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Film: The Exorcist: Believer
Year: 2023
Director: David Gordon Green
Writers: Peter Sattler and David Gordon Green
Starring: Leslie Odom Jr., Jennifer Nettles and Ann Dowd
Review:
Now this was a movie that when I heard was coming out, it made me leery. David Gordon Green was the co-writer and director on this. He popped up on my radar with his Blumhouse Halloween trilogy. I’ll be honest, I loved that 2018 film that kicked it off and have cooled on it since. I still think he makes solid films. It made me wonder what he’d do here with doing a follow up to another beloved movie.
Synopsis: when two girls disappear into the woods and return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, the father of one girl seeks out Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn), who’s been forever altered by what happened to her daughter fifty years ago.
We start this in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. There is a married couple of Victor (Leslie Odom Jr.) and Sorenne Fielding (Tracey Graves). He is a photographer and takes great shots, capturing the beauty of this area. She is pregnant and goes shopping. She has a great moment where she is given a blessing by a local shaman. It is supposed to always protect her unborn child. Tragedy strikes when an earthquake hits, leaving Sorenne in critical condition and Victor given an impossible decision. The life of his wife or that of his unborn child.
It then shifts 13 years into the present and we’re in Georgia. Victor lives with his daughter, Angela (Lidya Jewett). She is curious about her mother. I get the vibe that Victor talks about her, but he’s protective of her things. That is all he has left, his child and these items. He is controlling over Angela as well. She wants to study after school with a friend. It takes work, but he relents. It should also be pointed out that their neighbor is a nurse, Ann (Ann Dowd).
The friend is Katherine (Olivia O’Neill). They have other plans. The two head out into the woods to contact Sorenne using a crystal. Angela was supposed to be home for dinner and when she wasn’t, this caused Victor to reach out to the parents of the girl was said she is studying with. That is how it gets revealed what happened. A search commences, but they don’t find anything.
3 days later, the two are found in a barn. It is miles from where they disappeared. The girls have no memory and are different. It is interesting that Victor isn’t religious so we see how he tries to explain it with science. Katherine’s parents, Miranda (Jennifer Nettles) and Stuart (Danny McCarthy), turn to their religion. When logical explanations can’t be reached to help, Victor searches out another skeptic.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is something that was brought up in my opening. This is Green trying to do another follow up to a classic. The Exorcist is interesting in that the first sequel isn’t good. Exorcist III is one that many, including myself, think is worthy. Aside from that, the two prequels fall short. It feels here that we are getting another ‘requel’ of sorts. Unlike others that get this distinction, this feels more like a sequel. My guess is that it is ignoring all other films and just using the original. That doesn’t hurt this though and to be honest, they don’t violate anything that would need ignoring of other movies in this franchise.
Then to start with the positives. This plays on the fear of parents, like the first one does. Victor is in an interesting place where his wife passed away so he only has Angela. He does everything to protect her. What adds fear and tension, because despite everything he does, she falls into peril. That was good. There is even more of this as it goes on, all the way to the exorcism scene. The parents are forced to choose which one of the possessed girls dies. This is impossible. This also plays in with the cold open when Victor had to make a similar decision.
I also don’t mind how they factor in the original. After the ordeal with Reagan (Linda Blair), Chris went on a journey to study different religions and how they handle exorcisms. She then wrote a book detailing her findings. This leads Victor to her when he notices a similarity between Reagan and his Angela. I do think there is a misstep here. They should have used Pazuzu. Whether it was the statue or a form of it, I think that would deepen this a bit more. I do have to relent a bit here though. I’ve come to learn after initially getting my thoughts down, this is a different demon. One that is at odds with Pazuzu. My problem is that we don’t learn anything about this new demon then. A plus though is this gives flashes of our two possessed children being tortured on the other side. That gave me vibes of Hellraiser. I’m glad they don’t show too much there. I like the development of the first movie’s story to grow into what we get here. An issue that I’ve noticed now, how would this demon know Chris if it was a different one. It feels that there were rewrites or something as it is disjointed.
A positive though comes from this idea of different religions and their rites of exorcism. I’m a firm believer that all the major religions are just forms of each other. Sumerian to Babylonian to Greek and even Christianity, Judaism and Islam. If you delve into the stories, there are minor tweaks to the narrative or characters. They might condense down multiple gods into one. Therefore, the rites of exorcism might be slightly different, but in the end, they could achieve the same goal. I like that this is inclusive here to have Victor, the other parents and adults utilized different ideas to save the children. I do have issues here that I’ll delve more into a spoiler section.
