Exorcist believer is one of the worst movies I have ever seen and this isn’t me being hyperbolic. Everything about this movie is wrong on a fundamental level the acting is bad, the story is boring, and worst of all the movie isn’t interesting or well made. It fails as a movie and it fails even harder as a direct sequel of the original 1973 Exorcist. Before I get started this is going to contain spoilers I can’t really express how fundamentally flawed this movie is without talking about Exorcist: Believer and Exorcist (1973) while I don’t suggest you watch Exorcist: Believer the original Exorcist is phenomenal so go watch that and then come back.
The first thing wrong with this movie is the story, it follows 2 families as their daughters both go missing in the woods and return with no memory of going missing and start showing signs of possession. In concept, the story isn’t too bad but in execution, it falls flat. The main selling point of the movie is that there are two possessed girls instead of one as an idea its kind of cool but because of the split attention on both of these girls neither of them are given enough character development to make them feel like actual people that were supposed to feel bad for. For example, the main girl of the 2 Angela played by Lidya Jewett isn’t given any character development except that she doesn’t eat meat and she misses her dead mom and that’s it. The other possessed girl Katherine played by Olivia Marcum somehow has less development the only thing we learn about her isn’t from her direct actions but from what her parents say about her. Most of the characters could have been cut out of the movie and it wouldn’t have changed the story in the slightest. The most glaring example of this is Chris McNeil played by Ellen Burstyn who follows the example of Halloween 2018 and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2022 by bringing back the main character from the first movie but the way Exorcist believer follows this trend by having Chris do absolutely nothing and get stabbed in the eyes. It’s laughable how much of an afterthought her inclusion felt like.
probably the most confusing part of the movie came about halfway through the movie when Victor first meets Chris McNeil she tells Victor she never actually saw the exorcism when victor asks her why she states “In my opinion, it’s because I’m not a part of there damn patriarchy” which is such a tone-deaf line I couldn’t believe it when I heard it. I always assumed that she wasn’t let into the room because it was dangerous so dangerous in fact that the 2 priests doing the exorcism died trying to save her daughter.
Next, the acting is terrible everyone seems so flat and wooden the worst of which was the main character Victor played by Leslie Odom Jr. who most people would recognize as Aaron Burr from Hamilton. he shows no emotion during this entire movie the events of the story just bounce off of him not affecting him in the slightest. The only good performances were from the 2 possessed girls, Angela, and Kathrine they were very good, especially during the exorcism, and were by far the best part of this movie. What did bother me was the line dubbing during the exorcism, there were times when what the characters were mouthing didn’t match what the demon voice was saying.
Finally, the saddest thing about this movie is the fact that it is a sequel to The Exorcist, one of the most recognizable and beloved horror movies ever made. And this movie is an insult to the Exorcist name and it’s a shame that this didn’t get the love and attention it deserves.
