Where to stream The Exorcist: Believer

A new installment in The Exorcist horror franchise entitled The Exorcist: Believer is coming to Sky Cinema, following its release in cinemas last year.

Long hailed as one of the greatest films of all time, The Exorcist shocked the world and pushed the limits of horror when it was unleashed on unsuspecting audiences back in 1973.

The first of its genre to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, William Friedkin’s controversial classic — adapted from William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel of the same name — has since garnered a massive following, cementing itself as a staple of pop culture to this day.

Read more: How making The Exorcist was scarier than the movie itself

Fast forward to now, where nearly 50 years have passed since it first traumatised audiences with its terrifying plot and nauseating set-pieces.

Despite The Exorcist’s sequels flattering to deceive, the horror franchise is being revisited as a retroactive threequel by Blumhouse that takes place after the original.

Here’s everything you need to know about The Exorcist: Believer...

Where can I stream The Exorcist: Believer?

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The Exorcist: Believer will be released on Sky Cinema on 31 May, having originally been released in cinemas in October 2023.

The film, helmed by Halloween director David Gordon Green, is already available to rent or buy on Prime Video, Apple TV+ and Sky Store, as well as on DVD and Blu-Ray.

The movie has a runtime of 111 minutes and is rated 15 for “strong horror, violence, injury detail, very strong language” according to the BBFC.

The sequel to Believer, which has a working title of The Exorcist: Deceiver, was due to be released in April 2025. However, it has since been removed from Universal’s release calendar, and we still don’t know when it will arrive.

Gordon Green will not return to helm the project, with Doctor Sleep’s Mike Flanagan reportedly in talks to replace him.

What are the reviews like?

The Exorcist: Believer has infiltrated cinemas and digital. The question now is... will you feel compelled to watch it? Well, based on the first batch of reviews to hit the internet, this demonic re-possession tale may be more hellish than heaven-sent.

Starting with our own review, critic Roxy Simons found the franchise’s latest sequel to be struggling with two major issues. “The problem is that the film just isn’t all that exciting, or very scary,” she explained.

The Independent addressed the elephant in the room, saying the movie “lives deep in the shadows of the late William Friedkin’s 1973 classic” yet ultimately only achieves “a toned-down, more limply palatable iteration of Friedkin’s work.”

The Telegraph didn’t mince words either, saying flat out that it’s “not even slightly scary,” with The Guardian emerging equally unimpressed, suggesting “it’s serviceable,” and calling it “a silly, gloopy Halloween shocker that offers just about enough goofy entertainment for an undemanding fright night crowd.”

Read our full review round-up below:

Yahoo Movies UK: Horror sequel won't possess your attention for long (3-min read)

The Independent: Boring, self-serious and parched from a lack of scares (3-min read)

The Telegraph: Even Satan seems asleep on the job in this desperate sequel (3-min read)

The Guardian: Ellen Burstyn returns for schlocky sequel (4-min read)

Total Film: An overcooked valentine to a horror classic (2-min read)

Is there a trailer for The Exorcist: Believer?

The first trailer for The Exorcist: Believer was released online in July 2023. Featuring the distinctive refrain of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, it gave us our first look at the return of Ellen Burstyn as Chris MacNeil.

Watch it below.

Trailer two offers more of the same, this time taking us deeper inside the drama of a dual possession that is impacting two young girls and their family members.

With original movie character Reegan (Linda Blair) getting a mention, the movie looks set to hark back to familiar terrors in order to tell an all-new scary story.

Who is in the cast of The Exorcist: Believer?

Ellen Burstyn — who played tormented mother Chris MacNeil in the original — reprises her role in Believer. Judging by the trailers, it seems Burstyn’s Chris holds the key to Leslie Odom Jr.’s (One Night in Miami) character’s quest to rescue his own child from a malevolent spirit.

Alongside Burstyn and Odom Jr., Lidya Jewett and Olivia Marcum star as the film’s possessed tweens, with Ann Dowd (Hereditary) joining as Paula, a nurse who is concerned about the duo's behaviour. The foul-mouthed demon Pazuzu will make his return five decades after taking over Regan to shocking effect.

What happens in The Exorcist: Believer?

The Exorcist: Believer follows up on the original’s story, which centred around a single parent’s efforts to save her possessed daughter Regan through a brutal exorcism performed by a pair of world-weary priests.

The synopsis reveals: “Since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, Victor Fielding has raised their daughter, Angela, on his own.

“But when Angela and her friend Katherine, 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, seek out the only person alive who has witnessed anything like it before: Chris MacNeil.”

The Exorcist: Believer will be released on Sky Cinema on 31 May