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How to watch The Exorcist movies in chronological and release order
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The Exorcist: Believer has revived The Exorcist series, but if you fancy a catch-up before going to see the new movie, you might be wondering how it connects to the five previous movies.
In much the same way that director David Gordon Green continued the Halloween series, The Exorcist: Believer is a direct sequel to The Exorcist, although it doesn't go as far to completely rewrite the timeline. It is the start of a planned trilogy though, with The Exorcist: Deceiver to come in April 2025.
You don't technically need to remember the previous movies, but if you're still planning a rewatch of the series, we're here to help. Luckily, it's not as complicated as Halloween, but there's still some timeline confusion and debate over which movies are canon — and here's even a TV show to factor in.
So, to help out, we've put together the definitive guide to watching The Exorcist movies in release order and in chronological order, depending on which approach you fancy.
(Word of warning: However you watch the series, The Exorcist remains the best movie of the series by a considerable distance. It's one of the best horror movies of all time, in fact!)
How to watch The Exorcist movies in release order
As ever with a long-running series, the simplest approach to rewatching all five Exorcist movies to date would be in the order they were released.
The only confusion might come when you get to the two prequels, Exorcist: The Beginning and Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist, which are essentially the same movie, so we wouldn't blame you if you just chose to watch one of them.
We've left the TV series out of this release order to focus on the movies. However, if you want to watch both seasons of The Exorcist, you can do so after Dominion, as season one aired in 2016 and season two in 2017.
The problem with doing it the release order way is that you start with the best movie and then have to endure four movies of varying quality (and that's us being kind).
The Exorcist (1973)
Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store
The original and still the best, The Exorcist has lost none of its power to scare the hell out of us 50 years after its release.
Adapted from William Peter Blatty's book of the same name, the first movie centres on the demonic possession of 12-year-old Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) and the attempts of two Catholic priests to rescue her.
Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
Watch now: Prime Video | iTunes | Microsoft Store
Regan is back in the dreadful sequel Exorcist II: The Heretic, widely considered the worst movie in the series. (Yes, even worse than the prequels.)
The sequel sees Father Lamont (Richard Burton) investigate the death of Father Merrin in the first movie, learning of a link between the demon Pazazu, who possessed Regan, and a boy in Africa whom Father Merrin previously exorcised.
The Exorcist III (1990)
Watch now: iTunes | Microsoft Store
The first sequel was so bad that some Exorcist fans choose to view The Exorcist III as the actual sequel to the masterful first movie — although the threequel also suffered from studio interference, which included an overblown finale.
Set 15 years after the first movie, it sees returning character Lieutenant Kinderman (George C Scott, replacing Lee J Cobb) investigate a series of murders linked to a long-dead serial killer. It's notable for a scene featuring one of the most celebrated jump scares in horror.
Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)
Watch now: Exorcist: The Beginning is not currently available to stream in the UK
The Exorcist: Beginning only exists because studio Morgan Creek Productions lost faith (ho ho) in Paul Schrader's already-completed Exorcist prequel and decided to retool the movie.
Attempts to recut the completed movie were unsuccessful, so in came Renny Harlin as director to shoot many entirely new scenes, with Stellan Skarsgård staying on board as the younger version of Father Merrin, who comes across an ancient evil in Kenya.
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005)
Watch now: Dominion is not currently available to stream in the UK
After Exorcist: The Beginning was a flop critically and commercially, Schrader's original version of the prequel, Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist, was released a year later.
It's the same story (Father Merrin in Kenya battling an ancient evil) but with a markedly different tone: more arthouse than mainstream horror. While it's better than Harlin's prequel, it still doesn't hold a candle to The Exorcist.
The Exorcist: Believer (2023)
Watch now: Cinemas
The Exorcist: Believer is the start of a new Exorcist trilogy. But, unlike Halloween, it won't wipe out the previous movies from canon — although it does remove the TV show (more on that below).
It sees two girls possessed by seemingly the same demon at the same time, leaving their parents with no choice but to seek out the one person who has witnessed something similar before: Chris MacNeil (the returning Ellen Burstyn).
How to watch The Exorcist movies in chronological order
If you fancy a more in-depth challenge, you can watch The Exorcist movies chronologically.
You'll be pleased to know that the Exorcist timeline isn't as convoluted as, say, Saw or Halloween, but there is still some debate over whether the sequels directly follow each other.
Nothing directly contradicts Exorcist II: The Heretic in The Exorcist III, but the first sequel is rightly considered so awful that some fans want to wipe it from existence. The third movie certainly doesn't contain any direct links to it, so it's easy to skip from the first to the third movie if you want.
Equally, the two prequel movies tell the same story in different ways, so you only need to watch one of them. (Dominion is set in 1947, compared to Exorcist: The Beginning shifting the story to 1949, so that's why it's first chronologically.)
The Exorcist: Believer is set to be a direct sequel to The Exorcist, but it doesn't ignore the other sequels, so it can exist in the same timeline.
With all that said, here's how to watch The Exorcist movies in chronological order:
• Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist
• Exorcist: The Beginning
• The Exorcist
• Exorcist II: The Heretic
• The Exorcist III
• The Exorcist: Believer
Does The Exorcist TV show connect to the movies?
Even though it turned out to be quite good (especially in comparison to the movie sequels), The Exorcist TV show is no longer canon to the series.
It was a direct sequel to the first movie, with the first season revealing that Angela Rance (Geena Davis) was actually a grown-up Regan MacNeil. In the biggest shock of season one, Regan ends up killing her mother Chris (played by Sharon Gless in the show).
The problem is that, as mentioned above, Ellen Burstyn reprises her role as Chris MacNeil in The Exorcist: Believer, so the TV show can no longer be considered part of the movie timeline. Instead, it exists on its own separate timeline with just the original movie and the two seasons of the TV show.
For Exorcist fans, it's worth watching if you haven't already.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
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