The Exorcist: Believer Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.0

The Exorcist: Believer Blu-ray Movie Review

'The Exorcist: Believer' arrives on Blu-ray disc courtesy of Universal. Six short featurettes give viewers "behind the scenes" information on a smattering of topics including casting, make-up effects, and editing among others. A feature-length commentary is also available. The Blu-ray disc features a Dolby Atmos audio track and comes packaged with a DVD, a Digital Code, and a slipcover which features art identical to what is seen on the keepcase.

Back in 1973, when The Exorcist first graced the screens of movie theaters on the day after Christmas, it was met with a mix of controversy and success. Directed by the late William Friedkin from a script penned by William Peter Blatty the film has become one of the titans of the horror genre, and even some 50 years after its initial release, many still consider it to be the scariest movie ever made. And with good reason. Regan's (Linda Blair) transformation is both visceral and horrific. As a viewer, we are every bit as frustrated, desperate, and terrified as her mother, Chris (Ellen Burstyn), is in her increasingly frantic search for answers and help. It's only when medical science has been exhausted that the supernatural is embraced as a last-ditch effort to try and save her daughter. Despite the fact that the film is entitled The Exorcist and we take our seats knowing full-well where this demonic trip is going to end up, it's the journey of how we get there that matters most. Regan's transformation is a slow progression, Chris' terror and helplessness grows with each new unexplained occurrence, and the confluence of these elements organically brings the film to the inevitable and titular final showdown between good and evil in a way that still feels surprising and unexpected. It's the work of a masterful director at the height of his powers. Considering the giant shadow cast by this film, and the previous sequels and prequels that have met with decidedly mediocre responses, it was with a mix of trepidation and cautious optimism that I approached the newest entrant into this 50-year-old film franchise. (It is worth mentioning that Friedkin, himself, was not pleased with the decision for another sequel, was not happy with the choice of director, and tweeted on December 17, 2020, "There is a rumor on IMDB that I'm involved with a new version Of The Exorcist. This isn't a rumor, it's a flat-out lie. There's not enough money or motivation in the world To get me to do this [sic] .") That said, maybe I have a little more trepidation than cautious optimism.

The first of what is purported to be a trilogy of new Exorcist films, David Gordon Green's (Halloween Kills, Your Highness, Pineapple Express) The Exorcist: Believer opens in Haiti where Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom, Jr.) and his wife Sorenne (Tracey Graves) are doing some photography around Port-Au-Prince. The pregnant Sorenne receives a voodoo blessing of protection for her unborn child shortly before a devastating earthquake rocks the area, resulting in her death. The blessing of protection seems to have worked its magic as the daughter, Angela, survives. Skipping forward 13 years, we now find what's left of the Fielding family in Percy, Georgia. Victor works in a photography studio taking family portraits to pay the bills, while teenaged Angela (Lidya Jewett) attends school and pines for the mother she never knew. She and her friend, Katherine (newcomer Oliva O'Neill) devise and execute a plan to go into a strange tunnel in the woods behind their school to attempt a seance and contact Angela's long-dead mother. Things do not go as intended and the girls go missing. When Angela doesn't return home at the agreed upon time, her father Victor quickly jumps into action contacting the parents of her friends and ultimately the police. Katherine's parents take similar action, and the parents' emotional search for their missing daughters over the subsequent days culminates with them being found in a remote location three days later with no memory of what had transpired.

After getting a relatively clean bill of health at the hospital the girls return to their homes and strange things start happening. Bathtubs fill with viscous brown water, violence erupts, and there is an unfortunate episode during a Baptist church service. All of this leads to Angela being committed and Katherine's mother, Miranda (Jennifer Nettles, one-half of the country duo Sugarland, and the host of the upcoming reality series Farmer Wants a Wife), quickly declaring that the girls are obviously both possessed. In her estimation, their three day disappearance mirrors Jesus' three day decent into hell, so there isn't anything else it could be. Both her husband and Victor quickly get on board with this idea. After Victor to discuss the matter with failed nun and neighbor Ann (Ann Dowd) he then seeks out renowned possession and exorcism expert Chris MacNeil (with Ellen Burstyn reprising her role). Victor, Miranda, Chris, and Ann then marshal their resources to try to bring this incidence of group possession to a satisfactory conclusion.

The Exorcist: Believer is at its best when it focuses on the two young female leads, Jewett and O'Neill. The two are quite believable as school friends, but it is when their ordeal begins that their talents more clearly come into focus. Both give startlingly physical performances as their possession progresses. They bring an exhausting amount of energy and commitment to the screen as they contort their bodies and launch vicious attacks in the film's most ambitious scenes, and convey an evil presence with a mere glance or tilt of the head in the film's quieter moments. Their performances are greatly aided by Christopher Nelson's creepy make-up effects which grow increasingly more distorted and demonic as their dark possessors grow in power. However, as much as I appreciate the work of these two talented young actors, tension and frights are in short supply, and the reasons for that are legion.

While there are a number of factors that contribute to The Exorcist: Believer never fully succeeding in its mission to terrify, the primary trio of culprits begins with the usually dependable Leslie Odom, Jr. When Angela and Katherine go missing, his initial anger and frustration with his daughter not following the rules grows to panic and worry when it's clear she's actually missing. His emotions effectively drive those of the audience as puts up posters and chases down every possible lead to find his daughter and her friend. Victor is frantic in his search and his sense of relief when the girls are found "unharmed" gives him and us a chance to catch a much needed breath. But when Angela and Katherine start to behave strangely, the film commits its first mortal sin. After an incredibly short discussion about what could be behind the girls' issues from a medical perspective, Miranda immediately jumps to demonic possession as a root cause, her husband readily agrees, and Victor gets on board a scene later. From this moment on, he never truly seems afraid even though he should be more terrified than ever. As his daughter transforms into something unrecognizable, as tragedy befalls those around him, even during the inevitable exorcism, every fresh horror is met with his considered stoicism. Since the film forces us to experience events primarily from his perspective, we were worried when Angela and Katherine went missing because he was worried, and demonstrably so. Similarly, when Victor doesn't seem upset, worried, or afraid when the girls are possessed, well the audience really can't be either.

