The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)

DIRECTED BY

Michael Chaves

STARRING

Vera Farmiga - Lorraine Warren 

Patrick Wilson - Ed Warren 

Mia Tomlinson - Judy Warren 

Ben Hardy - Tony Spera 

Rebecca Calder - Janet Smurl 

Elliot Cowan - Jack Smurl 

Shannon Kook - Drew Thomas 

Steve Coulter - Father Gordon 

Genre: Horror/Supernatural/Demons

Running Time: 135 Minutes

PLOT

Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren take on one last terrifying case involving mysterious entities, from their past, they must confront.

REVIEW

For 12 years, THE CONJURING franchise has thrived through 4 main films and 6 spinoffs to varying degrees of quality. Despite the controversies behind the real life personas, the film characters of Ed and Lorraine Warren have become beloved figures in the horror genre this century. I also enjoyed watching Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga play these characters, as they bring a lot of heart into their performances by keeping things grounded within a supernatural world.

However, the last CONJURING installment [THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT] really soured me on this franchise. It was boring. The premise felt tired. Turning The Warrens into the Benson and Stabler of the series took away what made the characters endearing to begin with. To say that I wasn’t excited about a new CONJURING film was an understatement. But here I am, discussing what’s being sold as the “final” installment of the main series - THE CONJURING: LAST RITES. Never believe anything studios sell you when it comes to horror that uses the words “last” or “final” because they don’t mean a damn thing. And considering that LAST RITES has become one of the most successful horror films in recent memory, almost breaking records at the box office, I doubt this will be the last we’ll see of the Warrens.

But is the film any good?

LAST RITES begins in the 1960s as a young Ed and pregnant Lorraine take on a case involving a cursed mirror. The mirror messes with Lorraine so badly that she ends up going into labor. At first, the baby is stillborn. But once Lorraine begins to pray for the baby to come back, the baby cries and Judy is officially here.

The film moves 20 years into the 1980s, where an adult Judy is starting to have her own premonitions that worry Lorraine. Meanwhile, the Smurl family from Pennsylvania buy a gift for one of their daughters who just completed her confirmation ceremony. The gift happens to be the cursed mirror from decades ago, now ready to terrorize a new family as well as lure the Warrens to finish what it started years ago.

The positives:

Despite what I think of any of the main CONJURING films, you can’t go wrong with the strong cast. Both Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga can play Ed & Lorraine Warren in their sleep at this point, maintaining their incredibly strong chemistry and grounding the film with their charisma and heart into their roles. I liked that the two actors got to play more familial roles this time around, allowing Wilson and Farmiga to portray concerned parents and spouses. Lorraine’s worry about losing her only daughter to evil, while also juggling concern for Ed’s heart condition allows both to play different beats from the other three installments. There seems to be actual stakes this time around, which strengthened their performances I felt.

The addition of Mia Tomlinson as an older Judy Warren is a great casting choice, as she carries the role with the right amount of depth the screenplay allows her to have. She has nice chemistry with Wilson and Farmiga, while playing so many different emotional beats - from fear, to passion, and to a certain amount of malice towards the end of the film. Ben Hardy gets less to do as Judy’s boyfriend Tony, but he carries his own against the other three main actors. He plays the role of the audience very well, learning about what the Warrens have been doing for decades and slowly helping them in the family business.

The actors who play the Smurl Family do a nice job as well, but they’re not given a ton other than arguing with each other and/or reacting to the supernatural stuff around them. But they’re fine. And it’s always nice to see returning actors like Steve Coulter, John Brotherton, Shannon Kook and other familiar faces from previous films in this “last” installment. I appreciate it as a fan of continuity.

I also felt that this is Michael Chaves’ best film as a director, as he seems to finally have the confidence to make some bold choices and visualizes the groundedness and the scares equally well. The special effects look good and the pacing is better here than it was in THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT. I feel like Chaves took the criticism of the last installment and turned it around by making LAST RITES feel more in tone with the first and best CONJURING film. If you’re going to be James Wan-lite, you could do a lot worse than Chaves’ visual presentation here.

And as an 80s fanatic, I loved the soundtrack and needledrops here. 

