by Paul J. Baio for MK ULTRA Magazine
William Peter Blatty was originally a successful comedy writer who wanted to prove he can write drama as well. The result was a terrifying novel about demonic possession called The Exorcist. That novel was turned into an equally terrifying movie directed by William Friedkin. The first sequel, The Heretic: Exorcist 2 was a steaming pile of crap. The third sequel, Exorcist 3: Legion, was directed by William Peter Blatty, based on his book of the same name. This is the one true sequel to The Exorcist, and it’s good…. depending on which cut of the movie you watch. Then there was the prequel, Exorcist the Beginning or Exorcist Dominion, depending on which cut you watch, but both suck equally. After that there was a TV series that lasted two seasons which focused on Regan, who grew up to be Geena Davis. The series focuses on an army of demons who are plotting to take over the world… dumb.
Now we have The Exorcist Believer directed and co-written by David Gordon Greene (Halloween 2018, Kills, and Ends) who can’t reboot his way out of a wet paper bag. First off, it’s not scary, and there’s nothing new here. It’s just a rehash of greatest hits from the original #boring. Second, Ellen Burstyn is barely in this, and she obviously did this for a paycheck because her performance is phoned in. Third, there’s two demons. Is one of them Pazuzu the demon from the first, that’s unclear. Who’s the second demon? That’s unclear as well. Perhaps it’s a pair of demons in a bromance who like to tag team possessions. Maybe Exorcist Believer is actually a demon buddy film. The demons don’t really have an agenda other than being a pair of dicks. The demon in the first had a specific agenda, as well as the demons in Exorcist 3. Hell (pun intended), even the demons in the stupid TV series had an agenda. Other than that, there’s some unintentional comedy and maybe two jump scares. The only good thing I can say about this movie is that it’s a hair better than The Heretic, and that ain’t saying much. There’s supposed to be two more, so if it goes the way of Greene’s Halloween reboot, they will each be progressively worse.