The last bit of the story that I want to cover will also pull in filmmaking. So, this is a child in peril story like I said. It is the innocents and having them punished to torment their parents. I thought the cinematography was good. There was one scare that creeped me out. We get another image like this a bit later as well. The effects were also good along with the editing. The look of the possessed girls isn’t as strong. I also think having two divides our attention a bit. This doesn’t ruin it though. The sound design was also solid. The only drawback is not using the iconic theme song until the end. There was a variation of it so I’ll give credit back.
The last bit before I close out my thoughts is acting. I thought Odom was good as our skeptical father. To be honest, I see parts of me there so that could be it as well. I love seeing how much he cares for his daughter. That tugged at my heartstrings. I’d say the same for Nettles and McCarthy. They work well as our highly religious parents. Dowd was also good as this nurse who has an interesting past with how it plays in. I liked seeing Burstyn reprise her role. How she is handled though was poorly. It makes me wonder why that was what they decided on as it didn’t add anything for me aside from not having in the exorcism sequence. O’Neill and Jewett were good as possessed children. Other than that, the rest of the cast was solid for what was needed. We also got a cameo at the end that I thought added good heart.
In conclusion, I wasn’t sure where I would come down with my thoughts. I think this is better than the first sequel and the prequels. There were good things here with impossible decisions for parents and questioning faith. That is part of the core of what the original did. As a sequel, you need to ramp things up. They do that by having two possessed girls. It doesn’t come close to the original with building tension and fear. There are homages and nods to that classic as well. I do think this is done well enough despite my issues. The acting was good on top of that. It is just missing things for me to come together. I still think it is worth viewing. It isn’t as bad as I think people are making it. I know others will come in too harsh for not being the original, which isn’t necessarily fair either. It isn’t great though either, I will say that.
My Rating: 6.5 out of 10
SPOILERS:
Where I want to start this section is that Victor used to be religious and turned his back on it after what happened to Sorenne. He is almost a mirror of Chris in the first one, outside of her just not following religion. There wasn’t a tragedy there. What is interesting is that she has come around to spiritualism after what happened to Reagan. Not so much Christianity or Catholicism, but just the idea of higher powers. I can respect that. The parents of the other daughter are Christians and come off as a bit of ‘bible thumpers’ where they look down their nose at Angela and Victor as almost heathens. I do love that their faith and ‘goodness’ is brought into question.
A positive has been brought up that multiple religions help with this exorcism. The Catholic church denies them so the priest shows up and has Ann take over. She has an interesting history of wanting to become a nun and not due having an abortion. Her back story convinces her of Angela’s possession. A pastor played by Raphael Sbarge helps. He leads the congregation of the religious family. There is a Doctor Beehibe (Okwui Okpokwasili) who seems like a Southern Baptist minister. There are also vibes of being a voodoo witchdoctor. I love this idea of doing everything to help these girls. It is progressive.
I think this fails though. Victor comes around to find religion. That is fine, I expected it. It is in line with Chris seeking an exorcism with Reagan. Chris helps, but then she is stabbed in the eyes with a cross by Katherine. I’m not sure what the purpose of that was other than to just be shocking. It alludes to the crucifix masturbation scene right before. There is another scene where Katherine masturbates in church. That is cringy. Both lack impact on how they’re presented. The catholic priest also comes in to help and then is killed almost immediately. If he succeeds, it makes this feel like it is saying his religion is the strongest. So, I thought that was a solid move.
They ultimately fail and Katherine dies. What is interesting there, her father broke. He chooses her and it looks like Angela will die. That protective spell saves her again so Katherine is taken. At least that is what I think it is trying to say. It could also be that demons are tricksters so by her father picking, it takes who was chosen. I’m not sure what this movie is trying to say or what the point is trying to get across. It is bleak. I’ll give it that. I wasn’t expecting it so that is partially why I’m giving it credit. This does feel like it is saying in the end, we give into religion. I would though to protect my daughter so there is that. It does seem like evil is stronger than good or at least than human conviction. I think this is doing good things, I’m just not sure if it sticks the landing with knowing what it wants to convey.