The Exorcist: Believer (2023) - Yes, It's That Bad
The Exorcist: Believer (2023)
Holy Jesus, this movie sucks. The Exorcist: Believer is a fright-free, zero-effort, lousily directed legacy sequel that barely rises above the level of being a subpar horror movie. Going from Talk To Me and Saw X to this movie was the equivalent of being kicked out of a five-star restaurant before finishing a three-course meal, only to be dumped into a McDonald's in a bad part of town to finish an underwhelming dessert. I shouldn't be shocked the movie was this bad, considering this movie was from the esteemed director of Your Highness (2011). I was more shocked that Universal Studios spent $400 million to secure the rights from Morgan Creek. This news development has led me to believe it was an elaborate money laundering scheme, but it's too soon to tell, given the film hasn't concluded its theatrical run. However, I won't hold my breath for a sequel, maybe it's for the best if the trilogy doesn't move forward.
Exorcist: Believer is a legacy sequel to William Friedkin's revered classic The Exorcist (1973), although I use the term "legacy sequel" loosely in this case. It barely has anything to do with the 1973 original, not a single connection to it, aside from a pointless cameo from the original actress, but we'll get to that later. The movie centers around Victor (Leslie Odom Jr.), a photographer in Georgia who lost his wife in the 2010 Haiti earthquake. His wife, who was pregnant with his daughter, died from her injuries, but her daughter Angela (Lydia Jewett) miraculously survived. In present-day Georgia, USA, Victor works as a photographer, his faith in the Lord all but gone after his wife died. One day, Angela and her friend Katherine (Olivia O'Neill) go to an abandoned tunnel to play a game to summon spirits to talk with. They vanish for three days, appearing back with seemingly no memory of the encounter and burn marks on their feet. Soon after, however, the two girls are possessed by an ancient demon, becoming a race to save the girls from this demonic force.
At first glance, Exorcist: Believer checks the right boxes for a decent legacy sequel to the greatest horror film ever. However, this is no Halloween (2018), even if it has the same director and writers as that movie. The biggest failure in this film is David Gordon Green's direction, which I can best describe as lazy and low effort. Every scare in this movie is either a quick scary image you briefly see or jump scares compounded by two words: LOUD NOISES. Every time a jumpscare happened, it wasn't scary; it was just loud and sudden.
Aside from terrible scares, Green's terrible direction extends to the acting performance of the cast. Leslie Odom Jr. of Hamilton and One Night in Miami (2020) has proven himself a capable actor based on those two movies alone. However, this movie makes it seem like he had never taken an acting class. Odom sleepwalks through a role that gives him little to do other than wander around from one scene to the next, acting mildly scared of the events. He sounds bored with the role and has no chemistry or a decent father/daughter dynamic with Lydia Jewett. Ellen Burstyn returns in a pointless cameo role, reprising her role as Chris MacNeil from the original. She's only in this movie for ten minutes and exits quickly after encountering one of the possessed girls. Katherine's family is underwhelming in the story, serving little purpose other than to act whiny and scared. They could've easily cut them out of the story and had Katherine and Angela be adopted sisters, and nothing would've changed.
Another of Exorcist: Believer's most egregious sins is the wasted potential of its premise. The dual possession could've had the girls gaslight, manipulate, and psychologically torment those who surround them. The audience would've experienced the terror of the demon knowing the dark secrets of the characters that plague them. However, it's executed poorly in the movie. The possessed girls emulate what Regan did in the original, minus the edge and shock of the original. It's played too safe in this movie; it felt more subdued than intense.
The Exorcist: Believer struggles to set itself apart from other exorcism movies from the past few decades. It plays out similarly to the 1973 film, minus the compelling characters, the scares, the iconic score, and the great acting performances. This movie makes a case for The Exorcist to have been a one-and-done story. Every sequel failed to live up to the original or stand on its own. Exorcist II: The Heretic is considered one of the worst films ever. The only sequel I can regard as a worthy continuation of the story is The Exorcist III/Legion (1990). However, if there is a truly worthy successor to The Exorcist, it would be the short-lived TV series from 2016, but that's a story for another day.
Seeing what an absolute mess this film is made me think of a single question: "What would William Friedkin think of it?" To answer that question would be impossible, given Friedkin died before the film was released. However, it's clear that Friedkin wanted nothing to do with the movie, as evidenced by his disdain for the sequels. And who can blame him? I would've run for the hills after the cinematic wet fart that was Exorcist II and never would've looked back. What better way to conclude this review than by providing his thoughts on the movie he made before his death. According to film critic Ed Whitfield in a Twitter post, this is what William Friedkin thought about The Exorcist: Believer:
"William Friedkin once said to me, 'Ed, the guy who made these new Halloween sequels is about to make one to my movie, The Exorcist. That's right, my signature film is about to be extended by the man who made Pineapple Express. I don't want to be around when that happens. But if there's a spirit world, and I come back, I plan to possess David Gordon Green and make his life a living hell."
Godspeed, Mr. Friedkin, Godspeed.
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