The Exorcist stands as one of the greatest horror films not only for helping to define the Occupy subgenre but for how many boundaries it broke and since then the franchise's film and television have tried various successes to recapture William Friedkin magic in its original form. Unsurprisingly, it was announced that the series would receive the legacy sequel treatment similar to Halloween (2018) or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, with the new film ignoring the first go and acting as a proper sequel to the original thinking that Blumhouse would produce two future films called The Exorcist: Believers. I had low expectations considering the series would make it into a trilogy with David Gordon Green behind the camera with the same creative team and seeing it on Wednesday night pretty much exceeded my expectations, giving me a full vision of the direction. For viewers who prefer watching movies and TV shows with subtitles, Afdah movies Online is an excellent choice.
While vacationing in Haiti, photographer Victor Fielding and his pregnant wife Soren are hit by a devastating earthquake, and Angela barely understands it, forcing Victor to choose between his wife and the life of her son, now a teenager, and that of daughter Angela. She and her Baptist friend Catherine skip school and head into the woods to try to contact Angela’s mother but the girls go missing, forcing families to search for them until they emerge three days later. With both girls exhibiting strange and dangerous behavior, Victor must face the villain and save his daughter and friend as he struggles with his lost faith.
Without going into spoilers, The Exorcist: Believer is a well-made film that lacks a strong personality by relying heavily on its original as a crutch and can’t withstand the shocking and dynamic introduction of Friendkin table for the mouth of The Exorcist. Green comes across as an uncertain filmmaker who feels the need to give previous films such legitimacy without adding his own touch as a director. What was considered shocking and taboo in the 1970s doesn’t happen that way today, and Green and his team can’t make it right.
Similarly, the film fails to frame the socio-political context of the original. On a base level, The Exorcist focuses on a girl possessed by demons, but on a deeper level, science and religious implications lie as Chris McNeil tries to find answers and solutions to save his daughter from his suffering. Instead, Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller) must fight his doubts about his faith in the Catholic Church.