“The Exorcist: Believer”: David Gordon Green’s Attempt at Supernatural Horror
Treasurer Sri Sakthivell S/O Ragavel reviews the latest release in The Exorcist franchise, The Exorcist: Believer.
The Exorcist: Believer (2023) is the sixth film of the franchise, and the direct sequel to the blockbuster hit The Exorcist, released in 1973. Giving some background info, The Exorcist was highly acclaimed for its unique depiction of demonic possession at the time of its release. The Exorcist’s success was set in stone when it won two Oscars at the 1974 Academy Awards. In fact, it can be said that The Exorcist set the precedent for horror movies released thereafter. It will be a tall order for a sequel to meet the expectations The Exorcist set.
The Exorcist: Believer is directed by David Gordon Green and produced by Blumhouse Productions. Green’s earlier works were comedy films such as Pineapple Express (2008) and Your Highness (2011). But, he is no stranger to horror movies. He had worked on the revival of the very successful Halloween film series. Similar to the Halloween franchise where Jamie Lee Curtis reprised her role of Laurie Strode from the original Halloween film, The Exorcist: Believer sees the return of The Exorcist fame Ellen Burstyn taking on the role of Chris MacNeil, the mother of the possessed Regan MacNeil.
In The Exorcist: Believer, Angela Fielding is raised by her single father, Victor Fielding, who lost his pregnant wife in an earthquake 13 years ago. Angela, in an attempt to connect with her dead mother, wanders off into the woods with her friend Katherine so that she can perform a makeshift séance. The girls return to their homes three days later, possessed by a demon with no recollection of what had happened. Over the next few days, the girls start to act strangely which causes their parents to grow concerned about them. The signs are made clear to their parents that their daughters are possessed by something supernatural. In order to rescue the girls from the inexplicable evil, Victor seeks help from Chris MacNeil, the one person who has prior experience with exorcism. The crux of the movie is how all the different characters from the community come together to relieve the two girls from demonic possession.
The demon in ‘The Exorcist: Believer’ felt like a tame version of the original. It was neither aggressive nor terrifying enough. The horrifying elements were also limited. Moreover, the famous face of Chris MacNeil added very little value to the plot of the movie. Chris was more of an advisor to Victor and was not directly involved in the exorcism of the kids. This was in contrast to Green’s previous works in which Jamie Lee Curtis played a major role in the Halloween series to defeat the renowned Michael Myers, which was what I was expecting to see in The Exorcist: Believer. The greatest drawback of the movie was the climax, which is the exorcism scene itself. It was evident that Green was trying to experiment with different religious perspectives in the exorcism of the girls, but it lacked substance and felt forced.
A movie that had a subpar screenplay was held together tightly by the presence of the actors. In the portrayal of Angela Fielding and Katherine, actresses Lidya Jewett and newcomer, Olivia O’Neill, gave exceptional performances that would be praised and remembered by audiences for years to come. Green’s objective when he started working on The Exorcist: Believer was to draw parallels from the original movie about parent-child relationships and expand it over two different families in the new adaptation. On that note, the film was able to show the audience the pain and emotional trauma that parents go through when their child gets possessed. The different stages of grief were well exemplified in every scene and though the adults were very much divided at the start, they started embracing one another in the closing parts of the movie to achieve the greater good.
Overall, ‘The Exorcist: Believer’ delivers what it promised in its trailers and promotions. With the recent spate of horror movies that are plagued with predictable jump scares, David Gordon Green’s take on The Exorcist: Believer gives a breath of fresh air to the supernatural horror genre. There were no unnecessary risks taken in the movie like experimenting with something out of the blue and it stayed true to the framework of the original. ‘The Exorcist: Believer may seem like a needless sequel to a powerhouse movie like The Exorcist but I am hopeful that it is a movie that sets the tone for what is to come in The Exorcist: Deceiver.
The Exorcist: Believer is now out in cinemas all around Singapore.