After reviving the Halloween franchise for three new installments, it was revealed that David Gordon Green was hired to do the same for The Exorcist. He has plans to direct three new sequels to The Exorcist – with the first movie, titled The Exorcist: Believer, due out later this year. Sadly, it looks like a test screening for The Exorcist: Believer has bombed so far.
Of course, these things do happen, and negative test screenings don’t always mean a film will be bad. Especially if the studio can now issue reshoots or other edits to clean the film up. But we’ll have to see what happens on that front. As for now, there are negative reviews from the Exorcist: Believer screening popping up on Letterboxd and other social media platforms.
As you can see below, one insider notes that “common complaints are that it’s too long and not scary.”
Reactions I’ve heard to the EXORCIST: BELIEVER test screening in NY aren’t great. Common complaints are that it’s too long and not scary. Maybe reshoots will save the day?
— ViewerAnon (@ViewerAnon) May 10, 2023
On the bright side, “everyone seems to agree it has one excellent jump scare.” Perhaps it’ll be a scene worth rivaling the iconic jump scare in Exorcist III.
Everyone seems to agree it has one excellent jump scare.
— ViewerAnon (@ViewerAnon) May 10, 2023
It’s always worth giving a film in this stage the benefit of the doubt. Especially when quite a few solid films were cut apart because of negative test screenings. Hopefully everyone involved can make the best decisions going forward and we can get the best possible Exorcist sequel(s).
David Gordon Green directed the film from a screenplay he penned alongside Peter Sattler. The story was created by Scott Teems, Danny McBride, and Green. The cast includes Ellen Burstyn, Leslie Odom Jr., Ann Dowd, Lidya Jewett, Jennifer Nettles, Olivia Marcum, Raphael Sbarge, and Okwui Okpokwasili.
The first installment of David Gordon Green’s new Exorcist trilogy, The Exorcist: Believer, is set to be released on October 13, 2023. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates regarding the highly-anticipated trilogy as we have them.