THE odds are stacked against this movie.
It has an uphill climb to live up to the legacy of the original, The Exorcist, which was released in 1973 and has solidified its reputation as one of the scariest horror movies ever made.
The other two sequels pale in comparison and the couple of prequel movies from the early 2000s bombed at the box office.
Then there was the decent TV series version of The Exorcist from 2016 which only lasted for two seasons.
Suffice to say, the franchise has not really had a healthy run and it doesn't help that since the first shocking movie way back then, there have been countless other movies taking on the demon possession and exorcism tropes.
It's pretty hard to stand out from the crowd with something shocking or scary nowadays.
With The Exorcist: Believer, a guilt-ridden father has his worst fear come to life when his teen daughter goes missing in the woods with her classmate.
Eventually the two girls are found but the families soon discover that they're not quite themselves anymore.
The parents must then seek out an unconventional solution to save their beloved daughters who have been taken over by an unexplainable and malevolent force.
The first half of the movie takes its time to introduce viewers to the characters and carries on slowly as the parents and authorities try to find the missing girls in this small town.
By the time the exorcism takes place, it feels like an Avengers Assemble moment as various individuals from different faiths gather together in a show of diversity to battle the demon.
Although there are twists and turns along the way, it's a far cry from the more focussed, intimate and claustrophobic nature of the original one that started it all.
There are certainly many callbacks to that first movie and fan service in the form of the return of certain characters.
The cast does the best that it can with the script and the two girls who portrayed the afflicted children deliver their scenes pretty well.
David Gordon Green, who directed the recent trilogy of Halloween movies, brings some of that slasher aesthetic to this movie to middling effect.
There are actually inconsequential jump scares in this movie that the original never relied on.
Some of the computer-generated imagery and visual choices utilised were also a little jarring in an effort to bring something new to the table.
Although The Exorcist: Believer tries to build up certain tense moments during its runtime, it never amounts to anything that's truly shocking visually, since it's all been seen before.
But the biggest sin of the movie is that it's not that scary at all. Once it's over, the plot and scenes don't linger on in the mind — unlike the first one.
Those who are not too familiar with the oversaturated exorcism subgenre of horror movies may find something to enjoy with this latest addition to the franchise.
THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER
Directed by David Gordon Green
Starring Leslie Odom Jr., Lidya Jewett, Olivia O'Neill, Jennifer Nettles, Norbert Leo Butz, Ann Dowd, Ellen Burstyn
Duration: 111 minutes
Rating: 16