---
title: "The Exorcist: Believer"
year: 2023
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-exorcist-believer"
fi1m_id: "the-exorcist-believer"
imdb_id: "tt12921446"
tmdb_id: 807172
wikidata_id: "Q107610336"
fi1m_score: 42
critics_score: 44
critics_reviews: 10
published: "2026-09-10"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:05.664715+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Exorcist: Believer (2023)

Directed by David Gordon Green · 1h 51m · MPA R · Horror

## Identity

The Exorcist: Believer

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-exorcist-believer
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** the-exorcist-believer
- **IMDb ID:** tt12921446
- **TMDB ID:** 807172
- **Wikidata ID:** Q107610336
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12921446/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/807172, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q107610336

**Fi1m score: 42** · Critics 44 from 10 reviews

*In a sentence:* Two possessed girls, a full committee of faiths, and a demon that mostly wants a word with the parents

> David Gordon Green opens quietly and well, with two missing girls and a father who cannot say what he fears. Then the exorcism arrives, the shouting starts, and a film that set out to widen the faith ends up with hardly any.

## Synopsis

Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom Jr.) lost his wife years ago and has raised their daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett) alone. One afternoon Angela and her friend Katherine (Olivia O’Neill) walk into the woods and do not come home. When they are found, days later, neither girl can say where she has been, and both begin to change. Katherine’s parents, Miranda (Jennifer Nettles) and Tony (Norbert Leo Butz), turn to their church. Victor, who has no faith to turn to, is pushed by his neighbour, the nurse Ann Brooks (Ann Dowd), towards Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn), a woman whose own daughter went through something like this decades earlier. David Gordon Green’s film follows on directly from the 1973 original.

## Review

David Gordon Green did this before with *Halloween* in 2018: take a horror series that had wandered, pretend the later entries never happened, and pick up from the first film. *The Exorcist: Believer* does the same with William Friedkin’s [*The Exorcist*](https://film.one/film/the-exorcist) from 1973. It brings back Ellen Burstyn as Chris MacNeil, doubles the possessed children and runs 111 minutes. The first forty are careful and quietly unsettling. The rest are loud and crowded and not frightening, and the film ends with less to say about faith than the one it follows.

The early stretch is good. Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom Jr.) is a widower who keeps his daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett) on a short lead, and Odom plays him tight and courteous. When Angela and her friend Katherine (Olivia O’Neill) walk into the woods after school and do not come back, Michael Simmonds shoots the search in flat daylight, no fog, no blue filter, just a father looking at trees. Timothy Alverson holds the shots long enough for us to watch Odom not cry. David Wingo and Amman Abbasi keep the music to a low hum. We were properly uneasy, because nobody was trying to frighten us yet.

The girls come home. Jewett and O’Neill are good at the half-here quality of children who have been somewhere they cannot describe, and the best scene in the film is a plain one: the two of them in hospital beds, certain they have been gone a few hours, while the adults around them go quiet. Brandon Tonner-Connolly’s houses are ordinary and lived in, and the sofas look owned. Lizz Wolf dresses the two families a class apart without making a point of it. For a while the film knows that dread is built from people not saying things.

Ann Dowd, as the nurse next door, is the first to say the word possession, and she says it as if it were a diagnosis. She points Victor towards Chris MacNeil, and Burstyn arrives with the original behind her and not much screen time in front. She is good in what she has. She talks about Regan, about what the church would not let her see, and she looks at Victor the way one parent looks at another who is about to learn something. What the script then does with her we will not describe, except that it is the most wasteful decision in the film.

The exorcism is where it comes apart. Peter Sattler and Green’s script has one idea that could have carried a film: the priest, Father Maddox (E.J. Bonilla), is told by his superiors to stay away, so the parents gather whoever will come, a pastor (Raphael Sbarge), a healer (Okwui Okpokwasili), and try it themselves. Whether faith works without the institution is a real question. The film asks it and then turns up the volume. The two girls sit tied to chairs, growling in the same processed voice. Alverson cuts faster and faster, Wingo and Abbasi’s hum becomes a roar, and Simmonds lights it all like a basement gig. Nothing in it made us jump. We were bored, then irritated, because the first half had promised better.

