John Carpenter doesn’t understand how you can screw up The Exorcist: Believer & adds his thoughts on Barbie

It’s safe to say that David Gordon Green’s The Exorcist: Believer hasn’t received the best reviews, but what does John Carpenter think?

Before helming The Exorcist: Believer, David Gordon Green directed the Halloween trilogy, which found him working with original Halloween director John Carpenter. While speaking with The Los Angeles Times, Carpenter was asked for his thoughts on Green’s new Exorcist movie, and while he hasn’t seen it yet, he is aware that it wasn’t as successful as one would hope.

“I like what David did when he made the three ‘Halloweens.’ I loved No. 2 [Halloween Kills],” Carpenter said. “Thought that was fabulous. I heard ‘The Exorcist’ really didn’t cut it. That could be a kickass movie. I don’t understand how you can screw that up.” To be fair to David Gordon Green, The Exorcist franchise has screwed up a few times, with the majority of the sequels paling in comparison to the original by a fair margin. The iconic director added that he doesn’t go out to the movies all that often, but he’ll probably watch The Exorcist: Believer at his house when it’s available.

John Carpenter also added his thoughts on the biggest movie of the year: Barbie. “I watched ‘Barbie’. I can’t believe I watched ‘Barbie.’ It’s just not my generation,” Carpenter said. “I had nothing to do with Barbie dolls. I didn’t know who Allan was. I mean, I can sum it up. She says, ‘I don’t have a vagina,’ and then at the end, ‘I’m going to go to a gynecologist!’ That’s the movie to me. I mean, there’s a patriarchy business in there, but I missed that whole thing. Right over my head. But I think she’s fabulous, Margot Robbie.“

“Since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, Victor Fielding has raised their daughter on his own,” reads the official synopsis for The Exorcist: Believer. “But when Angela and her friend Katherine, disappear in the woods, only to return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, it unleashes a chain of events that will force Victor to confront the nadir of evil and, in his terror and desperation, seek out the only person alive who has witnessed anything like it before: Chris MacNeil.”

Although The Exorcist: Believer was a disappointment, it’s expected that the planned sequels will still move forward, although they may be reworked. The first sequel, The Exorcist: Deceiver, is already slated to hit theaters on April 18, 2025.