‘THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER’ DOESN’T POSSESS LIKE THE FIRST
“The Exorcist: Believer” continues director David Gordon Green’s hit-and-miss journey of taking a swing at classic horror franchises. ● His “Halloween” trilogy veered from good to horrible, despite the presence of original Final Girl Jamie Lee Curtis. ● “The Exorcist: Believer” is somewhere in-between, though a little farther down the quality scale, a mishmash of belief systems that goes all in on the gross-out aspects of horror-movie possession, and considerably lighter on narrative development. ● It’s a continuation of “The Exorcist,” of course, one of the greatest horror movies ever made (as was the original “Halloween”), and certainly the scariest. ● Comparisons are inevitable, especially since Ellen Burstyn returns as Chris MacNeil for the first time in 50 years, since the 1973 film that started everything. ● (Like Green’s “Halloween” trilogy, its timeline follows only the original film, not any of the sequels.)
The original ‘Exorcist’ is the scariest movie ever made
So let’s get this out of the way right now: The new film is not as good.
That’s not surprising and there’s certainly no shame in it – “The Exorcist” was not just a cinematic phenomenon but a cultural one. It defined how movies depict possession. Everyone remembers the pea-soup vomit and the head spinning around, even if they haven’t seen the movie.
But the horror aspects of that film take up a surprisingly small amount of its running time. At heart it’s really a character study of a priest struggling with doubt and loss of faith.
Granted, that’s a tough sell for modern horror. And Green does go in for some character development early on (with a couple of nods to the original), especially with Victor (Leslie Odom Jr.) and his daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett).
What is the plot of ‘The Exorcist: Believer?’
In flashbacks we learn that Victor, a photographer, lost his wife Sorenne (Tracey Graves) in an earthquake in Haiti years before when she was pregnant with Angela. Now he is a single parent, close with Angela and protective.
But kids have secrets, and one day Angela and her friend Katherine (Olivia O’Neill) skip school and head for the woods. They wander around and it gets dark. They don’t return home. Naturally Victor and Katherine’s parents, Miranda (Jennifer Nettles) and Tony (Norbert Leo Butz) are worried sick, but an extensive search turns up nothing.
Then, three days later, they show up in a freezing barn 30 miles from home, with no memory of how they got there or what happened along the way. They’re cold and hungry after being exposed to the elements, and their feet are burned. Otherwise they are OK physically.
But they are different. And what this case needs for a proper diagnosis isn’t a physician but a horror-movie buff. Failing that, they have Ann (the great Ann Dowd, though she’s always better as a villain), a nurse who suspects she knows what’s up.
Angela and Katherine soon slip into the familiar symptoms of possession – weird voices, physical changes and an all-around creepy vibe. Victor has given up on his faith, but Miranda and Tony are deeply religious Christians, Miranda in particular.
Eventually both families will turn to faith – and to Chris MacNeil.
In “The Exorcist,” she was the mother of Linda Blair’s possessed Regan MacNeil, a famous actress with powerful friends unable to stop her daughter’s descent. Now Chris is an expert on exorcism and faith, writing books about it. Ann gives Victor one of her books, which draws her into the story.
Ellen Burstyn’s return doesn’t really pay off
“The Exorcist” was a deeply Catholic film, but Green draws in several faiths, with Chris’ expanding study as one of the catalysts. By the time the film gets around to an exorcism it involves a priest (E.J. Bonilla); a Pentecostal preacher (Danny McCarthy); Dr. Beehibe, a root doctor (Okwui Okpokwasili); and a Baptist preacher (Raphael Sbarge).
But it’s not as effective on a film level. It becomes a jumble of attempted solutions, one after the other. This doesn’t work? Let’s try that. And then this.
“The Exorcist: Believer” is the first film in a planned trilogy. Better luck next time.