The Exorcist is not only a very good horror film, but also regularly appears in lists when it comes to the best films in general. In 1973 William Friedkin created a disturbing piece of cinema, which has lost none of its power to this day. 50 years later, the story continues with The Exorcist: Confession.
The Exorcist: Confession continues a 50-year-old horror story with an original star in the cinema
Behind the new film are director David Gordon Green and producer Jason Blum, who have made a different film in recent years Legend of horror cinema revived: Michael Myers. In three new Halloween films, they brought back the characters from the original and ignored all the other sequels that have appeared over time.
Exactly the same thing is happening with The Exorcist. Green’s film excludes the four existing sequels and prequels (Exorcist II, The Exorcist III, Exorcist: The Beginning, Dominion: Exorcist) and returns to the roots of the horror series – including original star Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream ).
You can watch the trailer for The Exorcist: Confession here:
The Exorcist: Confession – Trailer 2 (German) HD
In The Exorcist, Burstyn played the devil-possessed Regan’s mother, Chris MacNeil. Half a century after the traumatic events, McNeil is to a best-selling author and has come to terms with her past. But then her father, Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom Jr.), comes to her seeking help.
His daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett) and her friend Katherine (Olivia O’Neill) behave very strangely after they disappeared in the forest for three days were. Now Fielding fears the worst. He has even contacted a priest from the Catholic Church (EJ Bonilla) and a voodoo priestess (Okwui Okpokwasili).
The Exorcist: Confession is a $400 million gamble and the reviews for the horror sequel aren’t good at all
The Exorcist: Confession is intended to be the start of a new trilogy. However, this comes with a major financial risk. As the New York Times reported in July 2021, Universal Pictures and the streaming service Peacock have secured the rights to the three new Exorcist films $400 million let cost.
Universal
The Exorcist: Confession
Whether this investment was worth it will become clear in the next few days. The first reviews of The Exorcist: Confession don’t sound very promising. The film is currently only listed on the review aggregator Metacritic 41 out of 100 points. Rotten Tomatoes only says 24 percentwhich means the film as “rotten” applies.
IndieWire judges that The Exorcist: Confession “creatively spineless and without ideas of his own” is and that “Legacy of franchise at risk”while the Telegraph from one “sloppy, CGI-heavy mess”that too not for a second do you remember the horror of the original reaches. Little White Lies sums up:
[Der Exorzist: Bekenntnis ist] far from converting those watching. [Der Film] just uses his backwards nostalgia without moving on to something better or even half as good.
FILMSTARTS colleague Christoph Peterson was still able to find some positive aspects in the film. In his discussion he comes to the following conclusion:
After his super-successful Halloween films, David Gordon Green is also starting off with his The Exorcist trilogy a solid foundation – with strong characters, a convincing look and the firm intention of consistently undermining the original’s unconditional adherence to Catholicism! But then the exorcism of the title falls short of the (admittedly high) shock expectations…
The Exorcist: Confession is running since today October 5, 2023, in the cinema. We are curious to see whether there will be fainting spells and empty stomachs at the cinema screenings this time too. Last but not least, stories like these contributed significantly to the original quickly rising to the horror Olympus.
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