Negatives:

Even though I do believe there will be another CONJURING installment despite the title, considering how much money it has made already, let’s be honest: this main series feels tired after four movies. It feels like the same film as the first one, but less quality each time. Same beats, similar threats with a predictable conclusion - do we really need to see more of these? Say what you want about slasher films. But I can tell you the difference between SCREAM and SCREAM 2 or A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET from A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS. Same beats and formulaic, sure. But slasher sequels usually bring something new to each installment. Besides a different cursed object or villain, what’s the difference in terms on how these movies are presented? Yes, LAST RITES is a better movie than THE DEVIL MAY ME DO IT because it feels more in line with the first two films. But that’s kind of the issue here. It feels like something I’ve seen before but in “light flavor”.

I also couldn’t really connect or care about the supporting characters in this film. This refers mainly to the Smurl Family, who just feel like a Temu version of the family in the first CONJURING. The two older daughters are pretty interchangeable. Same goes to the two younger daughters. The father and mother aren’t all that interesting or charismatic. The grandparents are just there to be fodder later on. I knew nothing of these people other than that they were being messed with by whatever demon was possessing that mirror.

And as much as I like Tomlinson’s and Hardy’s performances, their characters could have used more depth as well. While better than the Smurls, I think I needed more time to see their love story and their connection to Ed and Lorraine. It’s obvious Judy and Tony are being propped up to become the new main characters in the franchise going forward if there are more, Maybe we’ll get more personality and depth for them whenever that happens. But as of now, I don’t really need to follow these two new characters in more installments even though it could work if done right.

And while Michael Chaves does a better job here, the film does have some pacing issues. When the film doesn’t focus on the Warrens, which is more than you think, LAST RITES becomes less interesting to watch. And the film isn’t remotely scary or creepy. I still think THE CONJURING 2 is tops with that due to the presence of The Nun. Having Chaves direct this film as if it were a James Wan film just makes you realize how much better Wan is at creating this kind of film. 

And out of the four threats, this cursed mirror is probably the least threatening honestly. Yes, it hurts some people and even emotionally traumatizes the Warrens due to Judy’s troubled birth during their first encounter with the object. And yes, the idea of having an evil version of your reflection attack you can be creepy. But it doesn’t do a whole lot until the last act of the film and is solved pretty easily by the end, all things considered. I think the lamp in AMITYVILLE 4: THE EVIL ESCAPES is more threatening.

THE FINAL HOWL

The best thing I can say about THE CONJURING: LAST RITES is that it’s at least better than the last installment, THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT by a good amount. LAST RITES is a more cohesive film with stronger performances by Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga and the rest of the cast. Wilson and Farmiga can play these roles in their sleep and they’re wonderful in this sequel. Michael Graves’ direction is light years better than the previous sequel, giving us James Wan-lite for the most part. And if it’s, indeed, the final installment of the main series, the film wraps things up nicely. 

But I felt the supporting characters [other than The Warrens] weren’t all that interesting enough to care about, the scares are barely there and it just feels like the same ol’, same ol’ with this franchise by this point. And considering how much money this movie has already made [and good for horror for raking in that box office cash this year], let’s be honest with ourselves - nothing about THE CONJURING: LAST RITES will be the “last” for this main series, as I can see Judy Warren and her partner Tony Spera becoming the main focus going forward. It’s a fine enough sequel but there will most likely be more. If you don’t believe that, I have a cursed mirror I’d like to sell you for cheap.

SCORE

2.5 Howls Outta 4

(6 out of 10)

Def By Temptation (1990) w/ The DTV Connoisseur

In this episode, I joined Matt Poirier as we look at the Troma cult classic, DEF BY TEMPTATION. Before that, we look at CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD [which has now been released in theaters] and what 2025 could look like for Marvel Studios. Then with the film, we get into how we each found this gem, what about it works so well, and then look at highlights.

Lunar Cycle - December 2023

Since I don’t have as much time to write longer reviews than I used to, I figured I would just post shorter reviews for horror/cult films that I feel deserve your attention.

