MY CALL: A worthy introduction of the Exorcist franchise to a new generation. Though not as “difficult to watch” as the original. I’d solidly recommend it to horror fans with the typical advice to not judge it too closely to its predecessors. MORE MOVIES LIKE Believer: For a complete change of pace in possession movies, I might recommend the utterly bonkerstastic film The Manitou (1978). I’d also suggest The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), The Unborn (2009) and The Last Exorcism (2010).
Co-writer and director David Gordon Green (Halloween/Kills/Ends) is no stranger to defibrillating a famous old franchise with a rebootquel or three. So now he is trying his hand on another beloved 70s-spawned franchise.
The Exorcist movie TIMELINE: Were one to watch all the Exorcist movies in order by story timeline, the order is as follows: Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005), Exorcist: The Beginning (2004), The Exorcist (1973), Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Exorcist III (1990), and the newest release The Exorcist: Believer (2023).
Angela (Lidya Jewett; Good Girls, Nightbooks) is the teenage child to a Haitian widower father (Leslie Odom Jr.; Only, Hamilton). Their relationship is close, and their lives only feel strained by the topic of Angela’s mother, who died during childbirth.
After school, Angela and her friend Katherine (Olivia O’Neill) try to commune with Angela’s deceased mother in the woods… and they disappear for three days. The girls have no memory of these three days, their parents are palpably distressed, and they undergo a cold barrage of medical examinations. No surprise. We all know what franchise we signed up for and, yup, the girls just aren’t right after they get back home.
Things start with some “light” violence, sacrilege and a complete drain of emotion. Then comes the demonic voice, knowledge of the unknowable, and some much meaner violence. Now famous for what she suffered fifty years prior with her daughter Regan, Angela’s father turns to Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn; The Exorcist, The Wicker Man) for guidance regarding exorcism as circumstances escalate.
The movie is well made, and I enjoyed it enough. But this never reached the “next level” dire intensity deserving of the 1973 source material, which was a gut punch of a difficult film for many to endure. The story brings in a star from the 1973 story. But drops her like a bad habit about as soon as she serves her purpose as an exposition device. We are also teased mysteriously about Regan’s whereabouts and well-being. I wasn’t feeling very hyped when we finally rolled into the exorcism. It’s not a bad quality of this film… but I truly wanted that “challenged” viewing experience we find in Midsommar (2019), Hereditary (2018), or yes, The Exorcist (1973).
What the movie handles well, and very well I might add, is Angela and Katherine’s possession. When they come off emotionally empty, we shudder. When the demon speaks through them, the actresses carry the movements and expressions of these evil beings very effectively. And when the demons are cruel, they truly delight in the pain and doubt they cause. Moreover, the makeup work is excellent, complemented by oozing bile-like drool and other-worldly vomit, neither of which are over-used. There is also a most excellent and unexpected death scene creatively playing on an iconic 1973 moment.
I’d call this a worthy introduction of the Exorcist franchise to a new generation. Not as offensive or morally challenging as the original. But perhaps that isn’t critical. I just expected something more mean, more immoral, more uncomfortable… but there I go being a rabid purist. Still, I’d broadly recommend it to horror fans with the typical tempered advice to not judge it too critically in comparison to its predecessors as I am clearly guilty. Luckily, my criticism wasn’t so much as to hinder my enjoyment of the film.