The Exorcist: Believer (2023) - Movie Review

Even as someone who, when all is said and done, really liked the recent Halloween trilogy, I was still sceptical about David Gordon Green’s next choice for a horror franchise that needed a fresh start. While the Exorcist series hasn’t been through quite as much turbulence as the latter days of the Halloween franchise, it has developed some highly divisive features (both Exorcist II and III have garnered cult statuses over the years, in comparison to the still-universally beloved original), and as I’ve been making a habit of saying this past year, modern exorcism films are starting to back themselves into a corner. The Conjuring craze has led to some particularly unnecessary features, both in and out of its actual continuity, and 2023 marked the year when it felt like I had somewhat lost faith in this sub-genre.

Basically, not only is this going to have to be a saving throw for the larger franchise, it’s also gonna have to save its entire sector of horror cinema. No pressure or anything.

The Age Of Adaline (2015) - Movie Review

When it comes to speculative fiction, there are a number of narrative ideas that are fairly universal across that rather nebulous umbrella: Totalitarian regimes that are only slight exaggerations of the governments of today, using intergalactic aliens as an analogy for illegal aliens, taking the idea of those who don’t learn the past are doomed to repeat it to its logical extreme, fashion in the future will only continue to get more ridiculous, etc. One of the ideas that is surprisingly common is that of the immortal lover: A romantic interest that has far less or far more of a lifespan than your own and the consequences of having a relationship with them. Anyone who has experienced the now-faded scourge of the vampire romance, or watched Doctor Who since the 2005 reboot, will be more than familiar with this idea so telling it in a way that won’t just be digging up old narratives is difficult. Hell, it’s been used that many times that even I’ve written about it before (Shameless plug, I know, but check it out here; it was as part of a crowd-sourced book on the idea of Immortality).