Directed By: Takashi Yamazaki

Starring: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Minami Hamabe, Kuranosuke Sasaki, Yuki Yamada, Saki Nakatani 

Genre: Horror/Drama/Science Fiction/Action

Running Time: 125 Minutes

Score: 4 Howls Outta 4 (10 out of 10)

PLOT: In postwar Japan, a new terror rises. Will the devastated people be able to survive… let alone fight back?

REVIEW:

GODZILLA MINUS ONE may be the surprise film of 2023 for me. I had never planned to watch this new installment of Toho’s iconic monster in theaters, but friends kept mentioning it and decided to watch it on opening night on a whim. While I expected awesome monster action and cities getting destroyed by a giant lizard, I didn’t expect an actual human story that not only is emotional, but made me forget that I was watching a GODZILLA movie at times.

The entire cast, especially Ryunosuke Kamiki as former kamikaze pilot Koichi, is incredible in MINUS ONE. Kamiki, in particular, juggles a lot of emotional beats as a soldier who struggles with deserting his country at the end of World War II. Things get worse when Godzilla shows up and murders a bunch of mechanics on an island Koichi lands on, guilt building when he had a chance to save them all but is too scared to confront the monster face-to-face. We watch Kamiki play Koichi as a man struggling with PTSD - distancing himself from a woman he meets [who also has a child she’s taking care of due to the death of the child’s parents during the war] and feeling like a ghost in a devastated post-war Japan. When Godzilla shows back up and sees the damage the creature causes in front of him multiple times, he knows he has to confront his literal monster even if he has to off himself to do it.

The story is so well-written, well-paced and gives so many character arcs to multiple characters that we actually care about their encounters with Godzilla, hoping they find a way to stop the monster. Godzilla, playing a role closer to his original incarnation from 1954, is a complete villain here, destroying everything in its path and coming across as entirely unstoppable. This is a Godzilla who doesn’t care who or what it is destroying, as long as he gets to unleash its devastation as many times as possible.

Director Takashi Yamazaki takes a $15 million budget and makes MINUS ONE look better than most Hollywood blockbusters have looked in the last few years. And these films have budgets that are ten to fifteen times as much as MINUS ONE. Yamazaki lets the human story simmer and plays it all seriously, letting things build up towards the film’s exciting final act while twists and turns happen when you least expect it. The action sequences are thrilling and look phenomenal for the film’s budget. Godzilla, in particular, looks awesome - especially when he’s building up that atomic heat ray that destroys whatever is in its path. The pacing is so damn good and I loved the homage to JAWS anytime Godzilla swam underneath ships that were searching for it. The use of the original GODZILLA theme also made me giddy and was used at appropriate times. I hear Yamazaki wants to direct a STAR WARS film and I would be down to see what he does with that property with a much larger budget.

Seriously, GODZILLA MINUS ONE is not only one of the best installments in this multi-decade franchise, but it may just be the best installment of them all. It clicks in every way and checks every box that I would ever want in a GODZILLA film. I’m super happy word-of-mouth on social media has helped the film continue its success in America because this movie deserves it. One of the best films of 2023.

Directed By: Rhys Frake-Waterfield 

Starring: Craig David Dowsett, Chris Cordell, Amber Doig-Thorne, Nikolai Leon, Maria Taylor, Natasha Rose Mills, Danielle Ronald

Genre: Horror/Slasher 

Running Time: 84 Minutes

Score: 0.5 Howls Outta 4 (2 out of 10)

PLOT: Christopher Robin is headed off to college and he has abandoned his old friends, Pooh and Piglet, which then leads to the duo embracing their inner monsters. 

REVIEW:

So apparently while Disney owns the rights to the Winnie the Pooh characters when it comes to their own franchise within the studio, the original Winnie-the-Pooh book from 1926 had its rights go to public domain for the first time in decades. This allowed filmmaker Rhys Frake-Waterfield the opportunity to write, direct, produce and edit a slasher film called WINNIE-THE-POOH: BLOOD & HONEY, starring these classic characters to the surprise and anger of many. And I totally understand the fan reaction to this because I’m surprised I watched this in one entire sitting and I’m angry I wasted 80 minutes of my life giving this a shot.

