Decades Later, an Underwhelming Sequel to One of Horror’s Best

Leslie Odom Jr. and Ellen Burstyn in
"The Exorcist: Believer"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

Fifty years ago, the late director William Friedkin (who passed away in August) took William Peter Blatty’s chilling novel, “The Exorcist,” and gave audiences one of the most famous movies of the horror genre.  With its unforgettable performances and some of the scariest images ever put to the film, this was a masterpiece of terror, and we haven’t seen anything like it in the five decades since it unleashed its wrath on cinema-goers.

Now, director David Gordon Green, who took a stab at the “Halloween” franchise with his legacy trilogy (2018-2022), takes possession of the “Exorcist” series with “The Exorcist: Believer.”  Just like with his “Halloween” trilogy, this film ignores the two sequels and is instead a direct sequel to the 1973 film and the start of a new trilogy.  Unfortunately, this movie fails to capture even an ounce of the brilliance that came from Friedkin’s film, giving us a tension- and scare-free installment.

In suburban Georgia, Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom Jr.) is a single dad raising his teenage daughter, Angela (Lidya Jewett).  When she and her friend, Katherine (Olivia O’Neill), go missing for three days and are then found, their families are relieved.  However, the two girls begin exhibiting disturbing behavior, and their parents soon learn that they’re dealing with demonic possession.

When it comes to the cast, this is one of those cases where everyone has to do whatever they can with what little they have with which to work.  Odom Jr., Jewett, and Ann Dowd, who plays a nurse, have a little more than others.  However, despite their performances being decent, it’s not  enough to sustain any interest in their characters because of how flatly they’re written.

Ellen Burstyn reprises her role of Chris MacNeil from the original film.  While her acting is obviously good, one of the worst things about this movie is how perfunctory her appearance feels.  With only about 10 minutes of screen time, it all unfolds like your typical legacy sequel going through the greatest hits of what came before, trying to give moviegoers a reason to see this movie.  Given this film’s handling of her character, you don’t feel anything with Chris’ return, which is shame because of how this is the first time in 50 years since we’ve see this iconic character on screen.  

The screenplay by Green and David Sattler suffers the most from its bland characters.  While the original film had a quartet of deep, engaging characters played by Burstyn, Linda Blair, Jason Miller, and Max von Sydow, “Believer” doesn’t have any.  The biggest flaw comes from the lack of depth between the parents and children at the center of the story.  The child-parent relationships depicted lack the poignancy of what was seen between Burstyn and Blair, the latter of whom played Burstyn’s daughter in the original.  Aside from what we learn about Victor and Angela in the first 10-15 minutes, that’s all we get.  Angela and her father are interesting in the beginning, but they become boring, not having a chance to deepen their loving father-daughter bond.  When it comes to Katherine and her family, they’re dull right from the start and don’t become any better.  As for everyone else, we just get a few one-dimensional details.  Unlike Friedkin’s film, this movie sadly doesn’t bother with fleshing out its characters and their relationships before going into the possessions.  This one just feels like it wants to give impatient audiences the demonic confrontations as soon as possible.  Other than the lack of depth with the characters, we’re given sloppy writing all around and a couple of heavy-handed inspirational speeches.  And, even though the writers make a pretty bold storytelling choice in the end, everything else is so lackluster before that, so this moment doesn’t hit you as hard as it should.

While Green’s “Halloween” trilogy had its ups and downs, he nevertheless showed his capability as a horror filmmaker during those high points.  For his latest film, there isn’t anything to make you quiver.  Whatever tension this film has can be found in dribs and drabs with some of the camerawork.  Cinematographer Michael Simmonds, who first collaborated with Green on “Halloween” and lensed the whole trilogy, showed in particular with the first of Green’s “Halloween” films that he has a talent for shooting interiors in an unsettling way, and he does so in “Believer.”  Other than that, this film looks and feels like every demonic-possession movie from the last 20 years and will just make you want to rewatch the 1973 “Exorcist” to get this one out of your mind.

No one was expecting this latest entry in the series to be on the same level as the original, but it should’ve at least been good so that it could honor the lasting impact that the original has had in horror cinema.  Instead, it misses the mark entirely.  The next installment of the trilogy, “The Exorcist: Deceiver,” is already slated for April 2025.  However, given the emptiness of “Believer,” you wouldn’t be blamed for losing your faith in Green’s trilogy at this early stage.

Grade: D+