The Order

2002 Horror

Oscar-winning screenwriter Brian Helgeland writes and directs the religious thriller The Order. Heath Ledger portrays a priest from a secret religious order called The Carolingians. He's sent to Rome to investigate the mysterious death of the head of the Carolingians, whose body was found with strange marks on its chest. While in Rome, he asks for help from an old friend (Mark Addy) and an elusive artist Shannyn Sossamon to help solve the murder. The priest ends up at the Vatican, where he learns of a sect that may be responsible for many mysterious deaths. Peter Weller and Benno Fürmann round out the cast.

Director: Brian Helgeland

Starring: Heath Ledger, Shannyn Sossamon, Benno Furmann, Mark Addy, Peter Weller

 22 Reviews

Reviews

  • It's "The Exorcist" warmed over.

    Peter Travers - Rolling Stone

    20 January 2013

  • Schlock that could and should have been better.

    Loren King - The Chicago Tribune

    20 January 2013

  • Cast adrift with vague, improbable characters and a plot that's at once under-and overcooked, the actors struggle to find a steady tone, lurching from somber to silly as the director tries to figure out what he's doing.

    Manohla Dargis - Los Angeles Times

    20 January 2013

  • The screenplay is packed with so many hilariously bad lines (it's hard to believe that writer-director Helgeland won an Oscar for co-writing "L.A. Confidential") that the movie would be perfect material for a resurrected version of the TV spoof "Mystery Science Theater."

    Jonathan Foreman - New York Post

    20 January 2013

  • A murky ecclesiastical horror film, may be the nadir of the subgenre that produced "The Exorcist" (at its high end) and "Stigmata" (at its middle-to-low end).

    Stephen Holden - The New York Times

    20 January 2013

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