Lack of belief: Preachy dialogues, loose plot, multiple characters, horror cliches and inconsistent cinematography... even a die-hard fan of the horror genre would not be enthused by this one

Johnson Thomas

Beloved horror classic The Exorcist has been re-imagined for the new generation with this one, even though there has been a glut of exorcism films. David Gordon Green, fresh after an unremarkable Halloween reboot trilogy, is the man at the helm, revisiting with a direct sequel to William Friedkin’s 1973 horror masterpiece. But the treatment here is so woebegone that we may see its end even before it has begun!

It is quite unlikely that even a die-hard fan of the horror zone would be enthused by this monstrosity of a refashioning. Green, for sure, isn’t a believer! The Exorcist was an eerily thrilling and intensely scary experience, and this one too starts out in dramatic fashion. Victor (Leslie Odom Jr in a decent performance) manages to survive a major earthquake in Haiti even as his pregnant wife, who was found buried under concrete, struggles to deliver. The doctors can’t save both her and the baby, putting the choice in Victor’s hands. It could have been a fire-starter if treated with skill, but under Green’s tutelage, the ‘survivor’s guilt’ factor is lost in a sea of inanities aiming for immediate purchase.

As a direct salvo of evil corrupting innocence, the narrative cuts to two girls, Angela (Lidya Jewett) and her friend Katherine (Olivia Marcum), messing around with the dark side, then disappearing, only to return later, inexplicably exhibiting wounds on their bodies and inhabited by a Satanic power.

The narrative exhibits a solemn enough tone, but its bag of tricks is pretty much tepid and stale in contrast to the original. The script fails to create original moments even though the story adds a few more characters and the plot seems different from the original. It feels as if the director was more interested in going from one milestone to another without dwelling on the whys and wherefores. There is no real character development or build up. There was really no need to bring in the characters of Chris and Regan McNeil; they were just thrown in to be the connectors to the original.

Many of the characters come on board and disappear without making a mark. Preachy dialogues and multiple sub-plots abound here. Even the psychological aspect is sorely missing in this re-imagining. The visuals may have been adequate, but the uneven pacing and lack of symbolism linked to horror thrills puts this film in a shadow, which looms too large for it to see the light. The production values and the costumes were a standard akin to a low-brow TV movie. Even the cinematography was far too inconsistent to generate any scares of its own. The horror cliches and ineffectual jump scares make for a messy and inept narrative.

The performances were sincere, but the cheesy exorcism routine was untenable. Even the overly loud sound effects accompanying the jump scares couldn’t enliven the experience. It’s really hard to believe in this sloppily executed cash grab!