I mean, the concept for this movie is actually quite good. Christopher Robin befriends the Winnie-the-Pooh characters throughout his young life, leading to the characters to be emotionally attached to their human friend. But once he grows old enough for college and decides to leave them for a higher education and pursue his adult life without them, the characters grow bitter and resentful enough to want revenge on Robin and other humans who enter 100 Acre Woods. That sounds like a cool horror movie!

Too bad this only works for the first ten minutes of the movie, leaving 74 minutes of Pooh and Piglet stalking bland and annoying female characters who do the most dumb things I’ve seen characters do in a horror film in a very long time. It almost borders on misogynistic, as Pooh and Piglet have no issues targeting young women for slaughter but aren’t as brutal on the male characters that show up. It doesn’t help that these female characters are way too ignorant or lack any common sense for any audience to care about them in any sort of meaningful way other than to watch classic characters eliminate them. I mean, sure you can talk to hostages for five straight minutes in Pooh’s lair. It would be smarter to free them and have them explain things once you’re safe enough from danger, but what do I know right? 

Other than a cool idea, an amusing pre-credits sequence and decent gore sequences, WINNIE-THE-POOH: BLOOD & HONEY has nothing else to offer. The direction isn’t all that impressive. The acting is not good. The costumes look alright I guess, but doesn’t save the film from being terrible. I’m sure some will laugh at how stupid and bad this film is [especially if you’re under the influence of certain substances]. But I think most will just be frustrated by the end of this film, wishing death on everyone on screen. This honestly may be the worst film I’ve watched that was released in 2023. I’m actually sad this is getting a sequel because that means I’ll probably have to watch it for a review. And I thought Eeyore had a depressing life.

Directed By: Tyler MacIntyre

Starring: Jane Widdop, Joel McHale, Justin Long, Jess McLeod, Katharine Isabelle

Genre: Horror/Thriller/Comedy/Slasher

Running Time: 87 Minutes

Score: 2 Howls Outta 4 (5 out of 10)

PLOT: Winnie’s life is less than wonderful one year after saving her town from a psychotic killer on Christmas Eve. When she wishes she was never born, she finds herself magically transported to a nightmarish parallel universe. With the murderous maniac now back, she must team up with a misfit to identify the culprit and get back to her own reality.

REVIEW:
A horror take on the 1946 Frank Capra holiday classic IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE [with some elements of 1983’s A CHRISTMAS STORY implemented], I was expecting a scary version of a familiar story. Considering it was written by a co-writer of 2020’s FREAKY and riding the wave of time-traveling horror films like 2017’s HAPPY DEATH DAY and 2023’s TOTALLY KILLER, it should have been mostly a slam dunk. Unfortunately, IT’S A WONDERFUL KNIFE is just a mediocre slasher film that has a really cool concept but doesn’t bother to execute it to its fullest potential.

The first act is the best part of this film, as it gets into the plot right away and reveals things that will be important once the time changes for the rest of the film. And while seeing a different timeline is cool at times in IT’S A WONDERFUL KNIFE, not enough time is given to really flesh out the major changes that the Final Girl Winnie has to deal with in order to get her back to her original timeline. While relationships are different and the mystery of the killer gets a bit more complex, things just happen because they need to in order for the story to move forward towards its conclusion. There’s no real tension, suspense or drama that’s brought out from these changes, making one wonder why even bother using this concept to begin with. The final act also feels way too convenient and easy for the main characters to achieve that Hollywood ending, which is a shame.

While some shots are cool looking, mainly due to lighting and framing, Tyler MacIntyre and his team didn’t really wow me with their visual presentation. It does what it needs to do to get from Point A to Point B. The actors are probably the highlight here, especially Justin Long as this greedy narcissistic Mayor and Joel McHale playing a serious role that actually works for the most part. It’s also nice to see Katharine Isabelle doing her thing, while Jane Widdop does what she can with the material. I would like to see her in a better project.

I really wanted this to be an annual holiday tradition, but I honestly can’t see myself willingly watching this again unless it was to show friends or for a podcast for whatever reason. While it’s definitely better to just stick with IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, there’s nothing wrong with more holiday horror. So if you’re curious, check it out. I just hope you don’t wish that you were watching a better film like I did.

