The Exorcist: Believer (2023)

*Spoiler Alert* Not that it matters, there are some stuff best discovered if you watch the film first before reading this.

The review

Like manysequels, or reboots, this should not have happened. The original that came out in 1973 (my birth year, a coincidence, nothing more) was one of the, if not THE most terrifying film I had ever watched. So much so that I immediately got immuned that no other horror films appeals to me.

That film was more disturbing than frightening. Using a young girl and physically transforming her, even acrobatically in some scenes was never before seen in the film world up to that time. And putting a disraught, helpless mother in the middle of it all was more than relatable for anyone. Though the religious types might think otherwise, the devil does only gets cast out here, not destroyed. Makes you question the wisdom of good triumphing over the evil, especially a man of god hadda kick the bucket in the flick.

The director apparently found success with the reboot of the Halloween flicks, and therefore was given the megaphone to revive the interest, perhaps, to another set of franchise. Only, it didn't work. The original was disturbing at all levels. It has puberty and sexual awakening allegory that can only belong to the time when the entire cinema was waking up to an honest depiction of violence and sexuality in the early 70s. It doesn't work now, not especially with the wet blanket called woke movement.

This time, two kids gets possessed and frankly we don't care. They get the same makeup and Batman growl. They do thinks that are not specifically shocking for the 21^st century world that has easy access to smut and anything shocking from all around the globe. It just didn't work.

Even the usual strong presence of religion (Catholicism) is rather muted here, and the priest sent is sent for exorcism is quickly dispatched, rather comically if I may add. Ellen Burstyn, from the original makes an extended appearance, more than a cameo as the film wants to make a connection with the original. Even Linda Blair makes an appearance right at the end. It's supposed to be nostalgic. I didn't care.

There are few jump scares here and there, and as manipulative as they are, the shtick just doesn't work. They should have left the franchise alone. The film didn't work for me, and looking at how other critics are also vomitting green peas, I don't think this time there is going to be another set of sequels. \