http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/23/arts/television/review-the-exorcist-reboots-a-battle-against-a-demonic-presence.html 2016-09-23 00:47:50 Review: ‘The Exorcist’ Reboots a Battle Against a Demonic Presence Inspired by the memorably scary 1973 movie, a new Fox series starring Geena Davis, Ben Daniels and Alfonso Herrera enlists two contrasting priests. === “The Exorcist,” a horror series that The premiere, at least, deftly avoids both traps. It doesn’t try to be the movie or outdo it in terms of fright factor, nor does it provide any reasons for mockery. It’s well-made, well-acted television, which is more than can be said for Geena Davis, a big star taking a chance here, plays Angela Rance, who is concerned that her house is making strange noises and that one of her two daughters, Kat (Brianne Howey), has seemed changed since being involved in a traumatic incident. But Angela may not be seeing things rationally because of her own trauma: Her husband, Henry (Alan Ruck), has lost much of his cognitive ability. Their second daughter, Casey (Hannah Kasulka), seems the most trouble-free of the bunch. Angela asks her priest, Tomas Ortega (Alfonso Herrera of Roughly that same premise worked famously well as a film; making it the foundation of a TV series is a different challenge entirely. Precedent isn’t in the show’s favor: Maybe that has something to do with Fox’s decision to slot “The Exorcist” on Friday nights, a TV dead zone. Maybe the network is skeptical of the long-term potential of this kind of supernatural, quasi-religious fare after But in the premiere, Jeremy Slater, the show’s creator, demonstrates a willingness to make this more than just an extended horror movie. The groundwork is laid for the show to explore matters of religious faith — styles of doctrinal interpretation and application, limits of belief, the meaning of temptation in the modern age. There may or may not be a hunger for that kind of thing among TV viewers; the series will continue to be interesting if it at least endeavors to find out.