The Exorcist: Believer is intense. You don’t have to actually believe in demonic possession to get a bit unnerved by the the film’s climax. And it’s not just the climax that makes The Exorcist: Believer a movie that merits your attention.

Director David Gordon Green bakes in tension from the film’s opening image of two dogs fighting, to the depiction of the 2010 Haitian earthquake, to a neighbor yelling about garbage cans, to siblings arguing on the way to school, to two girls making a questionable after school choice. 

From a setting of apparent domestic bliss enjoyed by Angela (Lidya Jewett) and her single dad Victor (Leslie Odom Jr.), this young girl and her friend Katherine (Olivia O’Neill) step into misfortune when they walk home from school through a wooded area. They are discovered three days later, cowering in a horse stall on a farm. When they are brought to a hospital, the real trouble begins.

While the girls are missing, Victor has less than pleasant dealings with Katherine’s parents Miranda (Jennifer Nettles) and Tony (Norbert Leo Butz), who make their strong Christian beliefs known immediately. In short order, it becomes obvious that something terrible has affected the girls. 

In the film’s second act, nurse Ann (Ann Dowd) reveals to Victor that Angela somehow knew that the woman was once on track to become a nun but had her dream derailed when she became pregnant. 

Victor tracks down Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) who had written a book about demonic possession. She, of course, is the mom from the 1973 film The Exorcist. She offers hope to Victor, tells him she doesn’t know where her daughter Regan is, and she comes to Katherine’s home to see if she can provide in-person help.

Victor prepares his home for the exorcism. The girls are strapped in. Their parents stand by apprehensively. A Catholic priest is recruited but says the diocese recommends psychiatric help for the girls instead. When he bows out, Ann takes over. Also on hand are Katherine’s Baptist pastor (Raphael Sbarge), a voodoo type healer (Okwui Okpokwasili) and a Pentecostal pastor (Danny McCarthy). 

This team effort produces a frightening mixture of fury and sound with smoke and flames and screams and images and general tumult. The effect IS unnerving. 

This film is said to be a direct sequel to that 50-years-ago movie that gave audience members adverse reactions, with many leaving the theaters and throwing up.

In the half century since William Friedkin’s massive hit, filmgoers have been exposed to lots of horrible things on movie screens. Which means the new Exorcist film does not have the immensely shocking impact of its predecessor. But it does generate an emotional response. 

Hats off to the two young girls for whom these roles had to be challenging. Will their performances affect their future lives? TBD. Ann Dowd’s work in this film is impressive. And how cool to see Ellen Burstyn who was approaching her 90th birthday when she filmed her scenes!

The Exorcist: Believer is rated R.