The Exorcist: Believer trailer teases the return of Pazuzu

It may be the height of the summer but that shouldn't stop you from thinking ahead to spooky season. If you're already scanning the Halloween movies on the horizon, then you can't go wrong with a sequel to an all-time classic, The Exorcist. And that's what we're getting in the form of The Exorcist: Believer, the first of two follow-ups to William Friedkin's landmark 1973 chiller.

Director David Gordon Green spun fresh material from his revived Halloween horror trilogy. He now sets his sights on the legacy of Friedkin's film, which went down in history as one of the most controversial and financially successful horrors of all time. The stories around the original movie are legendary: adapted from William Peter Blatty's novel of the same name, The Exorcist reportedly grappled with a cursed production and caused such a religious furore on its release that nuns sprinkled patrons with holy water prior to their admittance into the cinema.

The film grossed more than $600 million, securing it as one of the first official blockbusters in horror history, and it was also an artistic success, garlanded with Oscar nominations and spawning decades' worth of academic discussions as to its inherent themes. It's a lot for Gordon's movie to live up to, so it makes sense that he hews close to the original legacy, focusing on a revival of the feared demon Pazuzu who possessed young girl Regan (Linda Blair) in the original film.

Pazuzu has now doubled down by possessing two young girls in the modern day, prompting the intervention of Regan's mother Chris (Ellen Burstyn) who recognises the demon immediately and knows a thing or two about the horror that's to come. Hamilton's Leslie Odom Jr. plays the father of one of the troubled sprogs and Hereditary's Ann Dowd plays a character who seems to know a lot about battling the entity (is she a hero or a villain in disguise?)

The movie comes from the Blumhouse horror stable who collaborated with Gordon Green on his Halloween trilogy. There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about a continuation of this infamously frightening franchise, so check out the trailer below. The Exorcist: Believer is released this year on October 13th and will be followed by a sequel in 2025.