User Reviews

I tried to like it, but after some 10 minutes into the movie I began to fear that this was a complete and utter dud. And it turned out I was right.

The bad: it is suppose to be horror, but it isnt horrifying for one minute. A bit freaky and strange, but definitely not scary. And I wanna get scared watching such a movie. That is the whole point of making horror movies.

More bad: besides a wonderful performance by the ever great Ellen Burstyn, none of the other actors impressed me. The 2 kids, who were possessed were okay, but not terrific either. But the other actors were plain average or even below average.

Defnitely an insult to the classic original from 1973, which was an absolute shocker of a classic!

"The Exorcist: Believer" is a film whose trailer was better and which promised an old school style story but adding new elements, the result was not terrible but it was bad. The script starts without much interest, the scenes of the first symptoms of demonic possession were quite simple and did not create tension, the exorcism scenes fail to stand out and feel illogical, during this part of the film it manages to have a couple of good scenes. Using characters from the original film makes no sense, their participation is almost irrelevant but it is nice to see them again. Within the aforementioned script, an attempt was made to give it a new perspective with the theme of religions and a union with a common good, but it completely fails to innovate and they treat it in a simple way. The performances are average, the two possessed girls do not achieve the masterful performance that Linda Blair achieved in 1973. David Gordon Green fails miserably in his work as a director, the cinematography is decent, on the soundtrack it is appreciated to hear the legendary "Tubular Bells" although with certain changes that are not poorly achieved and the makeup effects look gloomy. The positive points are few and the negative ones are more, a soulless sequel.

Wow, this was really bad.

The original "The Exorcist" was a great horror movie with many intense and horrific moments and great memorable characters. I haven't personally seen the sequels and other installments so I really can't talk too much about them. The Exorcist: Believer is considered a direct sequel to the first Exorcist, I kind of expected this one wasn't going to be great but I didn't expect it to be this bad.

The production and the costumes were pretty standard which made it feel, at times, a television movie setting and the camerawork was mostly generic despite having a few shot compositions that looked pretty good. Even with some good camerawork, the messy narrative and direction and the use of horror cliches and annoying jump scares just drags the movie down and ends up making things eye-rolling. Director and Writer David Gordon Green has made a few movies I liked like "George Washington (2000), Snow Angels, and Joe" and Green tries to create something different for the installment. Unfortunately his writing and directing doesn't really offer much because the writing is all over the place with moments that are quite laughable alongside the bland direction.

Honestly, the performances from the cast members are not really good as the performances felt poor, dry, and not very convincing. Leslie Odom Jr. And Ann Dowd are actors I like and they seem to be trying their best but unfortunately they aren't able to keep hold on their roles. Ellen Burstyn is absolutely wasted in this movie. As mentioned, the narrative tries to explore some new characters and territories but the narrative isn't good and none of the characters were interesting to the point that it was really boring at certain points of the movie.

The soundtrack was pretty generic. The dialogue is really bad with certain monologue moments being poor and sometimes laughable. Certain lighting moments were bad, the make-up and costumes looked alright but there were certain moments that made them look cheap. Also, the movie has some of the worst editing I have seen in awhile which makes Bohemian Rhapsody's editing look like a masterpiece.

Overall, I don't understand why it's necessary to have a new installment of the Exorcist. At this point, as much as I like some of Green's early work, I'm convinced his future works aren't going to be really good anymore.

After defiling the Halloween saga with his insipid sequel trilogy, David Gordon Green brings his desecrating vision to yet another beloved horror classic and leaves no stone unturned to insult its unparalleled legacy. Nothing less than an eyesore, The Exorcist: Believer is one of the worst films to surface this year and makes for a wretched, unholy & sacrilegious mess that itself is in desperate need of an exorcism.

Also co-written by Gordon Green (Halloween Kills & Halloween Ends), the story never is able to create any sense of intrigue throughout its runtime and only gets worse as it progresses. There is no emotional weight to its setup, it is severely lacking in atmosphere, is downright ineffective in the scary department with its tired tropes & clichéd attempts. And characters remain distant as well. There isn't one aspect that's executed well.

