The Exorcist: Believer
1973's
The Exorcist is one of the scariest horror films ever made. Directed by
William Friedkin (The French Connection, Sorcerer, To Live and
Die in L.A.) and based on the novel by William Petter Blatty, it's a
certified classic and practically impossible to top. Besides the Blatty
directed Exorcist III, which is a fairly good occult-themed
murder-mystery, the sequels have been lousy, and the myriad rip-offs (Abby,
Beyond the Door, The Manitou) are just plain goofy.
Now
we have the sequel/reboot, The Exorcist: Believer, and it is godawful.
This film is perpetrated by director David Gordon Green and his co-writing
accomplice Danny McBride. Yes, the same two numbskulls who unleashed the recent
Halloween sequel trilogy upon us. Once again, they prove that they have
zero concept of what made their source material work.
In The
Exorcist: Believer, 12-year-old Angela (Lidya Jewett) wants to somehow
contact the spirit of her deceased mother. So Angela and her best friend
Katherine (Olivia O'Neill) go into the forest to perform a séance. The girls
then disappear for three days, and when they are found, they are not acting
like themselves because they are possessed by demonic forces.
Now
we have two possessed little girls instead of one. In the 1973 film, the
possession is a catalyst for an exploration of faith and inner turmoil. Believer
tries to do that too, but the writing is lazy.
There
are a few creepy moments when Angela's dad Victor (Leslie Odom, Jr.) brings her
home just after the girls are found, but that's it. Just about everything else
in the movie is ineffectual except for some big unintentional laughs, like when
a group of character of different religions come together to perform the climactic
exorcism in an "Avengers assemble" moment. Then there is the supposed horrific
fate of a young Catholic priest that comes off as the comical highlight of the
film.
As
for the practical demonic makeup effects attempting to emulate the work of the
late, great Dick Smith? Well, not everyone can be Dick Smith.
I
can't fault the performances in Believer. Odom, Jr. does what he can
with the material and Ann Dowd, as a nurse who wanted to become a nun, is good
despite the terrible sermonizing she is given to do.
Ellen
Burstyn reprises her role of Chris MacNeil from the original film, but the
character seems shoehorned into the movie. Curiously, it doesn't seem like
Burstyn is even playing the same character. In the original The Exorcist,
Chris was protective of her daughter Regan (Linda Blair) and didn't want anyone
to know about her daughter's exorcism. Here, however, Chris has written a tell
all book which has caused estrangement from Regan. Burstyn's role is very small
here, and her character's exit from the story is an offensive embarrassment,
but there is a silver lining. The actress agreed to do the film for a big
payday to be donated to a scholarship program at Pace University.
The
Exorcist: Believer is low energy pseudo horror from a
filmmaking team that has no business making horror films. Seriously, re-watch
the theatrical cut of the original The Exorcist instead.
