The Exorcist: Believer Director Teases “Very Different Approach” to Franchise From Halloween Films

Whether you did or didn’t like what David Gordon Green explored in his trilogy of Halloween films, audiences shouldn’t be expecting him to merely replicate his contributions to that franchise with The Exorcist: Believer, as the filmmaker recently detailed what makes his approach to this franchise “very different” from Halloween. The major difference between the two franchises is that Halloween falls in the slasher subgenre, in which audiences take delight in the horrors being enacted on-screen, while The Exorcist embraces the dramatic qualities of the otherworldly scenarios featuring possession. The Exorcist: Believer is slated to hit theaters on October 13th.

“The Halloween movies are in the slasher genre,” Green revealed to Empire Magazine. “They’re a place to play, and maybe have some campy fun. But this one was more researched and a bit academic. The narrative we were sculpting, and the relationships, were more dramatic. It’s a very different approach.”

Much like the Halloween franchise, though, the original The Exorcist influenced decades of filmmakers who aimed to recapture the success of the debut entry. Green went on to detail how the influence of The Exorcist presented some challenges when it came to developing Believer, as he had to avoid borrowing elements from the original movie’s imitators.

“We’re talking about the horror genre, but my main ambition was to preserve the dramatic integrity, and not lean into what’s evolved within the genre as a result of the original film,” Green expressed to the outlet. “But that’s impossible: you have to acknowledge that there have been so many movies that are derivative copycats of The Exorcist. It has evolved as a concept, so making a slow-burn, dramatic, provocative, horrific film is different with today’s audience than it was 50 years ago.”

The new film is described, “Since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, Victor Fielding (Tony winner and Oscar nominee Leslie Odom, Jr.; One Night in Miami, Hamilton) has raised their daughter, Angela (Lidya Jewett, Good Girls) on his own. But when Angela and her friend Katherine (newcomer Olivia Marcum), disappear in the woods, only to return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, it unleashes a chain of events that will force Victor to confront the nadir of evil and, in his terror and desperation, see out the only person alive who has witnessed anything like this before: Chris MacNeil.”

The film also stars Emmy winner Ann Dowd (The Handmaid’s Tale, Hereditary) as Victor and Angela’s neighbor, and Grammy winner Jennifer Nettles (Harriet, The Righteous Gemstones) and two-time Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz (Fosse/Verdon, Bloodline) as the parents of Katherine, Angela’s friend. The Exorcist: Believer is directed by David Gordon Green from a screenplay by Peter Sattler (Camp X-Ray) and David Gordon Green, from a story by Scott Teems (Halloween Kills), Danny McBride (Halloween trilogy) and David Gordon Green, based on characters created by William Peter Blatty.

The Exorcist: Believer lands in theaters on October 13th.  

Are you looking forward to the new movie? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!