force Beth to fight a battle for survival.
The cast includes Alyssa Sutherland, Lily Sullivan, Morgan Davies, Nell Fisher, Jayden Daniels, Gabrielle Echols, Billy Reynolds-McCarthy and Tai Wano.
The horror comedy Renfield (USA - 2023) is a modern-day reinterpretation of the eponymous character featured in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker and is a direct sequel to the Dracula 1931 starring Bela Lugosi.
Directed by Cris McKay (Tomorrow's War), the film will arrive in Italian theaters on May 25, 2023.
Renfield stars Nicholas Hoult (Warm Bodies, Mad Max: Fury Road) and Nicolas Cage (Mandy, The Color Came from Space) as Renfield and Dracula, respectively.
Rounding out the cast are Adrian Martinez, Ben Schwartz, Ben Rouss, Shohreh Aghdashloo (The Exorcism of Emily Rose), Rebecca Quincy, Jenna Kanell, Joshua Mikel, and Caroline Williams.
The screenplay of Renfield is by Ryan Ridley (Rick and Morty) in collaboration with Robert Kirkman, the creator of the TV series The Walking Dead.
Plot: Renfield is completely dependent on Dracula, his master. In addition to carrying out his every order, the young man is also forced to provide him with all the victims the fearsome vampire requires. Now, however, after centuries of servitude, Renfield dreams of a normal life but it will not be easy for him to keep the Prince of Darkness away...