'The Exorcist: Believer' review: Sequel is plenty demonic but lacks horror classic's soul
![Portrait of Brian Truitt](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.usatoday.com/gcdn/-mm-/44e6e0dadeda60cf062700769fffe91dd2dca166/c=35-7-570-542/local/-/media/2019/03/13/USATODAY/USATODAY/636880721296148052-Brian-Truitt.jpg?width=48&height=48&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
The devilâs been plenty busy on screen in the past 50 years. Think of all the possession films that âThe Exorcistâ spawned â some good, many bad, and arguably none quite as unsettling as the original 1973 horror classic.
So itâs fairly ambitious to craft a new direct sequel and renounce all other âExorcistâ episodes here in 2023. Following David Gordon Green's resurrection of another iconic franchise with 2018âs outstanding âHalloween,â the writer/director's âExorcist: Believerâ (â â â out of four; rated R; in theaters now) does a decent job living up to a legendary predecessor. Original star Ellen Burstyn returns in the latest film, which also goes all in exploring every parentâs deepest fears, but while it tries admirably, âBelieverâ is nowhere near as profoundly scary as William Friedkinâs genre-defining chiller.
Thirteen years after his wife died in a Haitian earthquake, Victor (Leslie Odom Jr.) is a photographer and single dad raising teen daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett) on his own in the Georgia suburbs. Their relatively peaceful life is upturned when Angela and her best friend Katherine (Olivia OâNeill) take a detour home from school through a nearby forest and disappear for three days, worrying everyone in town.
'It's not cheap scares':How 'The Exorcist: Believer' nods to original, charts new path
The girls are found 30 miles away in a barn, treated at the hospital and sent home. Soon after, they begin showing signs that something is seriously not right. Angela attacks her dad in their home. Katherine, in church with her devout parents Miranda (Jennifer Nettles) and Tony (Norbert Leo Butz), drenches herself in communion wine and frightens the congregation by chanting âBody and the blood!â in a most unholy scene.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
Miranda turns to her religious beliefs and is the first to raise the possibility it might be demon-related instead of a medical or mental health issue, and while skeptical, Victor desperately wants to figure out whatâs wrong. With the help of kindly nurse Ann (Ann Dowd), the concerned dad reaches out to an infamously embattled mom: Former movie star Chris MacNeil (Burstyn) wrote a book about the possession of her daughter Regan (played in the first film by Linda Blair) and has spent the past five decades coming to grips with what happened.
'The Exorcist':That time William Friedkin gave us a tour of the movie's making
Chris sees for herself how bad the situation really is with the girls, and leaders from across the religious spectrum â including a rebellious priest (E.J. Bonilla), a Baptist pastor (Raphael Sbarge), a Pentecostal preacher (Danny McCarthy) and a root doctor (Okwui Okpokwasili) â gather for an all-out, last-ditch exorcism that tests everyone in attendance.
While high up in the fright-fest annals, the original âExorcistâ leans more thoughtful and theological overall, making the demonic incidents much more unsettling. âBelieverâ is a more conventional horror tale, with constant dread and eerie thrills: It's definitely haunting but lacks the first movieâs soulfulness.
Still, Greenâs new outing definitely succeeds in paying homage and borrowing from the best. There are Easter eggs and throwbacks galore, plus a nifty retooling of âTubular Bells,â and of course nothing good happens when a crucifix comes into the picture. Odom gets a meatier character arc than Burstyn did back in the day, and while her return isnât as integral to the story as Jamie Lee Curtisâ was to the rebooted âHalloween,â Chrisâ appearance adds needed weight to the âBelieverâ narrative.
Halloween movies:Peep these 20 new scary films, from 'Saw X' to 'The Exorcist: Believer'
Just like with Blair in the OG âExorcist,â a lot of the sequel depends on its young stars and theyâve done their possessed-kid homework. Bedecked with top-notch physical effects, Jewett and OâNeill are more and more unhinged as their characters become increasingly demonic and yet at key points, the real girls rise through their bedeviled surface. (OâNeillâs gut-wrenching delivery of âI donât want to go to hellâ cuts right to the bone.)
Sure, we didnât need another âExorcist.â And Greenâs recent âHalloweenâ trilogy ended up fumbling a good start. With a formidable âBelieverâ and two more âExorcistâ movies in the pipeline, though, at least this franchise still has a prayer.