By John Corrado

Please note that this is a review of the Blu-ray release of The Exorcist: Believer. For my full thoughts on the film itself, you can read my original review right here.

David Gordon Green’s legacy sequel The Exorcist: Believer is being released on physical media this week, following a run in theatres in October.

Designed as a direct sequel to William Friedkin’s 1973 The Exorcist, Believer follows Victor (Leslie Odom Jr.), whose daughter (Lidya Jewett) goes missing for three days with her friend (Olivia O’Neill). Both girls come back possessed, and the only one who can help is Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn), the mother of little Regan from the original film.

Following up his Halloween reboot trilogy, Green sets his sights on another iconic horror franchise, but The Exorcist: Believer unfortunately offers little more than jump scares and cheap fan service.

I reviewed this one back in October, and it’s honestly pretty disappointing. It’s basically the definition of rent-before-you-buy for curious viewers, but the Blu-ray does contain some decent bonus features for any fans of the film looking to add it to their collections.

Film Rating: ★★ (out of 4)

Bonus Features (Blu-ray):

The Blu-ray includes six featurettes and a commentary track. A regular DVD is also included in the package, which ships with a matte slipcover.

• Making a Believer (8 minutes, 45 seconds): Green and producer Jason Blum talk about resurrecting this franchise, how Odom Jr. got himself cast in the film as a fan of the series, bringing back Burstyn, and working with the two child actors.

• Ellen and Linda: Reunited (4 minutes, 32 seconds): A look at how they connected this sequel to the original film by bringing back iconic characters.

• Stages of Possession (6 minutes, 3 seconds): A revealing look at Christopher Nelson’s makeup and prosthetics work depicting the different stages of possession that the girls go through.

• The Opening (6 minutes, 18 seconds): Takes us behind the scenes of the opening sequence in Haiti, and how it was designed to mirror the Iraq-set opening of the original.

• Editing an Exorcism (4 minutes, 34 seconds): Editor Tim Alverson talks about cutting together the final exorcism sequence.

• Matters of Faith (4 minutes, 24 seconds): Explores the theme of exorcisms, and accurately depicting the different religious denominations shown in the film.

• Feature Commentary with co-writer/director David Gordon Green, executive producer Ryan Turek, co-writer Peter Sattler, and special makeup FX designer Christopher Nelson

The Exorcist: Believer is a Universal Pictures Home Entertainment release. It’s 111 minutes and rated 14A.

Street Date: December 19th, 2023