Friedkin’s film was frightening because it believed in something and put a mother who did not into the same room. Green and Sattler want a broader church, but they do not believe in that either. The climax rests on a choice we will not describe, and it is the sort of thing a script reaches for when it wants a moral and has run out of scares. Green’s *Halloween* had its lapses and still knew what Michael Myers was for. Here nobody seems sure what the devil is after.

Odom, Jewett and O’Neill would all be worth seeing in a better film, and Dowd is worth seeing in anything. But a sequel to *The Exorcist* has one job, which is to frighten grown adults in the dark, and this one manages it for about forty minutes before it starts explaining itself. Watch it for what Burstyn does with a monologue. Then, if the evening is still young, watch the one from 1973.

*Fi1m score 42, published 10 September 2026.*

## Straight answers

**Is The Exorcist: Believer worth watching?**

*The Exorcist: Believer* is not worth watching for most people, and we scored it 42. The first forty minutes are careful and quietly unsettling, with good work from Leslie Odom Jr. and the two young leads, but the exorcism itself is loud, crowded and not frightening. Watch it, if at all, for what Ellen Burstyn does with a monologue.

**How long is The Exorcist: Believer, and what is it rated?**

*The Exorcist: Believer* runs 1h 51m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a horror film.

**Where can I watch The Exorcist: Believer in the US?**

*The Exorcist: Believer* is streaming on Peacock, The Roku Channel and Amazon Prime Video in the US, and it is also available to rent from Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video from $3.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is The Exorcist: Believer, and is it suitable for children?**

*The Exorcist: Believer* is a 15 in the UK and an R in the US, and it is not for children. Two possessed girls sit tied to chairs growling in processed voices, and the film deals in missing children and demonic possession throughout. The squeamish will cope better than they expect, because the second half is more noisy than frightening.

**How does The Exorcist: Believer compare to The Exorcist?**

*The Exorcist: Believer* is the weaker film by some distance, and [*The Exorcist*](https://film.one/film/the-exorcist) from 1973 is the one to watch. Friedkin's film believes in something and stays frightening; Green's asks a real question about faith without an institution and then buries it under shouting. Only those who want to see Ellen Burstyn return as Chris MacNeil need bother with the sequel.

**What should I watch after The Exorcist: Believer?**

After *The Exorcist: Believer*, try [*The Exorcist*](https://film.one/film/the-exorcist) (1973, Fi1m 89): The one this is trying to follow; still the only one that frightens grown adults. Then [*Saint Maud*](https://film.one/film/saint-maud) (2019, Fi1m 82): Faith as a private fever in a Scarborough bedsit; small, exact and upsetting; and [*Hereditary*](https://film.one/film/hereditary) (2018, Fi1m 83): A family coming apart in a house full of miniatures; Toni Collette does the screaming.

