The Devil is in the Pigtails

Whatever your opinion of David Gordon Green's Halloween trilogy its hard to deny he took a big swing at it and The Exorcist: Believer has a lot in common with the director's 2018 revitalisation of that franchise. Like Halloween 2018 this film ignores every previous sequel and is a direct follow up to the original Exorcist. Like Halloween 2018 this film sticks pretty closely to beats of the original but with heightened stakes (more kills for Halloween, twice the number of possessed kids here). Unlike Halloween 2018 this film isn't a complete success.

Not that The Exorcist: Believer is a write off by any means. Having two friends be possessed is a nice way of distinguishing proceedings from the sea of other possession films we have seen over the last few years and adds an extra layer to dealing with the situation, not only does the worried father need to deal with what is happening to his daughter but also with another family and their beliefs on what should be done. The possessed kids are suitably creepy and the film has an interesting take on the notion of an exorcism and faith. Rather than the strictly Christian depiction of the 70's original, Believer references the fact that some sort of demonic possession is present in many belief systems and the faith required to battle such things isn't tied to any particular religion, hinting at interesting directions the series could take going forward. The film's biggest selling point is an outstanding performance from Leslie Odom Jr. as single father Victor. His emotion and believability really sell proceedings and leave the viewer hoping things work out for him and his daughter.

Unfortunately, Believer drops the ball in two crucial areas. Firstly, the pacing of the movie leading up to the exorcism is too slow. There is a section where the two girls are missing that is dragged out to the point it feels the film is going to be a missing person drama. This falls flat as there are zero stakes, we know the girls are going to turn up. Later in the film a legacy character turns up what could have been a cool cameo but ends up turning the film into a sideshow. The other problem it has is in portraying the events of the Exorcism itself. Things are tense but it's unclear the procedure is actually progressing. Are all the things they are trying failing or are the setbacks just part of every exorcism? Is this a particularly hard to expel demon or is everything going as planned? It's harder to buy into the drama without having any idea how close success or failure is.

So what the film does well is mostly undermined, leaving it with only its famous name to really distinguish it from all the other possession flicks out there. Still, if you're a fan of the genre you'll probably find yourself entertained.

6 people saved from 10 "you can save your daughter or your wife" situations.

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