Evil is everywhere, and The Exorcist has always been rooted in demonic possession. With The Exorcist: Martyrs, the upcoming instalment in the long-running horror franchise, director Mike Flanagan looks to breathe new life into old fears that hark back to its earlier days.
Speaking to Esquire, the genre auteur best known for The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass offered a glimpse into its story, which marries the flair of a crime procedural with elements inspired by The Exorcist III, directed by original novelist William Peter Blatty and based on his sequel novel Legion. The 1990 film follows Lieutenant William F. Kinderman, who investigates a series of demonic murders in Georgetown that have the hallmarks of a deceased serial killer called Gemini, with shades of this influence carrying over to Martyrs.
In it, Marvel alumnus Scarlet Johnassen stars as a single-mother NYPD homicide detective who, 13 years after taking down a notorious satanic serial killer named Father Sunday (John Leguizamo), investigates a new series of murders connected to her past, all while her 12-year-old son (Jacobi Jupe) becomes the target of demonic force. The result? Possession, of course.
“How can we explore those ideas in a serial-killer thriller in a way that starts to combine these subgenres a little, that takes what we love about a movie like Se7en or The Silence of the Lambs and combines it with what we love about a movie like The Exorcist? We’re talking about humans under the influence—or in some cases direct control—of evil itself,” shared Flanagan.
“But hopefully it’s a lot more than a simple possession story. The connections to the serial-killer mystery are where it gets really fun and takes the possession out of the bedroom and out of parental torment and into something much, much bigger.”
The situation puts two cast members into focus: Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) and Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix), who play priests familiar with ancient rituals. Rounding out the roster are Diane Lane (Unfaithful) and Sasha Calle (The Flash), as well as other Flanagan regulars, including Rahul Kohli, Carla Gugino, Hamish Linklater, Gil Bellows, Carl Lumbly, Robert Longstreet, Matt Biedel, Samantha Sloyan, Kate Siegel, John Gallagher Jr., and Benjamin Pajak.
Despite the connection to previous entries, the filmmaker confirms his retelling will be a standalone project of something “unique within the franchise and in a very different direction than it’s gone in the past.” A slew of first-look images were also unveiled alongside the additional details:
The Exorcist: Martyrs is set to possess theatres on 12 March 2027.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
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