Where the original was pioneering in its use of horror set pieces, practical effects, sound design & storytelling, this follow-up chapter has got nothing to capture our attention. Everything it tries fails to work out, its attempts to scare the viewers only ends up being hilarious and what it does with Chris MacNeil is not only facepalm-inducing but also mind-numbingly moronic. Acting from all is forgettable and the finale is a neutered, dumbed-down version.

Overall, The Exorcist: Believer is an incompetently directed, shoddily scripted and awfully acted sequel that has no understanding of what makes The Exorcist such an enduring masterpiece of its genre. Much worse than what the negative reception will have you thinking, the film has zero redeemable qualities, offers more laughs than scares by playing out like a parody than a proper sequel and is horror filmmaking at its most bland & uninteresting. In a word, cringeworthy.

Horror movies just aren't made like they used to be. How these "horror" movies like Five Nights at Freddy's, Scream 2023, Megan, There's Something Wrong with the Children, and soooo many more like this receive an IMDb rating of 7 stars, yet this movie is rated in the 4's is mind boggling to me.

Exorcist: The Believer is not a new concept. It's not a unique storyline that's never been done before, but it is a good movie. It's a possession film with plenty of jump scares, moments that creep you out, and moments that make you want to turn the lights on. To me, THAT'S what makes a good scary movie! The acting was great, the storyline (although done before) was a good one that kept you on your toes and entertained. Trust me, in comparison to the "horror movies" being advertised today, this one is worth the watch.

It's so obvious that the 10 star reviews on here are fake/paid for, considering they all have very similar wording. I'm a huge horror fan and try to watch every new horror movie that releases, so believe me when I tell you this movie sucks. David Gordon Green destroys yet another beloved horror franchise, but i'm sure we all saw that coming after what he did to Halloween. Don't waste your money going to see this movie in the theater, maybe then David Gordon Green will get the message that no one wants to endure his garbage storylines anymore. No one expected this to be anywhere near as good as the original, but it still managed to be a massive let down.

The Exorcist: Believer: As in the original the opening scenes of Believer involves dogs fighting. There are no immediate hints on Demons on a Haiti beach in 2010 but heavily pregnant Sorenne (Tracey Graves) who is on her honeymoon is blessed by a Voodoo priestess. Shortly afterwards Sorenne is seriously injured in an earthquake and her husband Victor (Leslie Odom Jr.) must make a choice. 2023, Victor is living with his daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett) in Georgia. Angela along with her friend Katherine (Olivia Marcum) go into the woods to practice a ceremony to contact the long dead Sorenne. The girls disappear and after a frantic search they are found three days later, hiding in a barn. They think only three hours have passed. The girls start acting strangely and it is soon obvious to their ex-Nun, nurse neighbor Ann (Ann Dowd) that they are possessed. Eventually Chris MacNeill (Ellen Burstyn) the mother of Reagan from The Exorcist is contacted, she has become a world wide authority on exorcisms.

The possession scenes here are quite convincing with burns and scars appearing on the girls' flesh, strange voices, the Demon having knowledge about others, levitation, vomiting, poltergeist effects. We've seen all of this before but it's skillfully presented here and doesn't seem jaded. The Exorcism team this time around has an exotic composition. The two girls put in tremendous performances. But nevertheless the familiarity of the whole thing perhaps prevents this from being a classic. As Chris MacNeill says when speaking to the Demon in one of the girls: We've met before. Maybe too many screenwriters were involved. Still, it's well, worth watching and even has a couple of jump scares, plot twists and surprises. Directed by David Gordon Green, who co-wrote the screenplay with Peter Sattler from a story by Scott Teems, Danny McBride, and Green. 7.5/10.

I was a huge fan of the original and best 1973 film of the exorcist.

That was really a scarry horror film which made a huge impact 50 years ago.

The original sequel part 2 the heretic was a welcomed addition and then we got a different story for part 3.

Part 3 was weird entry. Others liked it others didn't but it tried to be something different.

Then the prequels arrived around 2005 but they were average at best.

I preffered the begining over dominion.

And we are here at 2023 with a brand new exorcist sequel which use the halloween 2018 and the saw X formula.

Problem is....the 1973 magic is gone.

We will never get those magic days back.

Sadly the film is too predictable and uses the same formula over and over again.

Maybe we got too much similar films all those years and we got tired but anyhow this new entry is nowhere near the 1973 film.

There are a few good things like the return of a few original 1973 cast members and the exorcisms were done right but at some point u may get bored.

