The Exorcist stands as the first horror film ever nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and remained the highest-grossing horror movie until IT overtook it in 2017. Based on William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel and directed by William Friedkin of The French Connection, the film has entrenched itself in popular culture nearly fifty years after its release. With five feature sequels and a television adaptation spanning two seasons—which, despite strong performances such as Ben Daniels’, was largely overlooked—the question remains: does the original still hold up as the best entry in its own franchise?
This ranking examines only the six theatrical films in the series and excludes the TV show, similar to how a spin-off series might be set aside when ranking a film franchise. Below are the films in order from least to most successful in capturing the spirit, intensity, and craft of the original.
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6. Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
For a sequel that assembled such notable talent, Exorcist II: The Heretic is astonishingly disappointing. Linda Blair returns as Regan MacNeil, Max von Sydow appears briefly, Richard Burton replaces Jason Miller’s Father Karras as Father Lamont, Louise Fletcher and James Earl Jones are also on the cast list—yet the result is chaotic and tone-deaf. Directed by John Boorman of Deliverance, the film attempts to probe Regan’s trauma through hypnotherapy, while layering incoherent psychic links to Pazuzu, random locusts, trips to Africa, and surreal imagery that never coheres.
The movie lacks tension, genuine scares, and coherent dramatic stakes. Performances often feel stranded or forced, and the screenplay wanders into muddled territory. Even in 1977, the film felt amateurish and derivative, and its reception discouraged further sequels for over a decade. Writer William Peter Blatty later feared the title would conjure memories of this misstep, and the film’s reputation remains largely irredeemable.
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5. The Exorcist: Believer (2023)
Blumhouse’s revival, The Exorcist: Believer, lands near the bottom of this list mostly because it feels divorced from the thematic core of the franchise. It centers on two possessed children but invests significantly more time in the personal connection of just one, leaving the other underdeveloped. Pacing is uneven, scares rely heavily on jump moments rather than sustained dread, and the film often resembles a generic studio exorcism picture with the franchise name appended.
The movie lacks the atmosphere and moral wrestling that made the original so memorable. Instead of exploring faith, doubt, and the interior battles that define the best entries in the series, it leans on surface-level shocks and familiar genre beats. It shows how modern producers can misread what made the classic film endure and struggles to justify its place among the series’ entries.