The Exorcist: Believer [Film Review]
The Exorcist: Believer
Released: October 5th, 2023
Director: David Gordon Green
Starring: Leslie Odom Jr, Ann Dowd, Jennifer Nettles, Norbert Leo Butz, Lidya Jewett, Olivia Murcom, Ellen Burstyn
A lot of us horror nerds all have a memory of that one movie our parents sat us down to watch, something that terrified them back in the day and they wanted to share that experience with us. For me it’s The Exorcist. I was already a hardened horror fan before I hit my teen years so to my mum’s disgust, 13 year old me thought The Exorcist was hilarious. I wish I could blame this for why I ended up in the bible studies class but she already thought I needed God long before this moment. So what happens when the guy behind the most hated Halloween movie decides to reboot The Exorcist? Well, I entered the cinema with low expectations.
The story centres on Victor Fielding [Leslie Odom Jr] whose wife died 13 years ago in tragic events leaving him to raise their newborn daughter alone. Now a teenager, Angela [Lidya Jewett] wants a bit of freedom from her overprotective father and asks to study at a friend Katherine’s house after school. He reluctantly agrees but his worst fears come true when he comes home from work and there’s no sign of Angela. Upon calling Katherine’s parents we soon find out the girls have lied to their parents about their whereabouts and only one person – who we see on screen for about 30 seconds – knows they were going into the woods. Three days later, the girls are found in a barn 30 miles from their home and not long after returning to their parents, they start to present increasingly strange and violent behaviour.
[gallery type="columns" columns="2" ids="https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2560_D053_00096R.jpg|(from left) Sorenne Fielding (Tracey Graves) and Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom, Jr.) in The Exorcist: Believer, directed by David Gordon Green.,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2560_D016_00316R.jpg|(from left) Tony (Norbert Leo Butz), Katherine (Olivia O’Neill) and Miranda (Jennifer Nettles) in The Exorcist: Believer, directed by David Gordon Green."]
Just like with Halloween, David Gordon Green has taken a much-loved horror classic and made a sequel that ignores everything that came before it while also not bothering to deliver any of the elements that made the OG film so great. Am I really asking too much to even just get the atmosphere to flow the same? The Exorcist has a dramatic storyline, a fascinating collection of characters and some spectacular effects and makeup. The Exorcist: Believer is simply put, boring.
There is a total lack of character development anywhere in this film. When Katherine’s parents stand there saying they didn’t know their daughter was friends with Angela, well neither did we. One second they were dropped off at school and the next they’re in the woods. We’re just presented with two teenage girls and no idea what their personalities are like or how they are as friends. Are we even meant to care that these girls are possessed or could die?
While I’m talking about characters, Chris MacNeil’s part was about as pointless as resurrecting Sally Hardesty in 2022's Texas Chainsaw Massacre. She’s here just to get the nostalgia flowing and fill some cinema seats. She has written a book about her experience with Regan and their relationship fell apart because of it. Not really sure why a woman would write a book on a situation her daughter didn’t remember because at the end of The Exorcist even Father Dyer agreed it was a good thing Regan didn’t. Now Chris helps people dealing with similar situations. Watching an 80yr old woman acting like she’s about to throwdown with the devil was the most laughable moment. I hope Ellen Burstyn was paid well.
[gallery type="columns" columns="2" ids="https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2560_TP_00055R.jpg|(from left) Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom, Jr.) and Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) in The Exorcist: Believer, directed by David Gordon Green.,https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2560_TP_00083.jpg|Ann Dowd as Ann in The Exorcist: Believer, directed by David Gordon Green."]
While obviously there’s a religious element in all possession films, I have never felt like I’ve been preached at before. Comparing the girls’ 3 days reemergence to the resurrection of Jesus was quite a leap and listening to Katherine’s church-devotee father call the homeless “bums” and losing his temper at the drop of a hat seemed fitting for your average Catholic on the internet. I even found myself having a chuckle during the church scene as they all did shots of ‘the blood of Christ’.
Overall this is a very lackluster film. There’s just no explanation of how these girls ended up possessed because I’m pretty sure it takes a bit more than lighting a candle to get a demon’s attention otherwise we’d all be in danger every year on our birthdays, plus any effects (which were minimal) were just weak copies of what 1973 delivered. Rather than build up any kind of tension within scenes, Green has taken the lazy route of jump scares which for me just subtracted from the moment. Knowing that David Gordon Green has already got a sequel in the works – creatively titled The Exorcist: Deceiver and currently set to release in 2025 – we might find out then but I’d much rather one great film than a trilogy of mediocre storytelling. So I’ll leave you with the last two words I typed on my phone on Tuesday night to sum up my feelings: Fucking cringe.
Rating: 2/5
Review by Katie Torrance
The Exorcist: Believer opens in cinemas today across Australia.
Grab your tickets online via Universal Pictures Aus.
