When it comes to the devil himself, the power of Christ is the ultimate weapon to defeat him. When it comes the box office, however, Taylor Swift is an ally for scaring away the devil because the latest movie The Exorcist: Believer was supposed to come out the following Friday (Friday the 13^th), but the megastar singer announced the she would be releasing her documentary of her latest tour on that same day. Given her popularity, the movie studio behind The Exorcist: Believer moved up its release one week early, so now I have to suffer— I mean, watch this film earlier than expected. Great. . . .

Full disclosure, despite the original The Exorcist (1973) being considered by many to be a true horror classic, I’ve yet to sit down and watch it from beginning to end. It is not because I heard that it was extremely scary, but rather many have told me that it’s one of the scariest films of all time. Hence, I’m worried watching it with that opinion in the back of my mind would influence my opinion in a negative way. One of these days, I will watch it and maybe write a review for The Legionnaire. For now, I have to settle for what is supposed to be the direct sequel to The Exorcist, which is The Exorcist: Believer. Would this be a horror sleeper hit that I wasn’t expecting or just another disposable horror film banking on chill thrills for the Halloween season? As usual, let’s find out.   

In The Exorcist: Believer, we follow Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom Jr.) and his pregnant wife Sorenne Fielding (Tracey Graves) as they visit Haiti. After receiving a “special” blessing from a voodoo practitioner, Sorenne heads back to their hotel room to rest after walking around all day, while Victor takes more photos of their vacation. Moments later, a massive earthquake strikes the area which crumbles the hotel the couple are staying at and leaves Sorenne in a critical state. After the disaster, doctors give Victor a difficult decision to save either the baby or his wife as they can’t save both of them. Thirteen years later, Victor now lives in a small Georgia town with his daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett), running a small photography business. One day after school, Angela and her friend Katherine (Olivia Marcum) go into the woods located near their school. While there, both of the girls perform a ritual in order to contact Angela’s mother, causing them to disappear. This leads to Victor and Katherine’s Baptist parents Miranda (Jennifer Nettles) and Tony (Norbert Leo Butz) to search for them. After three days, Angela and Katherine are found traumatized in a barn with burn marks on their feet. They are then taken to a hospital to be treated and while they don’t have any physical long-term effects, they start behaving suspiciously. This catches the attention of a nurse named Ann (Ann Dowd), who also happens to be neighbors to Victor and Angela. Sometime after being discharged, the girls start acting more abnormally. Angela almost suffocates Victor with a scarf belong to his late wife and Katherine causes an outburst during a service at her family’s church. Victor admits Angela back in the hospital while Katherine’s parents watch over her at home. Miranda starts to wander if the girls had travelled to hell given the burn marks on their feet and the incident at the Baptist church. Victor rolls his eyes at the notion as he no longer believes given the tragic death of his wife. He does, however, start to wonder after Ann tells him that Angela has been getting sore around her body, starts speaking in tongues, and revealing secrets to Ann about her experience of almost being a nun. Angela also speaks of Angela’s abortion, something she’s never revealed to anyone. She then gives Victor a book about an author named Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn), who went through a similar experience fifty years prior. After meeting her, she informs Victor of her struggles that she has been through and wants to help. She visits Katherine in her home and while she tries to perform an exorcism on her, she gets stabbed in the eyes with a crucifix leaving her blind and admitted to a hospital. From there, Victor, Katherine’s parents, and a few religious individuals get prepared to perform an exorcism of their own to save the souls of the two young girls.

As a practicing Catholic, I think it comes as no surprise that I would be terrified if I was possessed by the devil or a demon of some sort. Being in that state would be a horrific event, and just thinking about that scenario gives me the creeps. Now as far as The Exorcism: Believer goes, I wasn’t really scared. Disturbed?  Definitely, but not scared to the point where I had to close my eyes slightly or my heart was racing. Not only was I wasn’t unmoved, but I also found this horror film incredibly boring and with some moments that had me frustrated, though more bored than frustrated if I had to be honest. 

Now, before I start complaining about what I didn’t like about this film, let me start listing the things I liked about The Exotism: Believer. Don’t worry, it’s not a long list. For starters, I like how the film shows the dangers of practicing certain rituals when trying to contact the non-living. Satan can and will approach us at our most vulnerable state and when we give him an inch, he takes a mile. Another important note that this film had was the awareness of faith and how important it is no matter the religion, though in this film (thankfully) it’s faith in God and Jesus Christ. This is noted well throughout the film and helps Victor restore his faith that was lost after losing his wife years ago. While I do wish there were more development with Victor’s faith before the events of the film, having someone become a believer again was something I appreciated.

Now that I have given my positive thoughts, let explain why The Exorcist: Believer isn’t a decent horror film, let alone a prober sequel to The Exorcist. For starters, exorcism films have been a subgenre in horror films for years now and The Exorcist: Believer doesn’t bring anything new to the table. The only thing that makes it stand out is the connection it has towards the first film such as the having the character Chris MacNeil reappear and the theme song thrown in there a couple of times, which, full disclosure, I happen to like a lot and love listening to it around Halloween. Other than those two things, this feels like another generic exorcist film that’s just getting by because of the property it’s associated with, which left me not scared, and also sort of bored.

Now, I did mention earlier about how The Exorcist: Believer also frustrated me and normally I don’t get that say with certain films these days, but this film was a special case. What’s funny is that the stuff in here wouldn’t have regular people thinking twice and it’s usually throw away lines, but there were moments that had me saying “Wait, what?” One example is when Katherine’s parents tell Victor that Katherine is not baptized because they wanted her to fully know the teachings of Christ before receiving the sacrament. Call me ignorant because I don’t know the custom is performed by non-Catholic denominations, but it left me baffled that a Baptist couple didn’t have their children undergo the sacrament right away. Apples to oranges comparison, I suppose, but it would be me like getting a car and not getting insurance for it until I know all the rules of the road. An odd comparison, I know, but you get the idea. Another thing that bothered me was when the parents try to perform an exorcism without a Catholic priest in attendance. To be fair, they try to get one and they had one priest, Father Maddox (E.J. Bonilla), outside the house in their car before the stated the ceremony, but he refused to perform the exorcism because he didn’t get approval from the Church. Nonetheless, the families proceeded with the ritual without him. At first, I wasn’t bothered because I could understand wanting to save a child’s soul by any means necessary. But looking back at it through a clearer Catholic point of view, I just thought it was reckless and extremely risky. I won’t spoil the ending of the film, but let’s just say that it left me unsatisfied given the decisions made.

Did I hate The Exorcist Believer? Surprisingly, I didn’t. As previously stated, I was more bored and unimpressed with it. I was also a little bit disappointed because it was directed by David Gordon Green who was responsible for Halloween (2018), which was a horror film I that enjoyed a lot. If you are, however, craving for an exorcist type of film, just watch any of The Conjuring films. They’re scary and have memorable characters that create tension throughout the film whenever they’re in danger, something that this film lacked. Until then, I wouldn’t recommend The Exorcist: Believer. Unfortunately, this is supposed to be the first in a planned trilogy, which means I’m most likely going to watch them if this is successful. Sigh. . . . Lord, give me strength.