“The Exorcist: Believer” – Terrifyingly Fun or Frighteningly Terrible?

The Exorcist: Believer Movie Poster. Credit: Jake Craypo ‘27

Halloween is almost right around the corner, and as part of the annual festivities, Hollywood is producing another batch of horror movies for the theaters this season. As one of their movies in their onslaught of releases, “The Exorcist: Believer”, serves as a “requel”. In other words, it’s a new sequel that takes place after the events of the original movie, “The Exorcist”. It also serves as the first movie in a new trilogy ordered for the franchise. The movie isn’t terrible, but it’s not amazing either, as it lands in a middle-ground area that should just be able to satisfy fans of the series.

The movie begins when a single father’s daughter doesn’t come home for dinner one night when she and her friend go to the woods. They come back days later only to both be possessed by an evil entity. Mayhem and havoc ensue, and the film takes off from there. The beginning is great at setting up the story, delivering an unsettling sense of mystery and discomfort. And the ending is packed with a decent number of scares and disturbing imagery, thus fulfilling the craving of what horror fans desire. It’s the middle section of the movie where things ultimately get lackluster.

The middle portion of the movie is more or so dead space. The exciting beginning and frightful ending are sandwiched by multiple scenes of pointless build-up and a shockingly low number of scares. Nothing vital to the story really happens for most of the movie and it tends to be quite disappointing. Thankfully, the movie has a few things that help make it worth watching. For one, the acting performances of the possessed kids, played by Lidya Jewett and Olivia Marcum, are truly horrifying in the best way possible. Although the acting chops of the rest of the cast for this movie are more than less forgettable, Jewett and Marcum’s roles help to keep the audience reminded that they are watching a horror flick.

Additionally, the makeup used for the children is nothing short of spectacular, whereas other aspects of the film, such as the practical effects, seemed to be a bit lacking. For example, a scene where mist and smoke suddenly appear from a fireplace and overhead light looks brutally fake, and strains the realism in the film. Die-hard horror fans will probably get more out of the film than others, especially if they notice Ellen Burstyn reprise her role as Chris MacNeil from the first film. All in all, everything in the film comes together to give a very creepy aesthetic and spooky atmosphere. It's a lot creepier than scarier, but that allows it to be much more fitting for the nature of the film.

For a closing consensus, “The Exorcist: Believer” is alright. It delivers a good amount of thrills but doesn’t do much to revolutionize the franchise. It’s a movie you don’t have to rush to theaters to see (waiting for it to stream may be a better option), but it closes off in a way that will surely make you consider viewing its inevitable sequel when the time comes.