Directed By: Jenn Wexler

Starring: Georgia Acken, Mena Massoud, Olivia Scott Welch, Gus Kenworthy, Chloe Levine, Derek Johns, Laurent Pitre, Madison Baines 

Genre: Horror/Thriller/Supernatural/Demons

Running Time: 99 Minutes

Score: 3 Howls Outta 4 (7 out of 10)

PLOT: Christmas break, 1971. Samantha and Clara, two students who are staying behind for the holidays at their boarding school, must survive the night after the arrival of uninvited visitors.

REVIEW:

Did any of you watch this year’s THE HOLDOVERS and wish it had a more horror slant involving a group of serial killers murdering people in order to summon a demon during the holidays? Well if you did, THE SACRIFICE GAME is definitely your jam. 

I didn’t know what to expect out of this, even though the trailer was intriguing. But a lot of this film worked for me, both visually and narratively. Jenn Wexler was smart in using a 70s vibe, a time where Satanic Panic was at its peak. It added an old school horror feel to THE SACRIFICE GAME that added a bit of atmosphere to film that mainly takes place indoors the entire time. I also thought the horror elements were used sparingly well, with the special effects looking very good. The final act isn’t shy about showing blood and gore, which was a nice change of pace from the more quiet and talky first two acts. 

The story is also pretty simple, as a group of people are going from home to home killing people to collect blood in order to summon a demon that’s trapped inside of a boarding school. It plays straightforward for the first half of the film, until the twists begin that make the movie a lot of fun to watch. It’s tough to discuss the last half without spoiling stuff, but I like how misunderstandings and not doing enough research can get some really stupid and greedy people in trouble.

The acting is hit-and-miss, with some actors really hamming it up with some interesting line readings that amused me more than get me invested in their character arcs. Mena Massoud, the live-action star of 2019’s ALADDIN, really twirls that proverbial mustache as the film’s lead villain, chewing up scenery any chance he gets. It works in some instances and it’s really distracting during others. But at least Massoud is having fun. I thought the two younger actresses, Georgia Acken and Madison Baines, were very good - especially Acken since she’s given more to do. Gus Kenworthy doesn’t get a whole lot to do, but he’s a recognizable name that will interest some viewers. 

While the holidays are over, I still recommend this one if you have Shudder. I think it has enough interesting twists and good enough acting to earn a recommendation for anyone looking for a recent Christmas horror flick.

The Exorcist: Believer (2023)

DIRECTED BY

David Gordon Green

STARRING

Leslie Odom Jr. - Victor Fielding

Ann Dowd - Ann

Jennifer Nettles - Miranda

Norbert Leo Butz - Tony

Lidya Jewett - Angela Fielding

Olivia Marcum - Katherine

Ellen Burstyn - Chris MacNeil

Genre - Horror/Supernatural/Possession/Demons

Running Time - 111 Minutes

PLOT

Since the death of his wife 12 years ago, Victor Fielding has raised their daughter, Angela on his own. But when Angela and her friend Katherine disappear in the woods, only to return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, it unleashes a chain of events that will force Victor to confront the nadir of evil and, in his terror and desperation, seek out the only person alive who has witnessed anything like it before: Chris MacNeil.

REVIEW

Fifty years ago, a William Peter Blatty bestselling novel called The Exorcist was adapted to movie screens by William Friedkin. THE EXORCIST scared the bejesus out of people, it made tons of money and it racked up a bunch of award nominations - making it one of the first horror films to do so. It has maintained its legacy as not only one of the best horror films to ever exist, but a masterpiece of cinema, period. 

With every great success, there’s always a follow up. From good continuations to the original story [THE EXORCIST III, the FOX television show] to not-so-good ones [EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC and those two prequels I can barely remember], there has always been an attempt to revive this franchise without much success compared to its slasher counterparts. But that didn’t stop Jason Blum and Universal Studios from winning a bidding war and paying an enormous $400 million for the rights.

Seeing the success they had with reviving Michael Myers, Laurie Strode and the HALLOWEEN franchise with a trilogy that had varying degrees of acclaim, the producers felt that the new HALLOWEEN trilogy director, David Gordon Green, could do the same kind of magic with THE EXORCIST. Already announced as a new trilogy for the franchise, THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER was released for the Halloween season with not a whole lot of anticipation for it. After all, not many people clamored for a new EXORCIST. And after watching a couple of trailers and seeing that they dragged out one of the stars of the first film back, Academy Award Winner Ellen Burstyn, many started to feel less excited and more worried about the original getting tarnished with another subpar sequel. And unfortunately, as far as I’m concerned, there’s not much to believe in when it comes to BELIEVER.

