I saw The Exorcist: Believer the day it opened, and, as a longtime devotee of the original, I worried it would be disappointing but still hung onto some hope that it would be OK. Sadly, I was thoroughly disappointed. This movie felt like someone arguing frantically for two hours that "movies are supposed to be entertainment" as a way of drowning out their conscience telling them (accurately) that they have, in fact, made a crap movie. Obvious and pointless jump-scares, amateurishly written soliloquies about good v. Evil, uninspired and thus desperate-feeling callbacks to the original, attempts at pulling your heartstrings by hands that evidently don't know where the human heart is located in the body - yes, this film has it all, and it's all dumb.
I do applaud David Gordon Green's decision to make a direct sequel instead of attempting a reboot (or, far worse, a "reimagining"), but in so doing he made a big mistake: he pandered. Movies like this feel for all the world as if the filmmakers - instead of you know, doing some actual writing and working hard on the story and script - gather everything they think you love about the original and modern horror in general and cram it all in at twice the volume and one-tenth the quality. That's pandering. It's like a barter-system version of someone pleading with you to please love them.
My suggestion: skip the overpriced cinema ticket and just re-watch the original Exorcist, which is still terrifying 50+ years on, followed immediately by Exorcist III, which has somehow gotten worthier over the years.
I do applaud David Gordon Green's decision to make a direct sequel instead of attempting a reboot (or, far worse, a "reimagining"), but in so doing he made a big mistake: he pandered. Movies like this feel for all the world as if the filmmakers - instead of you know, doing some actual writing and working hard on the story and script - gather everything they think you love about the original and modern horror in general and cram it all in at twice the volume and one-tenth the quality. That's pandering. It's like a barter-system version of someone pleading with you to please love them.
My suggestion: skip the overpriced cinema ticket and just re-watch the original Exorcist, which is still terrifying 50+ years on, followed immediately by Exorcist III, which has somehow gotten worthier over the years.