The second mortal sin is David Gordon Green's decision to remind the audience of the original film frequently and often, and it happens from the very beginning of the film. Just as 1973's The Exorcist began in the past in Iraq, a location that is disorienting to the audience since it is somewhat strange, exotic, and not at all where we expected to be, The Exorcist: Believer begins in the past in Haiti, another location that is somewhat strange, exotic, and unexpected. Where Linda Blair's Regan violently masturbates with a crucifix in the original, O'Neill's Katherine masturbates during a Baptist church service in an effort to check the same profane box. And not to worry, a crucifix gets jammed into a different orifice later, just to check that box as well. Just as Friedkin gave us a host of hard edits taking us from a quiet environment to a loud one or vice versa, Green deploys the same tactic throughout The Exorcist: Believer in a manner that goes beyond homage and into imitation. Once she is possessed and institutionalized, Angela goes so far as claw "Regan" into the wood trim of the window in her room. Why? Because even though there are a nigh uncountable number of demons, the one that was in Regan is the same one inhabiting Angela. Pictures of Regan also appear as an effort to work Linda Blair into the proceedings. Ellen Burstyn's presence and her discussion of her own first-hand experience only serves to remind the audience of first film and long for it even more. None of these decisions comes off innovative or necessary, but rather as a thinly veiled attempt to summon our feelings and respect for the classic first film and transfer them to David Gordon Green's sequel without him actually doing the work earn them. And he doesn't.

The exorcism itself is The Exorcist: Believer's third mortal sin. The original film depicted demonic possession for what it is: something bizarre, something otherworldly and rare, and something that most people are not equipped to understand or cope with, let alone perform. That's why Burstyn's MacNeil receives help from the Catholic church. They're the purported experts. They've got the tools and experience to handle such things, but even then it's a dangerous undertaking. The Exorcist: Believer takes a much more DIY approach to combating possession. When the Catholic church declines to get involved in their girls' plight, Victor and Miranda assemble an exorcism "team" consisting of themselves, Miranda's husband, a Baptist minister, a Hoodoo practitioner, and Ann (Vic's neighbor who was almost a nun). It's that unusual assortment of people and their varying degrees of skills and abilities that serve to diminish the mystique and difficulty of the exorcism. None of those assembled have ever dealt with such a situation before, though the Baptist minister and Hoodoo practitioner likely have some doctrines, teachings, or rituals to lean on and perhaps put into practice. The multi-denominational approach is a unique and welcome spin on an exorcism, to be sure. But how difficult, dangerous, and daunting can an exorcism really be if even moms, dads, and a grumpy neighbor can do it?

The Exorcist: Believer Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

There is absolutely nothing evil or demonic going on with The Exorcist: Believer's transfer, in fact it's quite good. There is a delightful amount of detail visible in the film's opening in Port-Au-Prince with the natural age and wear to the buildings in and around the market helping to ground us in the reality of that environment and in the ornate church where victor is taking photos. The sundrenched settings don't allow for primaries to pop, but we are treated to greater richness and saturation inside the church. Once we relocate to Georgia the color palette becomes more vivid with bright colors on display, especially evident in the yellow school, the purple scarf that once belonged to Angela's mother, and the blue of Victor's track suit. Black levels are good but not always as inky as I would like. The high level of fine detail on display in the gooey and demonic make-up effects that marks the girls' decent into possession adds to the film's creepiness. I did not detect any video anomalies or defects.

The Exorcist: Believer Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Exorcist: Believer sports a solid Dolby Atmos audio track, and some if its most impressive sonic moments are featured in the film's early goings. During the opening in Haiti, we experience a violent earthquake. The ground rumbles, concrete and masonry crack, debris flies in all directions, and various explosions fill the air. Bass thunders, and the surrounds place us neatly in the middle of the mayhem. As the destruction diminishes when the earthquake subsides, these sounds become muted and transition into meditative chimes and tones that dominate, muting and distorting dialogue and leaving us slightly disoriented as we try to work through theses sounds to understand what's happening in this, one of the film's best moments. We get a few other nicely immersive moments as the film takes us into the busy school hallways, a crowded church service with a room-filling choir, and the thunderstorm that occurs around the 29 minute mark. There are also a few brief instances during the mimicked Friedkin hard cuts where we are surrounded by angry dogs, jackhammers and other similar abrasive sounds. Primarily, however, this is dialogue-driven affair, with appropriate levels of prioritization and balance. Directionality is precise and accurate. On the whole, it is a very fine audio track with a few impressive moments. English SDH subtitles are also available.

The Exorcist: Believer Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Exorcist: Believer's special features are as follows :

The Exorcist: Believer Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

David Gordon Green does as much as he can to emulate Friedkin's The Exorcist (1973). And while imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, it does not directly and necessarily translate into fine filmmaking. Led by Leslie Odom, Jr., the cast should be sufficient for the task at hand, but the smartness of original's script, an atmosphere of dread, tense horror, and sense of impending doom are all sadly missing. While there are a few scares to be had and excellent make-up effects on display as the possessions progress, they are not enough to carry the film. Those unfamiliar with the original film may find more enjoyment here, but fans of the 1973 film, as pleased as they may be to see Burstyn's return, are likely to be left wanting. Still, technical merits are strong for those considering a purchase.