Horror producer Jason Blum has unveiled a first look at upcoming sequel The Exorcist: Believer – and it teases a gnarly-looking double demonic possession.
Directed by David Gordon Green, the filmmaker behind Blumhouse's Halloween trilogy, the new movie sees Ellen Burstyn reprise the role of Chris MacNeil from William Friedkin's 1973 film.
In the original, Chris enlists the help of two enigmatic priests to save her daughter Regan (Linda Blair), after the youngster is possessed by a mysterious entity. Here, she finds herself facing dark forces once more, when two schoolgirls (Lidya Jewett and Olivia Marcum, who are presumably the heavily make-upped youngsters on the poster) succumb to evil spirits.
"It struck something primal in audiences around the world, its depiction of innocence corrupted by something evil," Green previously said of the franchise's long-standing legacy. "We tried to delve back into what it would be like to have evil take over the body of not just one but two children."
Friday, October 13 #TheExorcistBeliever pic.twitter.com/WMDWUkDAzGJuly 20, 2023
The Handmaid's Tale star Ann Dowd is also on board, playing a nurse, while Glass Onion's Leslie Odom Jr. and Jennifer Nettles play the girls' concerned parents. It has also been rumored that Blair has a cameo, after she was spotted on the set back in March.
In the past, Blair had stated that she had not been approached by Blumhouse to appear in the new movie. Regan hasn't been seen on screen since the widely maligned Exorcist II: The Heretic in 1977, which saw a teenage Regan estranged from Chris, and narrowly escape a supernatural death before being taken under the wing of Father Philip Lamont (Richard Burton).
The Exorcist is set to release on October 13. In the meantime, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies coming our way throughout the rest of 2023 and beyond.
