When it comes to horror, I consider myself a fan of the genre, and while I may not be the person who sees any and everything released, I'm 100% there when it comes to the major buzz-worthy movies like Terrifier, Insidious, Hereditary, etc. There's nothing quite like spending a night a little creeped out by something truly gruesome and disturbing. Having said all of that, I fired up the first harrowing trailer for David Gordon Green's The Exorcist: Believer, and had some serious doubts about wanting to see the movie because of how much those three minutes freaked me out.
Even now, revisiting the topic, I struggle to pinpoint one exact reason why I'm feeling so rattled by the trailer. The best I can do is talk about a variety of possible reasons why I'm questioning ever watching this movie, despite my love of horror movies. I only do this because I never thought I'd see a day where I'm actually scared to see a movie, and yet, here we are.
It Could Be Tied To My Deep-Seated Fear Of The Exorcist Franchise
As a young kid who attended Catholic school, demonic possession was one of the few things continually asserted as "real" when it comes to fearful situations. As such I always had a fear as a child of The Exorcist well before I ever actually saw it, but was brave enough to put on a television showing one October in seventh grade. Mind you, this was the edited-for-TV version and wasn't as extreme as the actual movie. Which I can only say without pure confirmation, since I never ended up watching the original theatrical cut due to how messed up I was from the television version.
Since then, I thought I'd conquered my fear of demonic possession movies. Insidious and Hereditary deal in possession, and there's no shortage of demonic entities in The Conjuring movies. And yet, when watching even just the promo for The Exorcist: Believer, my hair stood on end, and I even felt a strong urge to just close out the trailer and shut off my Internet without watching the whole thing. Returning star Ellen Burstyn, as magnificent as she always is, just makes that connection even stronger.
I beleive the sporadic callbacks to the iconic piano theme triggered something deep in my subconscious. Maybe it was my body reminding me of the terror tied to sleepless nights I encountered as a result of watching AMC's edited version of The Exorcist. Give how powerful music can be, I wouldn't be surprised if those notes were enough to shake my core initially, though that's not where my freaking out ended.
I Struggle With Seeing Children In Pain
Another reason The Exorcist: Believer trailer threw me for a loop is that I often struggle with horror movies that show children in pain. I'm sure I'm not alone in this, and that's probably why movies like The Witch and others that delve in such topics only hinted at those moments with quick hits of children suffering before moving the action elsewhere.
The Exorcist: Believer did not do that even in just its trailer, and seemed more than happy to linger on such awfulness. Not only that, there are TWO possessed girls this time around, and they both look to be in a good deal of pain, suffering under the influence of the demons inhabiting their bodies. Even if they're not suffering physical trauma, the exorcism process itself is painful and provokes all manner of screaming and groaning. You have to be ok with the idea of seeing kids suffer to get through this movie, and that will definitely be a struggle for me.
So much so that I can't guarantee I'd sit through an entire screening of the movie to see if I can handle it. At the same time, I know that if I wait for streaming and digital release, I'll be more compelled and encouraged to stop watching, knowing I have the power to pause whenever I want. I'm torn between buying a ticket and being afraid I'll waste my money walking out or staying and willfully torturing myself to watch a movie that will mess me up. Is that the point of horror, or is it more about being entertained?
The Possesed Girls Are So Frightening To Me
I don't know if this is just because I'm so worked up about it already, but I feel like Lidya Jewett and Olivia Marcum, who respectively play Angela and Katherine, are about to put on a clinic for acting like demons. Seeing their transition, even in this trailer, from mildly disturbed girls to blistered, yellow-eyed demons spewing at anyone who comes near them is insane. I can feel the energy through this trailer, and as I've said, it's gotten me truly questioning buying a ticket.
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If anything, that's a tremendous compliment to these two young actresses. I will say I think it's really cool that The Exorcist: Believer went the route of watching two families deal with possession at the same time rather than just one. That should create a new dynamic that I'd love to see if I wasn't already trying to get my heart rate under control after the latest viewing.
Speaking of which, how wild is that scene where the possessed pair are tied up and synching their heartbeats? I can't even explain exactly why it's so weird and so chilling. But why did no one turn the lights on anywhere else except directly on them? I swear, if I ever have to deal with ademonic possession, I'm bringing so much ample lighting with independent power sources, so that demon has to work to keep me in the dark.
Maybe I'm Just Too In My Head About It
I've rewatched the trailer several times since I started writing this, and while I'm not any less frightened, I do now wonder if I'm just too caught up in my own head about it all. Is it possible the hype and quality of The Exorcist: Believer has led me to feel like it's scarier than it is? I'll admit, there's a part of me worried that the trailer was crafted this way to maximize fear for a movie that isn't actually all that freaky, and that I'll look silly for going so hard on the record about how much it scared me.
After all, a scary trailer doesn't guarantee an effective movie. For all I know, all of the frightening bits were shoved into this generously long three-minute trailer, and the rest is a lot of calm conversations and religious diagrams and school activities, mixed with a li'l bit of Pazuzu & Friends. I'm exaggerating, of course, but obviously, we don't know how this movie is going to turn out yet, or how it will be received despite all we know about it so far. Maybe the right move is for me to just wait and see how the movie is received, so I can better assess if it's worth potentially re-opening the emotional scar I received watching the original Exorcist, assuming it ends up being just as iconic as the original film.
The Exorcist: Believer is set to release in theaters on October 13th, 2023. Perhaps revisiting the list of the best horror movies will strengthen my courage to purchase a ticket by then, or it won't, and I'll never truly know how terrifying this movie is.
