"The Exorcist: Believer" has enough strengths to not be a total abomination

The Exorcist: Believer (2023) 

Filmmaker David Gordon Green seems to love the challenge of expanding upon horror masterpieces from the 1970s. His “Halloween” trilogy has its naysayers, like any art form does, but the bookending films, in particular, are some of the stronger entries in the long-running franchise with Michael Myers. Now, Green takes on William Friedkin’s 1973 seminal horror drama “The Exorcist.” Any film involving possession or an exorcism already faces unavoidable comparison, so what about a sequel 50 years later to one of the most startling films ever made about faith versus reason? 

For the first hour and some change, “The Exorcist: Believer” is mature and classily constructed with a patient building of people’s lives in progress. Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom, Jr.) loses his pregnant wife during an earthquake in Haiti, leaving him to raise his 13-year-old daughter, Angela (Lidya Jewett), in Georgia. One day after school, Angela and her friend Katherine (Olivia O’Neill) go missing in the woods. For three days, Victor and Katherine’s churchgoing parents (Jennifer Nettles and Norbert Leo Butz) search for their girls, who later turn up disoriented with no memory of what happened and no concept of time. Naturally, they’re possessed and vessels for something purely and simply…evil. 

Much like Jamie Lee Curtis in Green’s “Halloween” (2018), Ellen Burstyn does return to play Chris MacNeil, the former actress who suffered through her daughter Regan’s possession and is now willing to help Victor. Burstyn is a pro, bringing much-needed emotional weight here, but her role in this story is only initially vital. Writer-director Green and co-writer Peter Sattler don’t quite give Chris the treatment she deserves, a poignant final moment notwithstanding; in fact, what they do with Chris comes close to being a cheap slap in the face. 

Similar to Friedkin’s film, “The Exorcist: Believer” is emotionally involving within the lived-in, quieter moments before everything goes to hell. It’s as if Green fully understands that “The Exorcist” was more of drama punctuated by unforgettable shocks than just a full-bore horror show. What Green gets right is the warmth within our principal characters, particularly the dynamic between Victor and Angela. Also like the original film having a sense of place during autumn in Georgetown, Green captures the feel for the neighborhoods in Georgia with Michael Simmonds’ intimate lensing. Leading the way is a terrific Leslie Odom, Jr. as Victor, and Ann Dowd can’t help but create a three-dimensional person as the Fieldings’ neighbor and a nurse. Lidya Jewett and Olivia Marcum are both outstanding in their contrasts as Angela and Katherine. We don’t get to know Katherine as much as we do Angela, but both young actors are capable of playing the sweet, giggly sides of these girls before going to dark and disturbing places (complete with top-notch possession make-up). Then, somewhere along the way even after a few chilling moments where Angela and Katherine are clearly not themselves, the film begins to fall apart. Read the full review at GuyAtTheMovies.com

Grade: C +

Universal Pictures released "The Exorcist: Believer" (111 min.) in theaters on October 6, 2023.