### Reviews we read (20)

- **Radio Times**, Jeremy Aspinall (3/5): The review calls it a watchable but unoriginal chiller that pays homage to the 1973 classic without breaking new ground in the genre. It praises the nods to the original, sound design, and Ellen Burstyn’s return while noting the ending suggests potential for more. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/exorcist-believer-review/)
- **The Guardian**, Benjamin Lee (40/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a serviceable but schlocky and empty cash-grab sequel that wastes Ellen Burstyn's return and is unlikely to satisfy fans of the original. It offers some goofy entertainment and inventive imagery in the double exorcism scene thanks to committed young performers, but is trapped between serious and silly. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/oct/04/the-exorcist-believer-review-ellen-burstyn-david-gordon-green)
- **The Telegraph** (1/5): The critic finds the film a sloppy, CGI-heavy farrago that fails to summon any of the original's menace or scares. It is poorly cast and not remotely scary, with Satan seeming asleep on the job. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/the-exorcist-believer-review/)
- **The Times**, Kevin Maher (1/5): The critic finds the film a wussy, inclusive reboot ruined by Hollywood greed and stupidity that swaps primal scares for a less offensive version of possession. It defeats the point of the franchise with an attentive-parent solution to evil. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/the-exorcist-believer-review-it-s-enough-to-make-your-head-spin-rl9dzw2wt)
- **Empire**, Olly Richards: The film starts strongly with a sinister atmosphere and intriguing setup but loses tension with gimmicky callbacks and an underdeveloped script that settles for creepy or nauseating moments rather than true terror. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/the-exorcist-believer/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Katie Walsh: The review calls the sequel an exhausting, noisy affair that relies on jump scares and chaos rather than genuine shock or suspense, making the demonic elements tiresome quickly. It praises the attempt at a broader community-focused message over strict Catholicism but faults the shallow characters and lack of originality. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-10-04/the-exorcist-believer-review-david-gordon-green-ellen-burstyn-leslie-odom-jr)
- **Sight and Sound**: The critic finds the film weighed down by the legend of Friedkin’s original and gets nowhere near its holy dread, with off pacing that accelerates without building menace. It singles out the multi-faith approach to possession as the only point of interest, though even that feels unlikely to succeed. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/exorcist-believer-weighed-down-legend-william-friedkins-original)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, David Rooney: The film begins with promise in its restrained setup and atmosphere but quickly descends into numbing familiarity, recycled Blumhouse effects, and unoriginal excess. The diluted Catholic elements and lack of daring compared to the 1973 original are singled out as major disappointments. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/the-exorcist-believer-review-david-gordon-green-leslie-odom-jr-1235608260/)
- **The New York Times**, Jeannette Catsoulis: The critic finds the film too busy and uninvolving as a possession movie that doubles the victims but offers little dread or depth compared to the original. It is slickly professional with capable young performers but disappointingly cautious in its approach to the source material's themes. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/04/movies/the-exorcist-believer-review.html)
- **Total Film**, Kevin Harley: The sequel opens promisingly but ends in an unholy mess, relying on studied homages and regurgitative nods to the original that feel crude next to Friedkin's classic. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/the-exorcist-believer-review/)
- **Variety**: The critic describes the reboot as a craftsmanly but cautious retread that trots out familiar tropes without dread or transgressive power, feeling like Dread Lite. While the opening builds some pull through trauma and the inclusion of Ellen Burstyn adds presence, the film lacks danger and feels overly safe and conventional. [Read](https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/the-exorcist-believer-review-ellen-burstyn-leslie-odom-jr-1235743386/)
- **Vulture**, Bilge Ebiri: The first half effectively builds believable dread without cheap scares, but the second half collapses as the film fails to innovate on exorcism tropes and avoids the overt Christian mythology that defined the original. It shows just enough promise to ultimately disappoint. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2023/10/we-dont-talk-enough-about-the-bizarre-exorcist-films.html)
- **NME**, Alex Flood (4/5): The critic calls it the best Exorcist movie since the original, praising its atmospheric tension, emotional core, strong performances especially from Leslie Odom Jr. and Ellen Burstyn, and moving sequences amid the horror. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/film-reviews/the-exorcist-believer-review-3508622)
- **Deadline**, Pete Hammond (70/100, inferred): The film is an entertaining sequel that deftly merges elements from the 1973 original while delivering a head-spinning reboot with a double twist. Ellen Burstyn's return as Chris MacNeil lifts the proceedings considerably, and the young cast delivers strong performances amid the horror. [Read](https://deadline.com/2023/10/the-exorcist-believer-review-leslie-odom-jr-stars-ellen-burstyn-returns-in-head-spinning-reboot-1973-horror-classic-1235563306/)
- **Collider**, Chase Hutchinson (C-): The critic calls the film a soulless horror sequel that fails to recapture the original's magic through an empty escalation with two possessed girls instead of one. It scatters focus and does a disservice to returning character Chris MacNeil. [Read](https://collider.com/the-exorcist-believer-review/)
- **/Film**, Witney Seibold (4.5/10): The critic finds the film a generic and unoriginal knockoff that fails to capture the depth of the original, relying instead on clichés and jump scares. They single out the lack of ambition and originality as the main complaint, noting it has nothing consequential to say about faith or the material. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/1411652/the-exorcist-believer-review/)
- **The Wrap**, William Bibbiani (40/100, inferred): The film is competently dramatized and occasionally startling but ultimately mediocre, running away from any real depth in favor of exploiting franchise IP. It tries to secularize a Catholic story through a non-denominational lens and inclusive exorcism but lacks the ambition or power to make it interesting or scary. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/the-exorcist-believer-review-david-gordon-green/)
- **Polygon**, Austen Goslin (30/100, inferred): The critic finds the film the most boring and uninspired version of The Exorcist, stripping away the series' unique elements around possession to focus only on a regular exorcism. It loses its grasp on evil by sidelining God and tradition, making the climax tedious. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/23901801/exorcist-believer-review-religion-possession-catholicism/)
- **Den of Geek**, David Crow (2 out of 5): The critic finds the film lacks conviction and fails to deliver genuine scares or metaphysical depth, playing like a hollow haunted-house ride with maudlin messaging. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-exorcist-believer-review-heaven-help-us/)
- **Paste**, Matt Donato (7.0): The critic praises how the film brings humanity to exorcism tropes and unites different religious groups in its third act against a common foe. It leans on heart and optimism despite not matching the terror of the original. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/david-gordon-green/the-exorcist-believer-review)

