‘THE EXORCIST’ – A GOOD BLEND OF NEW SCHOOL AND OLD

The 1973 film “The Exorcist” from director William Friedkin must be one of the most iconic horror films of all time. Despite how it spurred controversy across the nation, it also won two Academy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards.

Fast forward 50 years and now we have the release of its sequel, “The Exorcist: Believer,” from director David Gordon Green.

I went into this film expecting it to be a rip-off from the 1973 original. While it does feature two unnecessary cameos from the original cast, it still delivers a great dose of the “heebi-jeebies.” Green nails the eerie aesthetics, and you never get pulled out of the old, grainy film feel of the original.

It hardly feels like you’re watching a modern film: The way the setting begins in Haiti and transitions to a small town in the U.S. keeps you in an old-time aesthetic. I also love how the filmmakers avoided having technology play a significant role in this sequel. I saw the characters using cellphones only a handful of times throughout whole film. Even though it is based in modern times, it never really brings in modern problems.

The cast is great – the characters are relatable. The film does a great job with putting them in very vulnerable situations and dealing with the heavy topic of demonic possession, without removing them or the audience from reality – which ultimately adds to the terror. At one point in the film, I told myself “I’m going to run out of this theater and go straight to my car!”

I wasn’t trying to get ghost-stalked by a demon on a Tuesday evening. And from the screams I heard and tension I felt in the theater, I could tell others felt the same.

This film does feature some “bad” jump scares that maybe a horror super-fanatic could see coming a mile away, but as a casual horror fan, I honestly had to hold in my (comically) frightened screams for most of them. The film also had me ready his seat at certain, tense scenes.

I see that people online are complaining and nitpicking this sequel apart, and while I agree it’s not a perfect film I can objectively say it is, in fact, a good horror film. I also appreciate that there’s a lot of black character representation in the movie.

I’ve watched the original, but don’t think it is worth comparing the two. They are just two entirely different films. That is why I think it is totally pointless to have cameos from Regan and Chris MacNeil. While they do move the plot forward a bit, the whole encounter with MacNeil seems like a huge speed bump and Green could have filled that run time with something more worthwhile and terrifying. It seems like he wanted to provide fan service that nobody asked for.