THE EXORCIST: MARTYRS First Teaser Reveals Mike Flanagan’s “Viciously Dark” Horror Movie
Mike Flanagan is heading into some seriously nasty territory with The Exorcist: Martyrs, and our first glimpse at his new horror movie has arrived.
After writing Clayface and creating a new television adaptation of Carrie, Flanagan is taking on one of horror’s most famous franchises with the seventh Exorcist movie.
The film stars Scarlett Johansson and Chiwetel Ejiofor, and based on Flanagan’s description, he pushed himself into some uncomfortable places while making it.
Speaking with FilmSpeak, Flanagan called The Exorcist: Martyrs the darkest project he has written. "It's viciously dark," Flanagan said. "It's unsafely dark at times, and we went places in there that I've never, never gone on any of my sets emotionally.
“But I have to say that at the end of it, we found some light and some hope in it that I'm really grateful for because it's a harrowing story."
Coming from the filmmaker responsible for The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, Doctor Sleep, and The Fall of the House of Usher, that's a pretty wild warning.
The Exorcist: Martyrs reportedly centers on Johansson as a single-mother cop whose 12-year-old son becomes the target of a demonic force. The nightmare begins after she witnesses the execution of a notorious satanic serial killer. His death doesn't put an end to his crimes, which apparently continue through supernatural means.
Johansson's character eventually gets some help from two priests played by Ejiofor and Laurence Fishburne, who join her investigation. John Leguizamo plays the sinister Father Sunday.
The first 15-second teaser doesn't reveal much, but it offers a creepy taste of what Flanagan is cooking. Johansson is shown investigating something horrific, while Ejiofor leads a prayer inside a church. First-look images from the movie have also been released, giving fans an early peek at Flanagan's take on The Exorcist universe.
Flanagan taking on The Exorcist already made this one of the more interesting upcoming horror movies, but hearing him describe Martyrs as territory he hasn't explored before makes it even more intriguing.
He knows how to mix supernatural horror with emotionally brutal character stories, and it sounds like he's pushing both sides of that equation pretty damn hard here.
The Exorcist: Martyrs opens in theaters on March 12, 2027.