In the summer of 1977, audiences laughed The Exorcist II: The Heretic out of cinemas, deeming it to be a mess. It’s difficult to say what the late great director William Friedkin would have thought of David Gordon Green’s attempt at a follow-up. Green, known for his commercially successful but creatively bankrupt reboot of the Halloween series, has been given the reins to yet another dusty horror franchise.
One might question who exactly asked for another Exorcist film, and it seems that Green and his team, including screenwriter Danny McBride and producer Jason Blum, have set themselves an unusual challenge. While technically the sixth entry in the saga, The Exorcist: Believer claims to be a direct sequel to Friedkin’s original, completely disregarding The Heretic and even Paul Schrader’s Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (arguably for the best).
This is how franchise storytelling works these days, but the big question remains: Is Believer worth the trouble? Absolutely not.
To be fair, the setup isn’t entirely terrible. Two Georgia girls, Angela and Katherine, disappear in the woods after a secret after-school adventure. Angela’s widowed father, Victor, is the first to notice their absence. Could they be studying at a friend’s house? Not today. Victor panics, and so do Katherine’s parents, Miranda and Tony.
The authorities are alerted, and after a three-day search, the girls are found in a farmhouse 30 miles away from where they vanished. How they got there is a mystery, even to them. Their bodies are scratched and scarred, and their memories are blurry. The police and doctors are baffled.
But it gets worse. Angela becomes moody and violent towards her father, hearing voices in her head. Katherine isn’t much better. Miranda’s youngest daughter causes quite a scene at Sunday mass. Clearly, there is a demonic presence involved, even though Victor is skeptical.
Everything changes when a local nurse hands Victor a book about demonic possession written by Chris MacNeil, Regan’s mother from the original 1973 film. Enter Ellen Burstyn as Chris MacNeil, and chaos ensues.
The premise seems intriguing at first, and Green almost convinces us that he’s in control of the story. However, it quickly falls apart. The film is filled with creaks and cracks, as if it’s desperately trying to piggyback on Friedkin’s original.
The Exorcist: Believer is a murky and confused attempt at a sequel. It feels like Green and his team watched Friedkin’s film and decided that the only way to top it was to double everything. So, we get two possessed girls instead of one, four demon slayers instead of two, and an excessive use of Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells. Originality is sorely lacking.
The film is a waste of time, devoid of suspense and unintentionally comical. It’s a cheap knock-off of a horror masterpiece, reminiscent of Leslie Nielsen and Linda Blair’s goofball parody Repossessed, but without the self-awareness.
Believer goes out of its way to explain everything, and in terms of scares, there are none. How could there be? Friedkin’s classic did everything it needed to do; there’s nothing left to add.
Green should have known this, and so should Burstyn. However, we can’t fault the 90-year-old Oscar winner, who used her fee from the film to establish a university scholarship program for young actors in New York. At least someone benefited from this clumsy and misguided venture. Oh, and another sequel is already in the works. God help us all.
Rating: ★★
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