Mike Flanagan is currently enjoying the success of his reimagining of Stephen King's breakthrough 1974 novel, "Carrie" (which achieved even greater fame as a horror film from Brian De Palma two years later) as a television series. The writer/director has put a modern spin on the source material while expanding the story far beyond Carrie White and her struggles with her mysterious telekinetic powers. The Amazon Prime show has proven to be very popular with the series being renewed for a second season.
Flanagan has now taken on another supernatural horror classic, "The Exorcist" to reimagine. Following the blockbuster 1973 first film directed by William Friedkin that was based on the novel by William Peter Blatty, there have been five sequels and one television series with them all, more or less, sticking largely to the same plot of people possessed by a demonic creature and the need of a priest to help set them free.
With Flanagan's "The Exorcist: Martyrs", this upcoming feature film will merge serial killers and possession with a potential connection to "The Exorcist III", the 1990 box-office disappointment written and directed by Blatty that has since gone on to become a cult classic. NY Homicide Detective Julie Miller (Scarlett Johansson) had been involved in ending the reign of terror by a serial killer who claimed to be possessed known as "Father Sunday". But years later, a string of new gruesome murders begins in the city with her name scrawled in blood on a church wall which forces her back into the darkness. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne and John Leguizamo also star.
"The Exorcist: Martyrs" is due in US theaters on March 12, 2027
