Oy vey, the missteps, miscalculations and missed opportunities in THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER are legion. It would be nice if an, “Oh well, at least you tried” sentiment were applicable here but I’m not sure this movie even earns that much faith. No late in the game tacked on, finger waving speech about love, understanding and the power of community can diffuse the air of insincere opportunism that permeates throughout this picture. It looks and acts like a movie but it’s hard to see it as anything other than a device built to snatch money from the pockets of the converted with as little effort as humanly possible. I’m sure all involved are fans of the OG so why does this reboot feel like a creaky-wheeled medicine show cart rolling into town steered by a wax mustached charlatan barking, “Two for one sale on possessed girls, today!” The good news is that the blameless saintly duo of Ellen Burstyn & Linda Blair are guaranteed to selflessly hand over their paychecks to worthy causes.
Leslie Odom Jr. plays Victor Fielding, a man who once had to choose between the life of his wife and unborn daughter during a bad-timing, pregnancy meets Haitian earthquake mishap. The ordeal, like many a Sophie’s choice, douses Victor’s belief in a higher power. Thirteen years later, his decision seems clear as he is now raising a spirited teen daughter named Angela (Lidya Jewett) who grieves her mother enough to try to contact her via seance with bestie Katherine (Olivia Neil). Depending on your outlook, the girls are either really good or really bad at communicating with the dead because they go missing for three days and are found in a barn suffering from every lazy writer’s favorite ailment, amnesia (depriving the audience of the film’s potentially most frightening scenes) and (too) slowly escalating demonic possession. Luckily (by the grace of God), Victor lives next door to critic-bait character actress Ann Dowd (whose character is also named Ann) who is not only a nurse at the local hospital but a lapsed would-be nun who eventually orchestrates a potluck-style exorcism that dominates the second half of the film. In order to (try to) insure proceedings are taken seriously, legacy character Chris MacNeil (the always welcome Burstyn) is dusted off for a Ted Talk about how possession and exorcisms are an important part of many religions (and a balanced breakfast) and by the way, Catholics don’t own the corner on them, thank ya much.
David Gordon Green’s scattered collage approach combined with cinematographer Michael Simmond’s makeshift homegrown honeycomb hideout aesthetic previously fit hand in glove with HALLOWEEN’s plucky indie roots (albeit to diminishing returns). The idea though that a monolithic religious epic like THE EXORCIST would work well shoved into the same grungy sausage wrapping is bizarre at best and just plain thoughtless at worst; the result resembles a soap box race car. The contraption is able to periodically stroke the universal fear of sickness befalling a loved one and the innate anxiety of guardianship but it feels more inadvertently dredged from the environment (forever yikes to hospitals) than truly earned. To be fair, every once in a while, a demonic image or two strikes a nerve but they are few and far between in the “see what sticks” barrage. Perhaps there is some campy fun to be had here but it’s the kind that comes almost automatically with a snarling possession film (I mean who doesn’t enjoy freaked-out mortals being roasted by a trolling demonic spirit who thinks it’s Don Rickles) and I'd like to think one of the very few critically lauded horror masterpieces deserves more (at least EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC had tap-dancing). It should go without saying that if you ever have the honor of working with Ellen Burstyn that the least you do, is not saddle her with cringey lines like, “In the name of my beloved daughter Regan…” or have her endure crucifixes being shoved into her eyes. The woman is a horror legend for God’s sake.
Wait a minute, I don’t wanna miss my chance to praise THE EXORCIST TV series from 2016. I thought that show did a great job of getting the tone right, adding something new and respecting the source material. I always hate to write negative reviews. They make me feel guilty because I know many people did work hard on this (the cast really cant be faulted and the two girls both delivered good scary face) but this was just a bad fit in my opinion. I think it needed to be much more precise and direct rather than hodge podge. Mostly though, I think they wasted Burstyn which is just sad.
Need I say anything?…lmao
This was an odd one. I didn't hate it, exactly, but it wasn't scary at all and it was simultaneously overstuffed and underdeveloped. I said to my friends after it felt like it was condensed down from a limited series as there were so many characters and ideas introduced and none were developed satisfactorily. And if you're going to make an Exorcist movie it needs to be filled with possession. This had so many long stretches where the possessed girls weren't present that there was zero tension built so even the final exorcism scene didn't have the weight it should have. But if you're a fan of talky monologues about religion and faith you've come to the right place. Poor Burstyn is wasted and forced to deliver terrible dialogue and behave stupidly. I think if they had left the multicultural religious aspect (an interesting idea just underdeveloped here) for later sequels and focused more on Burstyn and the possessed girls it might have worked better.
I really enjoyThe Exorcist, its the only film that gives me nightmares even into my 40s. I love The Exorcist III.
I have no interest in seeing this film.
I just have no faith in modern filmmakers.
Gastly1,
Lol, I think I was possessed by YOU after seeing this one. I should have been prepared by the trailers alone but I guess I’m just a sucker for a sequel. They even try to inject some subliminal inserts into this like the OG but it’s so ham handed.
Geoff,
Agree. If they had just focused on something or someone it would have helped. It feels very scattershot as is. I’m guessing Burstyn may have not been able to do a larger part but if that’s the case, they still should have written her role better. She gets drug in, is forced to explain everything & then is basically kicked out the door until the end reunion (which was admittedly nice to see).
Drew,
You got the right idea, I recently tried to rewatch the series and I made it to part 3 but I had to drop out during THE BEGINING/DOMINION because I knew it was going to only get more and more torturous. I believe it’s possible to do a decent further installment because the TV show worked well but they definitely need to get some fresh minds involved. Universal seems especially bad at revamping their IP.
Yeah, I was disappointed with this as well. The first was so viscerally scary and this seemed too polished to reach that point. The girls did an amazing job and i wish the focus had been more on them than the dad. Like, we know he's worried. We don't need a long close up if his face every time his daughter did something upsetting. They had such a cool premised with the new demon that they squandered. Apparently, it was the enemy of Pazuzu. Would have been super cool if they had explored that.
That said, some of the scenes in there were very frightening, I just wished there were more of them and less monologue-ing.
I also think that it was so off character of Chris to face the demon to begin with. Like what was her plan exactly? She knows how dangerous it is.
That said, I'll rewatch it without the expectations later.
I also really agree with the exorcist tv show.
Unk,
I'm a believer that the power of Christ compels you to call this film a piece of shit.
jennyD13,
Yeah I saw an image of the incredible makeup effects of the demon online! Where was that in the movie? They had something that great but instead decided to show a literal battle between voodoo smoke & demon smoke? It really seems like they were afraid to go too far so they just froze and did nothing.
The handling of Chris MacNeil was really strange to me. It would have made much more sense for her to show up at the end than to appear and then become incapacitated so quickly. They really squandered their biggest selling point.
Maybe I’m just becoming immune to religious horror as I get older. Also it seemed like the time between the project being announced and being released was roughly a year. Maybe they should have spent more time on it? There’s something that feels really rushed about it. That said, I’d love to check out any deleted scenes & I’d be curious to watch it again with lowered expectations too.
Ghastly,
On the plus side, EXORCIST II: HERETIC is now looking a lot better to me.