My daughter and I watched the original Exorcist the other day because she wanted to see the new movie. Of course, I've seen the original many times and it still scares me. She had never seen it before and enjoyed it. We went to watch the new movie yesterday. Spoiler thoughts below (in case anyone is planning to watch it and hasn't already).
Had this been a regular exorcism movie not tied to the original, it would have been fine.
I wish it had gone like this if they just absolutely had to tie it to the original - they should have called it "Believer" and marketed it as an exorcism movie, but never mentioned that Ellen Burstyn would appear. They could have had the scene where the girl was scratching the name "Regan" into the wood and blown everyone's mind when they realized this movie was tied to the original.
The writers really wanted me to believe that Chris MacNeil thought she was bad arse enough to go into the bedroom with the girl and she was just going to kick the demon out? Come the fork on.
There had to have been a TON of stuff that was cut out of this movie, especially in the beginning. It seemed chopped all to hell.
I was glad to see Linda Blair for five seconds at the end, but if you're making a direct sequel to the original, the story should have been about her and her child. Her and Burstyn are the big names for this franchise.
I know they were planning on a trilogy, so I sure hope they get new writers and a new director and figure this out.