THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER (2023): David Gordon Green’s New Horror Reboot is Falling Short of the Original with Critics

Horror Reboot Getting Killed by Critics

The Exorcist: Believer is failing to live up to the original film with critics who have scored the film grading it lower than was expected.

Where’s Linda Blair when you need her? The actress who won an Oscar nod for playing the possessed Regan when she was young in the 1973 classic, The Exorcist, is not listed in the primary cast list for the new reboot, The Exorcist: Believer. It is unlikely that the kids who have replaced Blair in the new film will follow in Blair’s footsteps and receive Academy Award nominations, judging from recently released reviews. This new movie, directed by David Gordon Green, stands at a less than exciting 23% Rotten Tomatoes rating so far. So much for bringing back Ellen Burstyn from the original movie. It doesn’t seem to have helped too much.

Burstyn returns in the new reboot as Chris MacNeil but while Green managed to get Jamie Lee Curtis’s career swinging again with a reboot of Halloween and its sequels, it seems unlikely Burstyn’s presence can save this new film from the depths of hell where the critics are concerned, however.

1973’s The Exorcist scored a Best Picture Oscar nomination but the new movie is more likely to be named as a contender for Worst Picture of the year by the Razzies. Also starring in the new reboot are Leslie Odom Jr and some new young actresses who aren’t exactly getting raves for their work, including Lidya Jewett.

“The body and the blood!,” a possessed young girl screams out in a church in the trailers for the new picture but the whole scenario seemed a bit awkward and, now, reviewers are panning the lack of originality found in the new picture. Critic David Poland has pointed out that there’s not even an actual exorcist in the new picture.

When it was announced that Burstyn would top line the film under Green’s direction, people thought of Curtis and Green’s pairing which led to genuine movie scares. This time out, the horror seems more laughable than frightening, for whatever reason.

To be fair, FilmBook will be reviewing the film tomorrow night and judging it fairly to see how it is. While critics have trashed remakes like Children of the Corn, I have always been fair at pointing out positive aspects of certain movies that are ridiculed by reviewers. Recently, Children of the Corn scored a better rating here than it did with most critics. However, horror movies also are among the worst rated recent movies by our site. The three lowest movies I rated since writing for the site have all been horror films which means it could go either way in regards to The Exorcist: Believer.

Unless audiences find something to admire about Green’s new Exorcist film, it looks as if Taylor Swift could annihilate the new horror picture at the box-office which means next weekend’s “ExorSwift” weekend, may just become “Swift” weekend as the musical talent’s new concert film opens on October 13th.

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