Anyhow this is better than nothing and u can check it out but don't expect to witness what u witnessed back in 1973. That's 4 sure.

Grade B-

What a whatever of a movie. The Exorcist: Believer is another entry in this series that honestly, beyond the 1973 original, is not very good. I know Exorcist III has its fans, and there were parts of that one I liked, but it's still got nothing on the first one. Every other movie in the series falls somewhere between interesting failure and absolute disaster.

The scariest part of this was hoping a very frail-looking Ellen Burstyn wouldn't fall over (she's in her 90s!). I felt bad for her being in this - they don't give her much to do, but she still gives the closest thing to a decent performance in this. There are other cast members here like Leslie Odom Jr. And Ann Dowd who I know have been good in other movies, but don't turn in great performances here.

It plays things as safe as an Exorcist movie can. There are still things in that original film that are shocking to see and think about to this day. And yet with the first movie, it's essentially a compelling drama that also happens to be scary. Whenever The Exorcist: Believer tries to get you to care from a dramatic perspective, it falls flat. I also didn't find much of the intended horror scary. It delivers nothing any number of demonic possession movies haven't already done, and the jump scares (they're pretty common in the first half) are even pretty lazy and failed to make me jump.

This movie is boring and predictable, badly paced, not very scary, poorly shot and edited at times, and fails to have much by way of good acting. I dislike it the more I think about it. Yeah right this is going to be the start of a new trilogy - get out of here!

Another possession movie that does the same thing every other possession movie has done since the original Exorcist. The fact that the exorcist title was used for this movie is a shame.

There wasn't anything frightening about this at all. The build up felt like it took too long and the ending felt rushed. Everything else in between was boring. There were moments I laughed at the dialogue, I'm sure it wasn't intentional humor. There isn't any creativity as to the demon that possessed the girls, the film basically wants you to believe it's the same evil from the original. It's the same recycled idea of someone trying to get in contact with a dead relative and summons an evil spirit.

The whole idea of two girls being possessed at the same time didn't add anything to the film.

There are many more things about this film that didn't work, just think of a cliche possession movie and add the exorcist title and you have this film. Do not waste your time.

Ouch....

This was a terrible film, when will they realise that trashy followups such as this are just pointless and unnecessary. The original is a classic, a movie that lived on in the minds of people for decades, this one, you'll forget about within just a few days.

It was only about an hour and a half long, but it felt painfully long, nothing happens until the final ten minutes or so, but even that bit of excitement was underwhelming.

I was genuinely excited by the trailer, and seeing Ellen Burstyn added extra excitement, but the trailer flattered the film, credit to whomever put that together, sadly the film was drab, slow and totally uninteresting.

I know I'd mentally zoned out about two thirds through, but there seemed to be no explanation, who the demon was, what its purpose was, the story was just so disjointed, dare I say badly realised.

It should have been a Halloween chiller, it remained tepid from start to finish.

4/10.

John Boorman can sleep a little easier tonight; he is no longer responsible for directing the worst film in The Exorcist franchise. Why, in the name of God, does DGG bring back Ellen Burstyn just to treat the character of Chris McNeil with such contempt? Watching this movie I started to wonder if DGG hates William Friedkin. That's the level of disrespect on display. This is the worst film I've seen in some time, and in this day and age, that's saying something. It's one of those movies in which a character, or in this case 3 or 4 characters, stop to tell the audience exactly... What. Is. Happening. On. Screen. More than a bad film, it's an enraging one. The option should exist to award zero stars. It's existence is a blasphemy.

LIKES:

The Acting: -A strong cast to get a movie like this to come to life is essential, and I felt many did their jobs quite well and brought the demons out to play.

-Burstyn does well in her role when she arrives back to take on the Devil again. She's strong, has this commanding presence and gives inspiring speeches that work with the theme of this movie.

-Nettles is fine as the worried mom and there are times she kills her performance, but there was more that could have been done with the character to pull her full effect out.

-As for Odom Jr, my favorite of the bunch. He's tough, he's got great delivery, and I love the question of faith role he has with this direction and how much I believed the struggle.

The Setting/Cinematography: -The movie's chilling atmosphere comes from the setting that this film takes place in... home and how even here you might not be safe.