Let’s get the good stuff out of the way. I thought the first half of this movie was actually pretty solid. It obviously sets up the events of the second half of the film, but the first fifty minutes or so are the most compelling and interesting. It focuses on the main characters, mainly the Fielding family - consisting of a single dad who lost his pregnant wife in an earthquake while vacationing in Haiti, and his daughter who survived the impact of the earthquake but resulted in the loss of her mother. We get to see their dynamic and how much Victor, the father, cares for Angela despite being a bit overprotective. She wants to spend more time away from home with her friend Katherine, who is the daughter of very religious parents - the total opposite of Victor, who lost his faith when his wife passed. Angela and Katherine head into the woods to do some sort of seance to contact Angela’s mother, which only sets off an evil chain of events that the families will never recover from. The girls become more demonic as they’re possessed, the parents start blaming each other until they realize they have to work together to solve the issue, and bring in characters old and new to exorcize the demons out of these two teenagers.

The first half of the film plays out like a true crime, missing persons type of movie. While we know what happened to both Angela and Katherine, we don’t really know how and why. Why were these two girls targeted? Is Pazuzu the demon possessing these girls, or is it another malevolent being? Priests struggled with one person being possessed. What chance do they have with two at once? Especially when the two girls are in sync by the same demon? I was interested because this is a new twist on a familiar story. It allowed the characters to develop into people we can kind of connect with, while wondering how they were going to overcome this when the demon is only willing to let one of the girls to survive over the other, making the parents have to choose both their fates. There’s a good story here and I think if handled better, this could have been a top notch EXORCIST movie.

I also felt the performances were really good. In particular, I thought both Leslie Odom Jr. and Lidya Jewett as Victor and Angela Fielding were the best of the lot. Odom Jr. has always been a solid actor and he plays the confused and grieving husband and father well. He has a presence that works well here. Jewett is also very sweet as Angela, which is great because she’s the total opposite once she’s possessed. I also thought the other young actress, Olivia Marcum as Katherine, is also very good. I don’t think she had much of a presence when she was normal, but once she’s possessed, she’s a standout. She reminded me of Linda Blair’s performance in the first film in many ways, which I appreciated. I also thought Ann Dowd was a highlight as Ann, a nurse who was previously a nun-in-training with a sinful past. She’s probably the best supporting actor here, bringing some gravitas and bringing some needed emotion during the last part of the film.

I also thought the cinematography by Michael Simmonds was nice. It did remind me of the three previous HALLOWEEN films, but I thought the movie had some really nice shots. This is probably the best looking EXORCIST movie, even though I’m sure some will feel it looks a bit too polished. But I thought his handling of the visuals established many things well, especially the use of light and shadow at times.

Unfortunately, that is all of the positivity I have for THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER. The biggest sin this film has is that it’s pretty silly once Ellen Burstyn pops in as the returning Chris MacNeil - the mother of the first film’s victim Regan. Folks, here we have the perfect example of how not to use a returning Legacy Character to a franchise. Unlike a Laurie Strode, or the trio of Sydney, Dewey and Gale, or hell, even the return of Sally Hardesty to Netflix’s TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE reboot from last year, Chris MacNeil has no purpose in this film other than for audiences to remember the first movie. A wonderful actress, Burstyn is given some of the worst dialogue in the film. She also looks quite bored and annoyed to be in this movie, even though she received a big paycheck for returning. And what David Gordon Green and his co-writers did to Chris in BELIEVER really shocked me and upset me. It just felt so unnecessary and pointless, because nothing in this film would change much if this character wasn’t involved. It felt like a disservice to the character, the actress, the creators of the character and the fans who loved the first film and hold it in high regard. It’s nice seeing Burstyn and another returning character [who cameos at the end] again in their famous roles. And unless both characters have a substantial part in the next film or two, what’s the point of using an important character like this? It’s pretty insulting.

