The Exorcist: Believer

The Exorcist: Believer is a direct sequel to the 1973 film.

A major issue of the film is a lack of building up of tension. In The Exorcist we have an abundance of tension building. With the opening scenes in Iraq there is the archeological dig where Father Merrin finds the demonic artifact of Pazuzu, the clock stopping in his office, having tea and we see the man with full glaucoma blind, the woman cackling almost running him over in the carriage, and then that final confrontation with the Pazuzu statue. The music starts to build, the wind is picking up blowing the sand, and the dogs are starting to fight more aggressively as the wind is blowing harder now and the camera shows a two shot of Pazuzu and Father Merrin facing off. There is no dialogue at all in that final moment, but that prelude in Iraq foreshadows the evil that is coming to Georgetown and the exorcism that is going to take place.

The tension doesn’t end there at all. As we cut to this harsh credit music with the red titles. Then to the desecration of the statues in the church. The sounds in the attic, Regan mentioning her bed has been shaking, the confrontation of the sounds in the attic with the flame, the flashing of the face. Presents this evil surrounding everyone but getting stronger.

The whole time the film is filled with this immense dread and heaviness that is propelling us toward the breakdown of this sweet carefree twelve-year-old girl into something alien and detached. It starts out subtle and gradually builds with every scene into something even more horrific.

But due to that subtle and slow burn pacing allows us as viewers to attach emotionally to every character. To develop them further, and allow us again as the viewer to root for Regan’s mom to fight for her daughter, but want to see the success of that journey.

What makes the film so remarkable is this endless supply of major climaxes between characters and reveals that become even more heightened as the film reaches its final climax between Karras and Regan. It is very rare to find a film to have a solid dramatic core where your invested in every character’s journey while going through these roller coaster peaks and valleys despite it being in the style of a drama with horror elements.

What made Freidkin so powerful as a filmmaker was his ability to photograph and capture this essence of the real and this neo realistic quality of his films that grounded them.

With this sequel there is no careful consideration in building up this tension of this demonic entity infiltrating everyone’s lives. There are only a few scenes that establish us to the characters which is arguably two to three scenes and then the demonic possession takes hold quicker in this sequel. The demonic horror elements are too subtle then suddenly becomes full blown possession. So, there is no arch to really see a character’s transformation. Due to the struggles between too subtle and then full-on demonic makeup and presentation there is a frustration with the story and not being able to immerse oneself into this world and suspend disbelief.

What hindered the film tremendously was its reliance on the same skeletal structure as the original in terms of the way in which the demonic possession presented itself. It is basically copying the first entirely in the way the possession progresses. For instance, in the sudden detached personality of the two girls, the markings on the face and body and the eyes, the voice of the demon, and ventriloquism used, the sudden peeing that is in the first one, or the masturbating with church iconography, but in the sequel its alluded to while the character is in the church.  Due to being a copy of the original in order to verify it being a sequel ruined any opportunity it had to be artistic and to push necessary boundaries and conventions to be dramatically compelling, original, and scary. This reliance on the familiar made it hollow as a film. What was desperately needed here was a modernist approach to the content.

Ultimately the film needed to be reconfigured and worked on in development longer. If you decide to even watch this movie I would wait until it gets released on Peacock next week.