10 Recent Movie Twists That Fell Totally Flat

5. Katherine Gets Dragged To Hell - The Exorcist: Believer

The Flash George Clooney
Universal

The most recent Exorcist film ends with a cruel twist intended to shock the audience with its devilish cleverness, but director David Gordon Green doesn't quite pull it off.

The movie revolves around two teenage girls, Angela (Lidya Jewett) and Katherine (Olivia O'Neill), who become demonically possessed all while their parents fight to save them.

In the climactic exorcism sequence, the demon asks the parents to choose one of the girls to live and the other to die, while a failure to choose will result in both dying.

At this point, Katherine's father Tony (Norbert Leo Butz) shouts that he chooses Katherine, causing Angela to start flatlining.

But after a moment, the demon reveals that the one chosen will die, not live, with Katherine being dragged to Hell while Angela rouses back to life.

It's clearly intended to be a clever, jolting rug-pull, yet given the inherent dishonesty of demonic entities, it never feels nearly as surprising as the filmmakers clearly thought it would.

That the film then ends with a weirdly hopeful, optimistic montage, despite an innocent child just being dragged to Hell, makes it feel that even more off-key.

In this post: 
Scream VI
 
First Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.