The Exorcist: Believer

This legacy sequel is a perfectly effective supernatural horror, with some decent attempts at character development and at broadening the mythology beyond Catholosism – but it’s hard to escape the fact that fifty years of familiarity with the material has lessened its ability to shock.

Premise:  When his 13-year-old daughter Angela disappears in the local forest with her best friend, Victor (Leslie Odom Jr.) is initially relieved when both girls are found three days later, unharmed but with no memory of what happened.  But when their behaviour starts to become increasingly erratic, it is clear that both girls have come back altered by their experience.

Review:

It’s perhaps surprising that director and co-writer David Gordon Green chose to leap into a legacy sequel to another beloved horror classic immediately after finishing his Halloween legacy trilogy.  There’s also no escaping the fact that his last legacy trilogy was a very mixed bag, with 2018’s Halloween generally being considered as a worthy continuation of the original, but 2021’s Halloween Kills was less well received, and 2022’s Halloween Ends was at best a divisive film, and at worst, a disappointment.

The Exorcist: Believer doesn’t hit the heights of 2018’s Halloween legacy sequel, but it’s probably better than David Gordon Green’s second and third Halloween movies, as it has some interesting ideas and takes some creative risks.  I (personally) wouldn’t really call The Exorcist: Believer a ‘legacy sequel’ in the same way that 2018’s Halloween or 2022’s Scream are, because although Ellen Burstyn makes a much-publicised return as Chris MacNeil from the original The Exorcist, it’s effectively just an extended cameo.  I actually think that decision works in the movie’s favour, as rather than find a flimsy excuse to build the story around the main character from the original movie, it allows this film to focus on the new characters, with Chris MacNeil just providing some connective tissue to the original film.

“…doesn’t try to ‘out-shock’ the original…”

Of course, the shadow of 1973’s The Exorcist looms large over this legacy sequel – how could it not, then the original is often called one of (if not the) scariest films ever made.  But the original movie was a product of its time – yes, it was shocking back in 1973, but audiences have been increasingly desensitised over the last fifty years, and I sometimes wonder whether the shocks would have the same impact if that film had been made today.  It also doesn’t help the ‘possession horror’ genre that The Exorcist started has been endlessly spoofed over the last five decades, meaning that certain scenes run the risk of generating laughs rather than shocks for today’s audiences.

Perhaps wisely, it felt to me like The Exorcist: Believer didn’t particularly try to ‘out-shock’ the original – there are a handful of jump-scares, and a couple of surprising moments of violence, but generally speaking the film’s tone is more at the ‘unsettling’ end of the horror spectrum than the ‘shocking’ end.  That said, plot-wise the film is not afraid to go to some surprisingly dark places, two of which (in particular) I was not expecting.

“…tries to inject some new ideas into the mix…”

This movie also makes a laudable attempt to expand the mythology beyond the Catholic-centric focus of the original film, by bringing in perspectives from several different faiths, ranging from other Christian denominations (specifically Baptist and Pentecostal) to Haitian voodoo and Hoodoo root doctors.  Following the events of the prologue, Victor (played by an engaging Leslie Odom Jr) has lost his faith in God, all of which helps prevent the film from feeling like a Christian propaganda film.

When the film reaches its final act, it’s also difficult to avoid that fact that an exorcism is (in my opinion) inherently uncinematic – even in the original film, the exorcism effectively just centred around the priests reading biblical passages and repeating religious quotations over and over again.  This sequel does try to inject some new ideas into the mix, but there’s still only so much visual drama that can be worked into reading from a holy book.

“…included a couple of plot twists that I didn’t see coming…”

Overall, there was enough in The Exorcist: Believer to keep me engaged throughout, and the couple of plot twists that I didn’t see coming kept things interesting.  If, as previously announced, this does mark the start of a potential trilogy, I would be intrigued to see where things go from here, as it could be interesting to expand the scope of these movies into a wider look at the demonic forces at work in the world … but if this movie ends up being a ‘one and done’, it’s a passable cinematic footnote rather than a reinvigorating new addition to the genre.