Then we have the obvious exorcism itself, which felt like a Cliff Notes version of what we saw in the first film. The only difference is that the demon isn’t as foul-mouthed, there are two girls instead of one and there’s a whole bunch of religious folks trying to exorcize the demon rather than just a priest or two. I saw many call this group the “Exorcist Avengers” and they actually feel like that. I thought having people from different faiths to battle one demon was a cool idea, since each faith has a different method or interpretation on possession and dealing with demonic presences. But the film never really goes too deep in differentiating the respective methods, so I was missing some of the conflict and drama of possibly one person feeling their faith was better suited over the other. I guess it was refreshing to see people of different religions coming together rather than arguing about whose God is better, so I shouldn’t complain too much about that.

What I can complain about is how rushed the whole exorcist process is in this film. It feels forced in because this is an EXORCIST movie, but unlike the first film, there’s no real tension or drama. Well, that’s not completely true. There is a moment where the demon reveals that only one girl can survive the exorcism, making the respective parents choose which one to save and which one to let go. This is a great plot twist that would have created a ton of drama and tension amongst the characters. Who will they choose? If they do choose, is the demon going to keep its promise? Is there any way to save both? Will the parents do something stupid to insure their respective child survives over the other? Possibilities were there. There’s also a hint of anti-abortion rhetoric if you want to dig deep into that, which I didn’t really notice until I thought about things after the fact. There are a lot of interesting subplots that could have really enhanced the last half of this movie.

Instead, choosing a child lasts about five minutes. There’s no drama or suspense. There’s a bit of a twist but it doesn’t have enough of an impact to make you feel anything. The secret that’s revealed for one of the main characters doesn’t really go anywhere, unless that’s being saved for the next film. It all felt like a missed opportunity because there isn’t enough time given for these plotlines to sink in for the audience. This is like having a quickie when you’re looking for foreplay. Sometimes you want more out of your horror movie, especially if it’s a sequel to one of the best horror films of all time.

I think David Gordon Green needs to step back from directing horror films for a while and maybe just remain as a screenwriter or producer. I don’t think his filmmaking is terrible or anything, but it never feels inspired in BELIEVER. If I didn’t know this was a continuation to THE EXORCIST, the look of the film makes you think you’re still in Haddonfield, making you wait for either Michael or Laurie to pop up. The film is never scary. There are a couple of jump scares, but none of them worked on me or the audience I was with. While Green is good with his setups and first halves of this movies, he tends to do way too much with his second halves and rushes through their conclusions. I also appreciated the nods to the first film, but they feel limp compared to what Friedkin did. I feel if you’re going to make an EXORCIST movie, go all out with it. As much as I think EXORCIST II is a worse film than this one, at least that film is memorable. 

THE FINAL HOWL

THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER pretty much met all of my low expectations, not doing much in adding to the legacy of an iconic horror film from fifty years ago. The film is kind of dull for the most part, as it's not scary nor does it have tension or suspense. The exorcism portion feels like a watered down version of what we’ve seen before [in this franchise and other exorcism movies] despite having more characters involved. There are subplots that pop up in the final half that could have elevated this movie, but are rushed through without leaving much of an impact or excitement for the next installment. David Gordon Green’s direction isn’t all that different from what he did with his HALLOWEEN trilogy, even if the cinematography is quite nice. And the use of Ellen Burstyn - the less said about it, the better.

That being said, the acting is quite good - in particular Leslie Odom Jr, the two possessed girls [Lidya Jewett and Olivia Marcum] and Ann Dowd as a nurse with a past. The first half, which plays out like a true crime/missing persons type of movie, is actually quite compelling as it builds character development and sets up for what’s to come. And as I mentioned, the look of the film is nice.

Other than that, THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER isn’t the best possession movie of 2023. Hell, it’s not even the best film with the word “Exorcist” in the title this year [hey Russell Crowe]. I don’t think this is the worst film in the franchise, but at least EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC had balls. Maybe David Gordon Green or whoever could add some for THE EXORCIST: DECEIVER in 2025. The power of Christ doesn’t compel me to be excited for whatever comes next. What a shame.

SCORE

1.5 Howls Outta 4

(4 out of 10)