Movie Review: ‘The Exorcist: Believer’ Blu-ray

Review by James Lindorf

Fifty years ago, William Friedkin’sFriedkin’s adaptation of the 1971 William Peter Blatty novel “The Exorcist” made cinematic history. It helped define the next wave of a genre, crushed box office records and earned 10 Oscar nominations. Including the first Best Picture nomination for a horror film. It took four years to get a sequel that paled compared to the original, and then it was directly downhill. It took three more films over the next 28 years before the studio finally called it quits. After successfully resurrecting the 40-year-old Halloween franchise, producers Danny McBride, Jason Blum, and director David Gordon Green have set their eyes on “The Exorcist.” The first film in 18 years will erase the past 50 years and be a direct sequel to Friedkin’sFriedkin’s original. Universal Studios and Blumhouse will bring “The Exorcist: Believer” to theaters everywhere on October 6th.

Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom, Jr.) has dedicated his life to raising his daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett, Good Girls) after the death of his wife in an earthquake while on vacation in Haiti. On the cusp of adolescence with an overprotective father, Angela yearns for a connection with her mother. But when Angela and her friend Katherine (Olivia O’Neill O’Neill) head into the woods hoping to reach her in the afterlife, they return three days later with no memory of what happened. The two families quickly spiral out of control as the girl’s situation deteriorates. Victor will be forced to confront an evil he never believed in and seek out the only person alive who has witnessed anything like it before, Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn). “The Exorcist: Believer” also stars Emmy winner Ann Dowd (The Handmaid’sHandmaid’s Tale), Grammy winner Jennifer Nettles (The Righteous Gemstones), and two-time Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz (Fosse/Verdon).

If you were to watch “The Exorcist” and “The Exorcist: Believer” back to back, it might cause a bit of whiplash. The 1973 film is slow to the point of plodding. It builds up many of the characters before the climatic exorcism takes up 10 of the final 11 minutes of the movie. In “Believer,” everything is moving at breakneck speed. The film only takes the time to develop Victor, and everyone else is just orbiting around his experience as he tries to fulfill his wife’s dying wish to protect their daughter. Incredibly, the difference in their runtimes is only 10 minutes because it feels dramatically different.

Another way the sequel sets itself apart is its devotion to catholicism. In the original, when science fails, the only option is to turn to the catholic church. “The Exorcist: Believer” is less about a specific religion and organized religion, instead finding importance in spirituality and faith. It doesn’t matter what you believe. As long as you have conviction, you can battle a demon. It is an essential distinction because Victor will need all the help he can get. In “The Exorcist,” the demon Pazuzu is not interested in displays of power and has no interest in the soul of a 12-year-old girl. Instead, his goal was to corrupt a man of the cloth and to get his revenge on Father Merrin for their previous clash. Our new unnamed demon is much more brutal, using all the powers at his disposal to bring despair to anyone who cares for the girls. Until they are broken, and he claims at least one soul, he won’t stop unless the believer can drive him out.

“The Exorcist: Believer” is a great looking film, with great use of lighting to establish a creepy atmosphere. Unfortunately, because they are in a rush to get to the big showdown, they also rush by the best horror elements of the film. After Angela returns home, she turns a game of hide and seek and bedtime rituals into the scariest moments in the movie. Until the demon displays his power 40 minutes later, it is the only time any other character feels in danger. The pace isn’t the only problem in the film. It also has CGI that ranges from average to bad and makes you wish for a few more practical effects. Another visual misstep is the insertion of flashes of demonic imagery to try and unsettle the viewers. Unfortunately, while surprising, they are gone too quickly to have anything beyond a surface-level impact.

Led by Odom Jr., nearly everyone in the cast is doing outstanding work throughout the film. There are a few deliveries and a line of dialogue here and there that are a miss. Still, you can expect high-quality results when you build such a talented cast. Newcomer Olivia O’NeillO’Neill was surprisingly good for a first-time actress in such a demanding role. It is not quite Linda Blair good, but it is the kind of performance that will get her more parts. Lidya Jewett doesn’t go quite as big as O’Neill O’Neill. Still, she performs with more range and plays quietly creepy amazingly well in the early stages of her possession. They could have built an utterly satisfying horror movie around those moments if they didn’t get the rights to “The Exorcist.”

“The Exorcist: Believer” does many things that the original did, but differently, making it a film worth dissecting. Which is great because the 1973 movie is already horror homework. However, because it does so many of the same things and people have been using “The Exorcist” as inspiration for five decades, the new entry does not create anything new. In its production values, acting, and pacing, it shares much in common with A24’s hit film “Talk to Me,” released earlier this year. If you’re a fan of the classics, liked the reinvigoration of the Halloween franchise, or just like modern horror storytelling, then “The Exorcist: Believer” ” is for you. If you are looking for a recreation of, or at least something that skews closer to the original in pacing and tone, then you might want to wait for streaming. In a rush to give us more of that battle of good and evil, David Gordon Green rushes past the best moments in the film, never giving the audience a chance to take a breath, let alone scream. “The Exorcist: Believer” ” has boundless potential that gives me high hopes for the next film currently slated for 2025, and its ability to score higher than a 3.5 out of 5.

Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Mystery & thriller
Director: David Gordon Green
Producer: Jason Blum, David Robinson, James G. Robinson
Writer: David Gordon Green, Peter Sattler