## Details

- **Director:** David Gordon Green
- **Director:** David Gordon Green
- **Screenplay:** David Gordon Green, Peter Sattler
- **Cinematography:** Michael Simmonds
- **Editor:** Tim Alverson
- **Music:** David Wingo, Amman Abbasi
- **Production design:** Brandon Tonner-Connolly
- **Costume design:** Lizz Wolf
- **Producer:** Jason Blum, James G. Robinson, David C. Robinson
- **Cast:** Leslie Odom Jr. as Victor Fielding; Lidya Jewett as Angela Fielding; Olivia O'Neill as Katherine West; Ann Dowd as Nurse Ann Brooks; Jennifer Nettles as Miranda West; Norbert Leo Butz as Tony West; Okwui Okpokwasili as Dr. Beehibe; Raphael Sbarge as Pastor Don Revans
- **Runtime:** 1h 51m
- **Certificate (MPA):** R
- **Release (the US):** 6 October 2023
- **Genres:** Horror
- **Budget:** $30 million
- **Box office:** $137 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r71FmJBoSDs

## Where to watch in the US

- Peacock: streaming, uhd
- The Roku Channel: add-on, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd
- Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd
- Apple TV: buy $4.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, uhd

*Checked 2026-09-10.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *The Exorcist* (1973), Fi1m 89: The one this is trying to follow; still the only one that frightens grown adults. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-exorcist.md)
- *The Wailing* (2016): A Korean village, a shaman, a policeman out of his depth; dread built slowly and properly.
- *Saint Maud* (2019), Fi1m 82: Faith as a private fever in a Scarborough bedsit; small, exact and upsetting. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/saint-maud.md)
- *Hereditary* (2018), Fi1m 83: A family coming apart in a house full of miniatures; Toni Collette does the screaming. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/hereditary.md)
- *Talk to Me* (2022), Fi1m 76: Australian teenagers pass a possessed hand round at parties; the consequences are not gentle. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/talk-to-me.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-exorcist-believer