“The Exorcist: Believer” is set for release in Philippine cinemas on Oct. 4 (with midnight screenings on opening day), focusing on two teenage girls who come back from the woods unknowingly bringing with them a demonic spirit that will forever change their lives.
“The Exorcist: Believer” (Universal Pictures International)
Fifty years since the blockbuster theatrical release, “The Exorcist: Believer” marks a new beginning that takes audiences into the darkest heart of evil.
“The original ‘Exorcist’ film was groundbreaking for its time, and we wanted to honor the film with this continuation,” said Jason Blum.
It stars Leslie Odom Jr., Ann Dowd, Jennifer Nettles, Norbert Leo Butz, Lidya Jewett, Olivia Marcum, Ellen Burstyn and Tracey Graves.
While the 1973 film explored demonic possession from a predominantly Catholic perspective, “The Exorcist: Believer” incorporates multiple faiths in the fight to save two young girls.
“The film is dealing with the vulnerability of parenthood when you have a child with an unexplainable illness. How you approach a crisis like that is shaped by your own belief system: whether you’re a family that’s devout Baptist or a family that doesn’t believe in God, or a family that’s looking to the medical world, either with great hope or with great suspicion. The film engages in that conversation about science and spirituality,” said director David Gordon Green.
In the movie, the mission to save the teenage girls includes four primary community faith leaders: Catholic priest Father Maddox (E.J. Bonilla), Victor’s friend Stuart, a Pentecostal preacher (Danny McCarthy), Doctor Beehibe, a root doctor (Okwui Okpokwasili) and Pastor Don Revans, a Baptist preacher (Raphael Sbarge).
The production’s spiritual coordinator Carla Duren said many of the ritualistic practices and spells seen and heard within the film are from actual exorcism rites and practices, including some of Doctor Beehibe’s practices, which are rooted in spiritual and healing methods that originated in various parts of Africa.
“The Exorcist: Believer” opens Oct. 4 in cinemas nationwide from Universal Pictures International.