10 Great Horror Movie Characters Ruined By Terrible Sequels

Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) was, in the 1973 original, a completely amazing character. A possessed child's parent is often a fairly 'whatever' role - not here. Chris feels like a real human being and is given a ton of depth, while the brilliant Ellen Burstyn gave one of horror cinema's very best performances in the role. As such, the way The Exorcist: Believer treated her was just maddening. 

They brought her back primarily to dump exposition on the audience and also to get stabbed in the eyes by a possessed girl, which happens because she recklessly goes to stop the demon even though she's definitely wise enough to know better. Oh, and she's also estranged from Regan (Linda Blair, who returns at the very end in a meaningless cameo), because of course she is. 

Burstyn did admit that she only returned to the part - fifty years after her previous appearance, in fact - because she was funding an acting scholarship, so at least something good came out of this return. Burstyn wasn't as good as she normally is here, and it seems likely she was aware that she was in a crap film.