Definitive Ranking Of 'The Exorcist' Franchise
Image Source: Medium
As spooky season draws to a close, I am sure we have all been inundated with “Best of” and “Top 10” lists but sometimes it’s nice to get into the more niche areas of the horror world because if studios have learned over the years, it’s that when you have a successful horror movie, you basically can just keep going for years and years without anyone batting an eyelid. Sometimes we get success in sequels and prequels of a series like Insidious or Alien. And sometimes we get disasters like Jaws or Alien. You can never really tell what you’re going to get.
Now that we are a few weeks after the latest release in the Exorcist franchise with The Exorcist: Believer how do these movies rank? As always with these lists, let’s get the criteria out of the way. To be considered for the list it must have been a theatrical release. Secondly, we are only including the movies, there was a phenomenal TV series which we’ll get to in a future article. So, like Father Merrin says, “the power of Christ compels you!” to keep reading on. And even though some of these movies are over 40 years old, I think it’s safe to say that spoilers are ahead.
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6. Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
Image Source: Inverse
How do you follow up on an iconic movie? Well maybe watch this movie and learn what not to do. Set four years after the first film, we now follow Father Phillip Lamont, played by Richard Burton, who after his own failed exorcism in Latin America and as penance to the Vatican, travels to Georgetown to find out more about Father Merrin’s death and try to disprove him as the church does not want that kind of bad press. As Father Lamont learns more about the possession, we learn Pazuzu isn’t just interested in possessing little girls but instead seems to like those with psychic abilities.
The movie made the critical error of trying to be a prequel as they really wanted to look deeper into what Father Merrin was all about but instead seemed to want to focus less on the good vs evil in the religious sense and instead focus on the good vs evil in the psychic world, a concept which flies in the face of the predecessor. In the end, we get a convoluted mess where surprisingly a lot of the original movies’ cast returned to their roles including Linda Blair who would only do so if she didn’t have to do the make-up again.
5. Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)
Image Source: Legend
Much like the first film suffered through unfortunate accidents, this film which was touted as a prequel to the 1973 film was also mired in distress. Stretching back to 1997, the movie has seen a few different versions, and the final version of the movie was done by 6 screenwriters, it was the untimely death of the original director, John Frankenheimer (The Island Of Doctor Moreau, The Manchurian Candidate), sealed this movie’s doom. The movie which had a different tone under the guise of Frankeheimer and his replacement Paul Schrader (Cat People, Affliction) was reduced to the types of remakes and prequels we got in that era like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th where a focus was placed on blood, gore and action so Schrader was removed, replaced by Renny Harlin (A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Deep Blue Sea) and reshoots proved to further drag down the film.
In the story, we get a lead into the opening of the original film where Father Merrin, played by Stellan Skarsgard, suffering from a crisis of faith after the events of World War Two, is in Africa on archaeological digs but then must find his faith again to battle an unseen force which is possessing people. Ultimately leading to the discovery of the Pazuzu statue. The film decided style over substance was the play and it shows.
4. Dominion: Prequel To The Exorcist (2005)
Image Source: Fangoria
Yes, this is essentially the same movie as number 5 but this time, Schrader was able to fulfill his vision of the movie despite a limited time and budget to fix the mistakes that were made when Harlin took on the original film and managed to stay more true to his vision of what was to be which was indeed a true prequel to The Exorcist. However, the author of the book, Blatty, believes this to be the better version and that is a better endorsement. The gore and violence were dropped and the focus switched to atmosphere which was a staple of the original film.
3. The Exorcist: Believer (2023)
Image Source: Vox
The latest entry in the franchise was brought to us by Blumhouse and David Gordon Green, who worked on resetting the Halloween franchise to a lot of fanfare even if it did slip towards the end. In this story, two friends go missing and when they return, they are not themselves and appear to have performed a ritual which sees them both possessed. Green has said this is a true sequel to the first movie and like the Halloween restart, means that everything else that came before them is no longer canon. The film is quite good in execution although the story does seem to be lacking some clarity but with an anticipated two more films in the franchise to come, we will hopefully see things play out and give the viewer the clarity needed to understand the direction we are going now. It was good to see some familiar faces as well so, hopefully, we can build a true vision of what the franchise should be for horror fans.
2. Exorcist III (1990)
Image Source: Rotten Tomatoes
The writer William Peter Blatty wrote and directed the film, which is a direct sequel to the original movie, skipping over Exorcist II: The Heretic. Set 15 years after the events of the first film, Lieutenant Kindermand, who was the investigating officer from the first film begins to investigate a series of murders that appear to be related to a serial killer formally known as “The Gemini Killer” but when we find out who may be the killer, it is someone we don’t expect to see. The film is quite atmospheric and plays off the original film well. There is also a scene in the movie that many agree is one of the most frightening in horror thanks to the musical sting and unexpected nature of the moment.
1. The Exorcist (1973)
Image Source: Fanfare
There was little doubt on what the number 1 choice was going to be. This is the gold standard for any horror movie that has come out since 1973. The story is simple, a girl, Reagan is possessed by a demon named Pazuzu and it is up to the priest Father Karras and Father Merrin to bring this girl back from the brink. The tone of the film is moody and atmospheric which was the style of horror at the time.
While there are shocking scenes such as the infamous crucifix scene and of course the pea soup vomiting, it was not only the front of the camera that captured so much attention but the behind-the-scenes of the movie were also just as intriguing. William Friedkin was quite a tyrant on set and made the whole shoot miserable for those who worked on the film. The studio also neutered the film quite a bit from its original cut because of the graphic nature but thankfully we have seen directors’ cuts and final cuts which have kept up Friedkin’s vision of the film. There were also a lot of issues upon the release of the film as parent groups and the catholic church felt this movie was exploitative, so protests happened throughout the theatrical release.
The Exorcist was one of the first horror movies I ever watched in my youth, and it helped shape my love of the genre. It still consistently holds up when you talk about the scariest movies of all time and while I would say it’s not necessarily gory like films today or has a lot of jump scares it makes you uncomfortable and makes you question who you are and that is exactly what a good horror film needs to do.
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