As someone who thoroughly enjoyed David Gordon Green's first "Halloween" film but disliked "Halloween Kills" and downright hated "Halloween Ends," I approached the director's new "The Exorcist" film with mixed expectations. And somehow it ended up being a movie experience that kind of fast-forwarded my feelings about the "Halloween" trilogy. Thus, I really liked the entire beginning of "The Exorcist: Believer". The atmosphere is solidly built up, I like Leslie Odom Jr. as the main character, and the film is also competently shot.

However, it quickly becomes clear in the middle section that Green has no new ideas other than "more." This time it's not one possessed girl, but—wait for it—TWO! Otherwise, much of the original "The Exorcist" is warmed up, but the temperature does not rise above lukewarm. Ellen Burstyn, who reprises her role from the 1973 film, could also have been omitted. Her contribution to "Believer" is not significant at all.

Terrible is the finale, which bored me to death. The whole exorcism part should be the highlight of this kind of movie. Here, however, it is overloaded, poorly directed, and, on top of that, for the most part, badly acted. Most of the characters either didn't interest me or irritated me. The film's conclusion only pleased me in the sense that it was finally over.

All in all, it was clear beforehand that "Believer" would not come close to the original. But I didn't go to the movies with that expectation. But at least it could have been a solid exorcism movie, but here far too much potential was wasted. I definitely don't have a good feeling about the planned sequels.