John Carpenter has been a part of his fair share of horror films. Being a legend in the genre, the actor, producer, and filmmaker was a part of massively successful projects like The Thing, In the Mouth of Madness, The Fog, and most famously, his work in 1978 that completely changed the trajectory of horror and started its own sub-genre, Halloween.
With this, it would not be too far-fetched to say that Carpenter knows a thing or two about making horror films correctly and ensuring that they don’t flop. Recently, the director gave an interview, where he talked about the recent sequel to William Friedkin’s iconic 1975 horror The Exorcist, and how disappointing this film was, not only for him, but fans of the original, as well as of the genre.
Cult-Classic The Exorcist’s Sequel Turned Out to be A Failure
The original The Exorcist was a cultural phenomenon when it was released, having a 78% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Making its way into the list of the most iconic horror films of all time, the film followed a simple yet effective narrative and paranormal horror structure, which can be seen in films to this day. Like every other film that has gained this level of success, it was only inevitable that this would eventually get a reboot.
Being made by David Gordon Green under Morgan Creek Entertainment, the studio responsible, it has an impressive cast, with actors like Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Leslie Odom Jr., and Olivia Marcum featuring in it, the film was released earlier this month. One would expect this to do exceptionally well considering how big the original film was, however, this was not the case.
The reboot, titled The Exorcist: Believer, left fans extremely underwhelmed, so much so, that the film received a disappointing score of 22% on Rotten Tomatoes. Amongst the many criticisms that the film received include many saying that it was underwhelming, as well as feeling like a forced sequel.
Also Read: Halloween’s Horrific Hierarchy: A Definitive Ranking of the Myers Saga
John Carpenter Thinks The Exorcist Could Have Been Better
Amongst the film’s many critics is also John Carpenter. The filmmaker went on to give an interview with the Los Angeles Times, where he talked about this film. He started by talking about how he had heard that this reboot was not well-received among fans of the series.
“I heard The Exorcist really didn’t cut it.” he added, “That could be a kick-ass movie. I don’t understand how you can screw that up.”
He then added that he thought that a reboot could have been perfect, being a truly exceptional and successful project, if only it had been done right. He then went on to add that he simply could not wrap his head around how this film ended up being so bad and performing so poorly.
Also Read: Rockstar Games Subsidiary Almost Made Video Game Adaption of John Carpenter’s The Thing
