L'Exorciste : Dévotion

PROS: Strong performances from most of the cast. A solid set up in the first block of the film that makes us empathize with the characters.

CONS: After the set up and possessions, the film flatlines. There seem to be too many ideas floating around that never get handled properly. The creepy factor was null and void. A couple of jump scares are thrown in. Perhaps the film's biggest mistake is having the legacy character, Chris (Ellen Burstyn), wasted here as the studio's cliche cash grab for nostalgic fans. An overall weak script, cringe dialogue, and plenty of corny group exorcism moments to go around. The film really treats its audience like they're stupid. Skip this and watch the original instead.

After defiling the Halloween saga with his insipid sequel trilogy, David Gordon Green brings his desecrating vision to yet another beloved horror classic and leaves no stone unturned to insult its unparalleled legacy. Nothing less than an eyesore, The Exorcist: Believer is one of the worst films to surface this year and makes for a wretched, unholy & sacrilegious mess that itself is in desperate need of an exorcism.

Also co-written by Gordon Green (Halloween Kills & Halloween Ends), the story never is able to create any sense of intrigue throughout its runtime and only gets worse as it progresses. There is no emotional weight to its setup, it is severely lacking in atmosphere, is downright ineffective in the scary department with its tired tropes & clichéd attempts. And characters remain distant as well. There isn't one aspect that's executed well.

Where the original was pioneering in its use of horror set pieces, practical effects, sound design & storytelling, this follow-up chapter has got nothing to capture our attention. Everything it tries fails to work out, its attempts to scare the viewers only ends up being hilarious and what it does with Chris MacNeil is not only facepalm-inducing but also mind-numbingly moronic. Acting from all is forgettable and the finale is a neutered, dumbed-down version.

Overall, The Exorcist: Believer is an incompetently directed, shoddily scripted and awfully acted sequel that has no understanding of what makes The Exorcist such an enduring masterpiece of its genre. Much worse than what the negative reception will have you thinking, the film has zero redeemable qualities, offers more laughs than scares by playing out like a parody than a proper sequel and is horror filmmaking at its most bland & uninteresting. In a word, cringeworthy.

I think we were all fooled by Halloween 2018 and thought David Gordon Green was going to be somewhat of a saviour for horror... we were wrong. Instead of making these below average horror sequels/requels, whatever they're called these days, go make a sequel to Pineapple Express!!

This movie was so boring for 3/4 of it and then the other 1/4 of it was just disappointing. Cheap jump scares were below average. And the atmosphere and tension that made the original so amazing was nowhere to be seen!

Saw X and The Nun II are also in cinemas at the moment, go and see them instead because at least they're somewhat enjoyable!

Exorcist The Believer Rating 2.7/5 Horror, Thriller

They completely missed the essence of the original 1973 film, The Exorcist.

Most of the people in the theater were elderly. Maybe they were excited because it had a sequel, but it mostly ended up being disappointing. It was cheesy watching the two kids being exorcised. There was no thrill. It felt like being on a roller coaster that only goes straight without any ups or downs.

Though the cinematography was decent, it helped in preventing the movie from being boring. The acting was okay but nothing special. There were some jump scares due to loud sound effects. But overall, it lacked the thrill and terror you expect from a horror movie. That's why people watch horror films, to be scared. At least it wasn't as ridiculous as The Nun, where the monster gained powers in the end. 😅

"The Exorcist: Believer" is a film whose trailer was better and which promised an old school style story but adding new elements, the result was not terrible but it was bad. The script starts without much interest, the scenes of the first symptoms of demonic possession were quite simple and did not create tension, the exorcism scenes fail to stand out and feel illogical, during this part of the film it manages to have a couple of good scenes. Using characters from the original film makes no sense, their participation is almost irrelevant but it is nice to see them again. Within the aforementioned script, an attempt was made to give it a new perspective with the theme of religions and a union with a common good, but it completely fails to innovate and they treat it in a simple way. The performances are average, the two possessed girls do not achieve the masterful performance that Linda Blair achieved in 1973. David Gordon Green fails miserably in his work as a director, the cinematography is decent, on the soundtrack it is appreciated to hear the legendary "Tubular Bells" although with certain changes that are not poorly achieved and the makeup effects look gloomy. The positive points are few and the negative ones are more, a soulless sequel.