The Exorcist: Believer (2023) Review!!

Synopsis – When two girls disappear into the woods and return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, the father of one girl seeks out Chris MacNeil, who’s been forever altered by what happened to her daughter fifty years ago.

My Take – Released in 1973, The Exorcist, directed by the late William Friedkin from a screenplay by the late William Peter Blatty, based on his own 1971 novel of the same name, was not just a huge box office success and the first horror film ever to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, it impact was so huge culturally that even after all these years its impact can be felt on a sub-genre which is still trying to bask in its glory.

Though its two sequels, Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) and The Exorcist III (1990), two prequels, Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) and Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005), and cancelled too soon FOX series, never managed to come close to the critical or commercial success of the original film, the iconic score, many intense and horrific moments and great memorable characters still continues to be remembered.

Now in the hands of director David Gordon Green, and co-writers Danny McBride and Scott Teems, the same team which brought the recent Halloween trilogy that released between 2018 and 2022 to diminishing results, this latest installment similarly operates as a loose sequel to the 1973 feature, with an aim to act as the start of a new trilogy.

Unsurprisingly, the new feature fails to capture even an ounce of the terror and emotional heft of the late William Friedkin directorial. While 1973 saw a bold, shocking, terrifying take on possession that has never been matched, the 2023 follow-up offers up a by the numbers, plodding, toothless version of the same thing.

Yes, as a film, it’s perfectly serviceable and strong in its world-building, however, it is nowhere near as unnerving as it is supposed to be, and the less said about the climactic exorcism, the better. It requires a rare ineptitude to take what is famously termed as the most terrifying film ever made, recycle pretty much everything, but neglect to include the scares.

To make matters worse, it even brings back Ellen Burstyn in her Oscar nominated role as Chris MacNeil all these years later, and then gives her nothing to do.

The story follows Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom Jr.), a widower photographer, who lives with teenage daughter, Angela (Lidya Jewett). But though Victor and Angela love and support each another unconditionally, she feels a need to connect to her deceased mother Sorenne (Tracey Graves), who passed away in the 2010 Haiti earthquake. And since Victor lost his faith in God since Sorenne’s death, Angela enlists the help of a fellow classmate Katherine (Olivia O’Neill), who belongs to a Catholic family led by her parents, Miranda (Jennifer Nettles) and Tony (Norbert Leo Butz), for an otherworldly ritual in the woods next to their school.

Naturally, the ritual goes wrong, and the pair go missing for three days, only to turn up later with strange injuries, no memory of what happened, and seemingly disturbed. And as their behavior grows more erratic, neighbors like Ann (Ann Dowd), a nurse who lives next door, Victor’s sparring partner Stuart (Danny McCarthy) from the boxing gym, and Katherine’s parents get drawn into desperately finding a solution for the two girls.

This search leads Victor to seek out the one living person who’s witnessed this level of possession before, Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn), who for the past 50 years has dedicated her life to teaching the world about possession and exorcism rites from various cultures.

To be honest, the film actually starts off really good. It seems like co-writers Peter Sattler and David Gordon Green put a great deal of effort into establishing the relationship between Victor and Angela, including Victor’s feeling of loss, Victor’s need to protect Angela, and Angela’s yearning for this imaginary version of her mother that she has never seen. Much like its predecessors, that is solid ground for something supernatural to enter and wreak havoc.

As a director Green even stages some creepy scenes in these early stages, where the girls’ true personalities are still close to the surface and influencing their actions. The horror is supported throughout by strong cinematography and sound design, which, at their best, evoke the surreal oppressiveness of the 1973 original, while never quite standing shoulder to shoulder with it.

Unfortunately, a lot of the tension bleeds away once the girls return and the film takes a nose dive into generic bilge and doesn’t stop spiraling downward for the remaining hour. Too many subplots swerve the film off course, losing any momentum that the actors have tried valiantly to build.

Aside from reinterpreting and reusing some of the original’s iconography, the film’s most significant tie to the original story is the appearance of Chris MacNeil. It’s a shame that her involvement in this story borders on superfluous. Chris has become an expert in exorcism after Regan’s possession, and Burstyn gamely provides some stakes-setting doom saying in advance of the third act, but her scenes feel out of step with the story being told and in some cases actively work against the tension building as Angela and Katherine’s conditions worsen.

With the missed opportunity of Burstyn’s return, the film needed to nail the only other thing that justifies its Exorcist pedigree: the horror and the extended exorcism climax.

Despite the R rating, the film is full of secondhand scares and the gimmick of two simultaneous possessions wears thin as it trudges on. The film is barely able to develop one of the girls’ characters fully, let alone two. Neither possession is particularly visually distinctive, lacking any truly visceral gore or distinguishing features.

Performances wise, Leslie Odom Jr. brings a levelheaded presence and nails that mixture of helplessness and resolve that parents have to show during such distressing times. Lidya Jewett and Olivia O’Neill play their bits well. Ann Dowd is excellent always and well supported by Jennifer Nettles, Norbert Leo Butz, Okwui Okpokwasili, Raphael Sbarge, E.J. Bonilla and Danny McCarthy. Sadly, Ellen Burstyn is wasted. On the whole, ‘The Exorcist: Believer’ is a soulless sequel that fails to build upon the horrors of the iconic original.