A Reel Review - THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER

Nearly every horror franchise has fallen into the same pattern: A tremendous start, a bunch of decent-to-awful sequels, a remake, and eventually a Legacy Sequel which may or may not ignore everything that came before it. The famed HALLOWEEN franchise just had that treatment, and next on deck, THE EXORCIST. 

 

Two twelve-year-old girls, Angela (Lidya Jewett), and Katherine (Olivia O’Niell), go missing while playing in the woods. When they are found, they bring something evil back with them which eventually takes over their bodies. Angela’s father Victor (Leslie Odom, Jr.), seeks out the assistance of Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn), who had once battled the same evil. 

 

Produced by Blumhouse Productions and directed by David Gordon Green (both of which are coming off the disastrous HALLOWEEN sequel trilogy), THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER follows the familiar path that the most possession films take: the victims enter to bizarre and disturbing behavior which baffles medical science, and the parents give up on their stubborn faithlessness and seek a miracle. While the path is familiar, BELIEVER takes a refreshing turn by including more than one faith in the battle to free the possessed girls. Where the original THE EXORCIST treated Catholic Priests and the Vatican like Jedi, BELIEVER allows other denominations to come in. Opening the door to other cultures and beliefs finally gives us something new.

 

The first two acts of BELIEVER are as good as it can get. Victor and the other bewildered parents are put to the test, and we empathize with them from the moment their kids go missing. Unfortunately, it’s in the third act where everything goes downhill. The themes of different cultures coming together is half-baked and is treated too lightly, and the final showdown to free the two possessed girls is a letdown: devoid of any real scares or shock. 

 

David Gordon Green imitates the directing style of the original THE EXORCIST helmer, the late great William Friedkin. Green copies his style with the transitions and impressive long takes, and there are many sequences that feel like they could have come from Friedkin himself. But again, by the third act all that goes out the window, and the film loses its personality. 

 

Acting is very good. Leslie Odom Jr. plays the role of a troubled parent very well, and we can feel the weight on his shoulders. The two young girls, Lidya Jewett and Oliva O’Niell, are tremendous. Ellen Burstyn, at 90 (!) years old, is an absolute warrior and hasn’t lost any of her bite. Unfortunately, her character amounts to an extended cameo and doesn’t serve much of a purpose…despite the emotional ending that she gets.

 

THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER is yet another Legacy Sequel that chooses to ignore all sequels that have come before it, and serve as a direct follow-up to the 1973 classic. The light involvement of the MacNeil character makes the film feel inconsequential, and there isn’t much that happens here to justify its existence. There’s a lot to like, but a lot that can go to hell. 

 

BOTTOM LINE: Rent it