-While we have plenty of movies that use this same setting, what this movie did was really use effects and the camera to make the horror come to life.

-Believer's camera work finds all the right filters and angles for me to help add that extra oomph to help make the discomfort come out even more.

-Those shadows are haunting, and just big enough to be unsettling. Then you find them hitting the right movement, the close ups, and the dynamic movement to get just that perfect shot for the horrors coming with it.

-It's one of my favorite aspects about it, and having that dynamic movement helps mix things up and add just that pop of spook factor you want.

The Sound Editing/Voice Work: -Most possession movies are about adding that haunting noise and effects to help make the demon's work come to life.

-Believer did this for me well, the underlying musical gestures the start of the magic that they brought with the sound.

-Then the growling, creaking, and background noises come in next and those things add that undertone of terror that something lurks in the realm.

-Still not enough, then get set for the louder things to come. The demon's voice really has a great use, a mixing of two adolescent voices with the familiar throaty deep tone work as the demon plays it's game.

-The writing of the movie comes out the best with the delivery and the voices, finding just the right tone, pitch, and throaty texture and switching them in and out.

-It adds character to the victims and the scenes, and I really felt this part was sort of the character of the movie.

-The finish is the screaming, done by everyone, but all conveying the terror and horror as the torturing continues and the girls convey that terror of being in the hands of this monster.

Movement Acting: -Nothing can be more chilling than watching a body writhe and wiggle in torture conveying the unnatural forces at play.

-Believer accomplished this, the girls talented in how they bend, twitch, move, and roll about as their internal fight for their soul continues.

-Their control was impressive, the coordination and direction to really make the girls give you skin crawling angle and actions that convey that demonic control.

-Head jerking to painful degrees, slow tweaks of the head and smiles of sinister grinning and hunger, and the powerful lunges that are a bit too realistic.

-The best part of the acting for me and worthy of praise for what they accomplished.

The makeup: -The original did it well, and this one has fantastic prosthetic work to make the gross factor awaken.

-Believer's looks are sinister, disgusting, and pulsing with that horrific detail that made me grit my teeth and shudder.

-Flaking skin, body scars, blood, and decaying nails are some of the things that await you, assisting with the decay that demon possession has on people.

-While the eyes, lips, and more supernatural elements really come out in that movie glory, with pale clammy skin, those unholy yellow eyes, and black residue oozing out of every crevice.

-Certainly my favorite part of the movie, the familiar designs really come to life and hold well in this movie, and computer assistance does not make it too fake or off putting to not be able to handle.

DISLIKES:

Not Scary: -Unsettling, sure. I mean possession is not something to mess around with and that was the part that made me feel the most scared.

-The movie for seasoned pros of the movie though are going to be bored as the scares are really drowned out by the preachiness of the movie.

-Believer's direction ifs familiar enough, but the movie just can't get back to the roots and storytelling when lost to the more moral and divine playing.

-Throw in less scare tactics, some jump scares that went wrong, and simplifying the actual story horror and I see the complaints that most have.

Burstyn's Cameo needed more: -This is in no way a spoiler, but when you go out of your way to play up a big involvement of the franchise favorite and don't utilize it, you get disappointment.

-The times she is on screen she rocks with her delivery, but there was so much more to use the queen on, and we just exorcised it without a second thought.

-The new cast has potential, but they weren't enough to offset the bait and switch with a character who made more speeches than added to the story, including the special moments that were meant to have more gusto.

Where were the thrills?

-Another boring element is feeling nothing in regards to the suspense and thrills that the first one had.

-This does have to do with the fact that movies have done everything to death, but still, a little more challenge, dive, and testing of characters, building into the story like the others could have gone a long way.

-But that wasn't the case. Believer takes a lot of side stories and tries to give this a religious kick that feels party Sunday school lesson.

-While the heart of those lessons is there and important in terms of execution it was sloppy, to the side, and feels quite superficial for what these movies have done better in the past.

-And even more so, it just felt like there was too much in one film and everyone was trying to pull equal pieces to have everything in one movie.

-This just led to a diluted movie that started baring its fangs then put them away.

The Character/Acting/Story/Writing Is Messy -I mentioned this earlier, but because of everything being jammed into one movie... you can guess it gets sloppy at times and this too I felt with time in the movie.

