Mike Flanagan will attempt to revive a legendary horror property with The Exorcist: Martyrs. Flanagan’s take on The Exorcist features a new approach to a possession story, which should help elevate the franchise again.
Flanagan understands that an Exorcist movie must feature a demonic possession. However, Flanagan told Esquire that his movie is “a lot more than a simple possession story.” It’s constructed as a crime procedural within an Exorcist movie.
Flanagan smartly knows that he cannot remake 1973’s The Exorcist, one of the most influential horror movies of all time. This new approach to the horror in The Exorcist could make the franchise scary again.
The Exorcist: Martyrs is cleverly leaning into a serial killer mystery to drive its horror
There can only be one version of The Exorcist. William Friedkin’s landmark horror movie revolutionized the genre. Its scares, including Regan’s 360-degree head turn, remain terrifying to this day.
Unfortunately, The Exorcist’s sequels failed to capture the thrills and chills of the 1973 original. Aside from The Exorcist III, the sequels either rely too heavily on gore or ineffective jump scares to conjure suspense.
Flanagan has proven through his television shows and movies that he understands atmospheric horror and psychological terror. Instead of crafting a possession story that likely wouldn’t live up to the original, Flanagan is leaning into his strengths and centering his Exorcist movie around a serial killer saga. That hook immediately creates mystery and intrigue, as Scarlett Johansson‘s NYPD detective must solve a series of murders while also dealing with a supernatural, demonic force.
In that same Esquire piece, Flanagan cites The Silence of the Lambs and Se7en as inspiration for The Exorcist: Martyrs. Those two movies feature evil beings committing horrific crimes. Take the serial killer aspect of those crime movies and combine it with the possession elements of The Exorcist. That is a terrifying premise, one that The Exorcist: Martyrs is banking on to restore the franchise’s horror roots.
