Movie Review: ‘The Exorcist: Believer’ doesn’t desecrate the original but it won’t compel you

There may be no holier ground in horror than “The Exorcist.” As endlessly as William Friedkin’s 1973 film has been ripped off and resurrected, its power remains unalloyed, its place in movie history consecrated. David Gordon Green on the set of “The Exorcist: Believer.” David Gordon Green on the set of “The Exorcist: Believer.” Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Hollywood’s propensity for reaching back to old classics may be, by now, enough to inspire the kind of projectile vomiting Friedkin made famous. Lidya Jewett and Olivia O’Neill in a scene from “The Exorcist: Believer.” Lidya Jewett and Olivia O’Neill in a scene from “The Exorcist: Believer.” Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Green, one of today’s most protean filmmakers, has been at this before. Olivia O’Neill in a scene from “The Exorcist: Believer.” Olivia O’Neill in a scene from “The Exorcist: Believer.” Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print If “The Exorcist” seemed to summon demons, the best “The Exorcist: Believer” can do is to conjure tropes. But “The Exorcist: Believer” never manages anything like the deep terror of the original, and the film’s climactic scenes pass by with a lifeless predictability.