-Character development is inconsistent, sometimes starting to go deep, and other times a flicker before we get into preachy/overdramatic moments.

-Some of the acting is top notch, and delivers character moments that I'll remember, like Odom and the girls, but forgettable for Nettles and several other people that feel lost to editing.

-The lines go from realistic, haunting, and a real battle of faith, to again citing lines and feeling like a Christian delivered movie that feel out of place and forced.

-And the story holds so many good elements, but again, fades to very bloated moments that are side tracks and very gospel like, not flowing.

-It all leads to the movie feeling like it still needs a little more tweaking and planning, and any potential sequels really going back to the roots, picking some stories, and making sure its character centric and spooky.

-In doing so, this might just help get the Exorcism to be a success, rather than feeling like another cash grab.

THE VERDICT: The Exorcist Believer certainly has the modern feel in regards to the cinema level of craft, filming, and makeup. I found the most enjoyable parts to be the physical shooting and creation aspects that helped bring some really cool makeup effects to the genre. It's haunting with sound, fantastic with moving the camera, and really helping establish the true terror and soulless nature involving Hell. Sadly, the movie suffers on a lot of other things for me that take away from the film and sort of buffer what I think the movie was trying to accomplish. A cameo that is very limited is just the start as scares, thrills and cohesive film got lost in preachy dialog, too many stories, and what felt like a very crammed movie. The result is not the worst movie of the summer, but certainly a weaker film that lacks something the first movie (and some of the ones that followed) had. Given all this, I hate to say you optimize your money by waiting for this one at home, with Saw X still being my choice for horror/thriller movie.

My scores are:

Horror: 6.5-7.0 Movie Overall: 5.5-6.0.

After going missing in the woods, a pair of girls are found alive several days later with no memory of what happened but the feeling that something is off about them, and when it becomes obvious that something evil has returned with the girls force their parents to turn to a personality to deal with them.

There was almost nothing to like about this one. Its positive points extend almost exclusively to the technical qualities featured here which is the typical slick, glossy high-end studio product like this should be. It's not a surprise that this carries the type of sheen you'd expect in a film like this which extends to the gruesome make-up work on the possessed during the fateful exorcism scenes as well as the content within the exorcism scenes. While there's nothing new here in these moments, that there's some energy to the proceedings is a choice to be taken here which is a decidedly decent factor for this one and is the main part that holds this up for the most part. Beyond that, though, there's just nothing about this one that works. The main problem among the many is the lackluster and underwhelming story that never generates anything. The concept of the girls going missing and being found days later without any memory is a serviceable enough starting point, but it's never followed up on to make sure what's happening is obvious and the treatment of the girls is quite dull as a result. Having the parents argue with each other isn't a substitute and that causes things to feel rushed and simultaneously bland overall. On top of that, there's also the issue of how this one tends to come about building its' fateful showcase sequence. The random nature of how the priest is called upon to take up the case of exorcism is missing as if his presence wasn't important or impactful and was just in the right place at the right time. Worse off, nothing the girls do while building up to that point is all that terrifying as it amounts to the usual assortment of hushed threats, supposedly shocking superimposed faces popping up unexpectedly, or just out-of-behavior freak-outs that don't come close to being scary or interesting so the emotional resonance it tries to generate for the finale is flat and completely missing. The last issue here is a massively overwrought and unnecessary sense of fan service present here that doesn't need to be here. The most obvious is the presence of a returning character that has no importance on the plotline as there's barely a purpose before being unceremoniously discarded like there was no need for them to be there. The connection to the original outside of that is tenuous at best and regards the finale as something completely useless with it delving into a familiar pattern of tropes and exercises that play out in fine order. It's quite hard to overlook all of this after all the other issues here and combined make this one so underwhelming and barely worthwhile.

Rated R: Graphic Language, Violence, and detailed discussions of teenage sexuality.

The Exorcist: Believer follows the iconic horror film that has stood the test of time. Released in 1973. The sequel tells the chilling story of a 2 young girls possessed by a demonic entity. The movie is as it predecessor known for its intense and terrifying scenes, as well as its exploration of faith and the battle between good and evil.

The performances in The Exorcist are outstanding, particularly of the 2 possessed girls. The portrayal of the demonic possessions are both disturbing and captivating. The makeup and special effects used to bring the possessed to life are impressive.

