From Jeremy Kibler

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.

Much like 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. The weakest section is, ironically, the exorcism itself. Green doesn’t try replicating the finale of this film’s 1973 predecessor, but not much in this extended climax can match what comes before in its own film. It mounts with some intensity and a few neat ideas, but it’s more so overwrought and detached, giving in to loud, garish effects; characters praying and chanting over one another; and emotions that do not feel entirely earned. Also, “Chekhov’s Scarf” is a new one!

Like conversing about religion, The Exorcist: Believer is bound to be very divisive. Overall, it’s a mixed bag with enough good to not completely dismiss, but it feels as if David Gordon Green’s vision slowly gave way to studio notes. Crucial character beats are montaged over, while other closing grace notes are surprising and resonant. Swat away some of the (effectively used) jump scares and this is really a story about all different kinds of faith coming together in the name of hope. Had The Exorcist: Believer leaned more into being its own entity, it wouldn’t have kept reminding us that The Exorcist still exists and holds up.

Rating: 2.5/5

The Exorcist: Believer hits theaters on October 6, 2023.

Follow Jeremy at @JKiblerFilm