How To Watch The Exorcist: Believer At Home

"The Exorcist" is one of the biggest horror movies of all time. Not only did the William Friedkin masterpiece spawn countless imitators, but it also established most tropes of the demonic possession horror movie. After a few theatrical follow-ups and an excellent TV show, we've now gotten a legacy sequel in the form of "The Exorcist: Believer."

David Gordon Green's "The Exorcist: Believer" is part of Universal and Blumhouse's ambitious attempt at recreating the success of Green and Blumhouse's "Halloween" reboot trilogy. It's a $400 million commitment that the studio is still on the hook for, the horror movie equivalent of Amazon committing to making multiple spin-offs of "Citadel" before it even came out. 

The film, sadly, was not the success Universal was hoping for. In his review for /Film, Witney Seibold wrote, "'Believer' is not the worst 'Exorcist' film by any stretch, but it's certainly the least intriguing. It's a rote, choppy thriller that forgets to scare us. A few images are vaguely creepy, but nothing from this film will be recalled with any meaningful clarity once the year is out." It's also a film that was almost ruined by digital effects and only found its footing (and its actual ending!) in reshoots. Likewise, the film didn't perform that well at the box office, putting the future of Universal's planned trilogy in question. 

All that being said, if you want to check out the film but aren't so invested as to go see it in theaters, we can now report that you'll be able to do so just in time for Halloween.

If you want to experience the return of Ellen Burstyn's Chris MacNeil from the comfort of your home, "The Exorcist: Believer" will be available to rent or buy on digital platforms starting tomorrow. That's right, October 24, 2023. There's even enough time to do a marathon of the entire "The Exorcist" movie franchise before Halloween. Sadly, however, there's no information about bonus material available with the VOD release at the time of writing.

Here's the synopsis for "The Exorcist: Believer":

Since his wife's death, Victor (Leslie Odom Jr.) has raised his daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett) alone. After Angela and her friend (Olivia O'Neill) return from a three-day disappearance with missing memories, they begin displaying frightening behavior. Victor's best hope is to find the only person who has seen anything like this before: Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn), whose haunting experience with her daughter Regan may be the key to combating ultimate evil.