Russell Crowe’s controversial film The Pope’s Exorcist is SLAMMED by Vatican exorcists

Russell Crowe’s controversial film, The Pope’s Exorcist, has been criticized by Vatican exorcists ahead of its release this Friday.

The actor, 59, delivers a chilling performance as the late Father Gabriele Amorth, the religious institution’s chief exorcist, who died in 2016 after one of the most famous and respected exorcists in the Catholic Church.

But the International Association of Exorcists (IAE) has branded the photo “unreliable splatter” while claiming the title is “pretentious.”

They proceeded to narrate the movie casts “unacceptable doubt” in the public as to who “is the real enemy, the devil or the ecclesiastical power.”

The group said in a statement: “The end result is to instill a belief that exorcism is an anomalous, monstrous and terrifying phenomenon, whose only protagonist is the devil, whose violent reactions can be dealt with with great difficulty.

Talented: The actor, 59, delivers a chilling performance as the late Father Gabriele Amorth, one of the most famous and revered exorcists in the Catholic Church

“This is the exact opposite of what happens in the context of exorcisms celebrated in the Catholic Church in obedience to the guidelines it gives.”

Although the Catholic Church officially recognizes exorcism, its innovators see it as a medieval hangover that plays on superstition to reinforce religious devotion.

Russell recently revealed a creepy incident that happened while filming the new horror movie about demonic possession.

The Oscar winner said he found a dead bird on his doorstep one day after filming The Pope’s Exorcist.

Still, the Gladiator star was quick to dismiss any suggestion that the ghostly incident was the work of an alien evil force.

Telling the story on the social media site yoRussell, who lives on a farm in northern NSW, said he believed a wild animal was responsible for the grisly find.

The incident happened while Russell was filming The Pope’s Exorcist in Ireland.

“Being an old bushy bunch, I put two and two together and realized there must be some creature there that had noticed we weren’t there and offered the dead bird as a welcome gift,” Russell explained.

Outraged: But the International Association of Exorcists (IAE) has branded the photo ‘unreliable splatter’ while claiming the title is ‘pretentious’

The star then seemed to allude to the myriad stories of haunted sets and supernatural occurrences that allegedly took place during the making of Hollywood “Demon” classics like The Exorcist (1973) and The Omen (1976).

“I think with a lot of these things it really depends on what you’re willing to accept and whether or not you can stay objective,” he said.

‘[You]…see these things and understand these things and yet make sure you don’t slip down the rabbit hole with that thought process.”

Russell plays Father Amorth, who wrote two books of gruesome tales of demonic possession: An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories.

His death sparked national mourning in Italy, where an estimated 500,000 people visit an exorcist each year.

The Pope’s Exorcist is scheduled for release on Friday, April 14 in the UK and US