The Exorcist is not for the faint of heart. It's filled with shocking and unsettling moments that will leave you with goosebumps. The jump scares are a bit to predictable yet a few had me skip a heartbeat for a minute.

If you enjoy supernatural horror and don't mind being scared out of your wits, The Exorcist is your type of movie. Just make sure you set the vibe right and dare to see it on the big screen.

Dear David Gordon Greene,

Please stop taking horror franchises and trying to spin new trilogies out of them. Seriously.

This movie is so wildly inconsistent with the movie it's supposed to be a sequel to. The tone doesn't match the original, the possession is no more special than the hundred other copy-and-paste "demon possession" movies we have out there. It's quite bloated, the acting is bland at best, the storyline falls completely flat, it relies solely on jump scares that don't land, overall it's just a boring movie. I don't remember the last time I sat and stared at the time on my phone in a movie theater as much as I did watching this.

Ellen Burstyn is the only saving grace this movie has, and her talent was largely wasted in this one. She isn't given nearly enough screen time and, although she does a very good job delivering her material, she's working with a piece of garbage script that is completely inconsistent with her character in the original (and, since this is a sequel, it's fair to compare the two). This movie was a letdown from start to finish, in every department.

The only good thing to happen in this nearly two-hour mess happens in the very end and, since I obviously can't spoil it, you're going to have to watch it for yourself, but the only thing in this movie that grabbed me happened at the very end, right before the credits rolled. It's the only positive I can talk about with other people when it comes to this movie, sadly.

I wanted to love this movie so badly. But, given the fact that it's provided to us from the man responsible for the fan service-dependent Halloween trilogy that recently wrapped up, I guess I got exactly what I paid for. As a diehard fan of Friedkin's masterpiece, I was bitterly disappointed and I'm now a little ashamed to even say I watched it.

I went into this film with high hopes, expecting it to be a worthy continuation of the original "Exorcist" from 1973. Unfortunately, "The Exorcist: Believer" left me feeling utterly disappointed.

The movie starts off promisingly, instilling genuine fear and dread, but much of this initial tension is undermined by cheap jump scares and my lofty expectations. After about an hour, the story takes a turn for the implausible and becomes rather dull.

The appearance of Ellen Burstyn in the film feels gratuitous and primarily serves as a marketing gimmick, rather than contributing significantly to the plot.

In essence, "The Exorcist: Believer" fails to live up to its predecessor's legacy. While it initially generates fear, it ultimately succumbs to clichéd horror tropes and an unconvincing narrative, leaving a true horror aficionado feeling unsatisfied.

I'd like to think I'm a discerning film watcher and I thought this film was good. Given the genre and the fact that it is capitalizing on the classic Exorcist film, I thought it did a good job. It has fine actors/acting. It incorporated tropes from the original without being too on the nose. If you call this an "insult" to the original, then you aren't paying attention. This is a continuation of the genre with Ellen Burstyn incorporated into the film. What would you expect.

Also, it was well shot. It was well paced. It kept my interest and was what I expected. I really don't see why it is rated so low.

You'll never out-exorcise "The Exorcist", as much as fans and average theater patrons might want to. "Believer" does neither and I thank David Gordon Green for that.

We all know the abomination as "Halloween Kills" and "Ends" (although I enjoyed "Ends") and we were all expecting that when it was announced that Blumhouse was going to be making an "Exorcist" trilogy. However, DGG put together a well written and executed story that leads up to a pretty good ending and sets us up for the sequels.

I could go on and on about script issues and how everyone pulls it together at the end to "defeat" evil, but what's the point in that!? See the flick! I guarantee you'll have fun!

Ellen Burstyn is given the line "They didn't let me watch my daughter's exorcism because of the patriarchy". Really? Is this the best writing ya'll can do? Keep the strike going if that's the case. We're expected to believe that Ms. McNeil would be anything less than grateful to the two men who literally died to save her daughter? This is ridiculous and this line alone should tell you everything you need to know about the current state of Hollywood. A place where the new motto is "We piss on our former heroes to elevate our new inferior ones". This movie is a sham and on top of all that it's not even a good enough film to pry open the coffin of this dead franchise for one more cash grab reincarnation. Wait until this hits Netflix or Hulu. It's not worth a matinee ticket.