Hardware FixRecommendedDevice not working? Your driver may be the problemCheck updates for common hardware issues.Fix DriversOctober DealsAmazon USOctober deal check: compare before you payAmazon US: current deals, useful picks and tech finds.Check DealsClean PCRecommendedOne scan can reveal what keeps slowing WindowsLook for cleanup and repair opportunities.Run Scan×
Skip to content
DocumentaryTube
Admit one · Blog

David Gordon Green on Making The Exorcist: Believer’s Horror Feel Real

David Gordon Green’s approach to The Exorcist: Believer began with the eerie authenticity he remembered in the original—and a question about how its horror would play out in real life.
Opened Runtime3 min Written byDocumentaryTube Team
Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

For director David Gordon Green, making The Exorcist: Believer feel real meant treating the supernatural story as something its characters would have to confront in ordinary, specific terms: with doctors, priests, unanswered questions and the limits of what they could understand. He traced that approach to his teenage experience of William Friedkin’s 1973 film, which seemed less like a string of horror shocks than an unnervingly authentic account.

What Green meant by “finding the truth”

Green’s idea of truth is a filmmaking principle, not a claim that possession is real. In an October 3, 2023 interview with io9/Gizmodo, he recalled watching the original The Exorcist in short sessions at a public library as a teenager. Its realism unsettled him. “I had seen many horror movies, but this felt almost like a documentary. It felt really authentic,” he said.

That response led him to ask how events might unfold if the characters believed they were facing something beyond explanation: “If this was really going to happen, how would it play out?” The question directs attention away from treating horror as a sequence of effects and toward the people trying to make sense of what they see.

How the film gives horror an everyday frame

Doctors and priests in their own roles

Green said he pursued credibility through choices grounded in familiar institutions. He cast priests as priests and used actual doctors for the girls’ examinations. Those details give the crisis a recognizable setting: before anyone can interpret the girls’ behavior as supernatural, adults examine them and try to understand what is happening.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

The approach makes the characters’ uncertainty part of the horror. It does not establish a medical explanation—or prove a supernatural one. Instead, it lets the story move through the kinds of people and procedures a family might turn to when a frightening situation exceeds what they can explain.

Discovery during production

Green also described filming as a process of discovery. Locations and scenes could suggest possibilities that led to further filming, rather than every moment being fixed in advance. In his account, that flexibility helped the film follow the questions raised by its characters and setting.

A sequel with a wider religious frame

The Exorcist: Believer follows widowed father Victor Fielding after his daughter Angela and her friend return from a three-day disappearance with missing memories and disturbing behavior. Victor seeks help from Chris MacNeil, the character Ellen Burstyn returns to play from the 1973 film. Universal presents the 2023 movie as a direct follow-up to the original.

Green’s frame for the story reaches beyond a single Catholic perspective. TIME’s October 6, 2023 interview describes his interest in perspectives including Vodou, hoodoo and rootwork. The Los Angeles Times’s October 4, 2023 interview reports his interest in rituals across religions and his emphasis on faith in family and community. These are distinct traditions, not interchangeable labels for the occult; the broader frame reflects Green’s attempt to consider how different communities understand ritual and belief.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

“To me, it’s a love story,” Green told the Los Angeles Times. The phrase points to the relationships at the story’s center: a father trying to protect his child, a community confronting fear, and the return of Chris MacNeil, whose own past is bound up with the original case.

Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Support on Ko-Fi

Film details and where to find it

Universal’s film page lists The Exorcist: Believer as a 2023 horror film directed by David Gordon Green, with a runtime of 1 hour 51 minutes. It is rated R for some violent content, disturbing images, language and sexual references. Alongside Burstyn, the cast includes Leslie Odom Jr., Lidya Jewett, Olivia O’Neill, Ann Dowd, Jennifer Nettles and Norbert Leo Butz.

Universal announced digital availability for December 1, 2023, followed by 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD on December 19, 2023. Its film page lists digital, 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital Collector’s Edition, Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Collector’s Edition and DVD formats. The release announcement describes bonus features including filmmaker and cast material on production, the girls’ stages of possession, the Haiti opening, editing the exorcism sequence and theological consultation on religious ceremonies. Check the specific current listing for the contents of the edition you are considering.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

Free tools Windows power users keep installed

One-click scans. No signup required.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

More from the Screening Room

  1. Does NEON Have a New Horror Movie It Won’t Show Us? What’s VerifiedAdmit one · BlogDoes NEON Have a New Horror Movie It Won't Show Us? What's VerifiedOpened09 OCT 2026Runtime1 min
  2. What the Official NCIS: Origins Trailer Reveals About Young GibbsAdmit one · BlogWhat the Official NCIS: Origins Trailer Reveals About Young GibbsOpened09 OCT 2026Runtime2 min
  3. What Makes a Translation Great? Ten Literary Translators Weigh InAdmit one · BlogWhat Makes a Translation Great? Ten Literary Translators Weigh InOpened09 OCT 2026Runtime3 min
Recommended PC Tool
Recommended PC Tool
Crashes, No Sound, or Screen Glitches?Free driver scan
PC Slower Than It Used to Be?Free scan - under a minute

Two free Windows tools

One Free Minute Could Fix That PC

Before you go - each of these free tools takes about a minute and tackles what quietly slows a Windows PC down.

Special offer. View Outbyte info, uninstall instructions, EULA, and Privacy Policy.