Mike Flanagan is a busy man. Just this week, his TV series remake of Stephen King’s horror classic, Carrie, premiered on Prime Video. Clayface, the body-horror film inspired by the DC Comics character for which he cowrote the script, hits theaters on October 23.
Now he’s off promoting his next completed project, The Exorcist: Martyrs, a film he called “the scariest movie I’ve ever made,” during Friday’s Blumhouse panel at New York Comic Con.
If you’ve been keeping track, Flanagan’s name is attached to the iconic horror franchise that began in 1973 and is based on William Peter Blatty’s novel of the same name. Since Linda Blair terrified the audience as the demon-possessed young girl Regan MacNeil, the film series has expanded. There were sequels, a prequel and even a short-lived TV show.
In 2023, David Gordon Green attempted to reboot the franchise with The Exorcist: The Believer. Now it’s Flanagan’s turn.
The Exorcist: Martyrs puts a new spin on the Exorcist canon and injects a Minderhunter-style serial killer narrative element into the mix. If you’ve watched the TV series I mentioned above, you’ll notice a similar procedural vibe in the brand new trailer that dropped during the panel. And if you’re an Exorcist III stan, I’m sure you’ll be happy with the just-released clip, because it has that similar brooding feel here.
The Exorcist: Martyrs stars Scarlett Johansson as an NYPD detective tracking a serial killer named Father Sunday (John Leguizamo), who uses Catholic iconography in his killings. Chiwetel Ejiofor, fresh from The Backrooms, also stars in the film, opposite Laurence Fishburne, Sasha Calle and Jacobi Jupe.
If you’ve been longing for the Mike Flanagan era of Oculus and The Haunting of Hill House, The Exorcist: Martyrs feels like the filmmaker is back in his terrifying groove. While I’m still waiting for his adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower to see the light of day, this will have to do.
The Exorcist: Martyrs opens in theaters on Friday, March 12, 2027.