The complete trailer for Mike Flanagan’s The Exorcist: Martyrs has arrived, and it seems just like the horror filmmaker goes to place audiences by means of hell with this one. After the disappointing The Exorcist: Believer in 2023, the franchise may use a severe comeback, and Flanagan could be precisely the filmmaker to tug it off.
The brand new movie stars Scarlett Johansson as an NYPD detective and single mom who finds herself caught in a terrifying supernatural investigation after witnessing the execution of a infamous serial killer often known as Father Sunday, performed by John Leguizamo.
Father Sunday has a disturbing obsession with Catholic imagery, and whereas his execution ought to deliver his murderous crimes to an finish, loss of life apparently is not sufficient to cease him.
His evil continues to unfold by means of supernatural means, and Johansson’s character quickly discovers that her 12-year-old son, performed by Jacobi Jupe (Hamnet), has grow to be the goal of a demonic drive.
Because the nightmare escalates, she turns to 2 monks performed by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Laurence Fishburne for assist. Sasha Calle additionally stars as a fellow detective investigating the horrifying occasions.
The story has an attention-grabbing crime-thriller angle that brings to thoughts The Exorcist III, which remains to be one of many franchise’s most unsettling entries. Combining a serial killer investigation with demonic possession appears like a terrific match for Flanagan, particularly contemplating how successfully he is dealt with supernatural horror all through his profession.
The filmmaker beforehand made a fairly thrilling promise about his strategy to the franchise, saying again in 2024, “I actually simply noticed a possibility to make the scariest film I’ve ever made.”
That is fairly a press release coming from the man who gave us The Haunting of Hill Home, Midnight Mass, Physician Sleep, and The Fall of the Home of Usher. Flanagan has already delivered some critically disturbing horror, however he believes this new film pushes him into much more uncomfortable territory.
Talking in regards to the movie, Flanagan described it because the darkest undertaking he is ever written. “It is viciously darkish. It is unsafely darkish at occasions, and we went locations in there that I’ve by no means, by no means gone on any of my units emotionally.
“However I’ve to say that on the finish of it, we discovered some mild and a few hope in it that I am actually grateful for as a result of it is a harrowing story.”
Flanagan’s finest horror tales have all the time been about greater than horrifying audiences. He places his characters by means of some terrible experiences, however there’s normally one thing significant on the coronary heart of the nightmare. With a mom combating to save lots of her son from a demonic evil, The Exorcist: Martyrs offers him loads of room to discover that territory.
The trailer presents a creepy have a look at what’s coming, together with Johansson investigating a horrific crime and Ejiofor’s character main a prayer inside a church. The non secular imagery, disturbing thriller, and supernatural terror all level towards a nasty expertise for horror followers.
I am very keen on seeing what Flanagan does with the serial killer side of the story. The concept executing a assassin may unleash one thing even worse is a fairly cool premise for an Exorcist film.
Flanagan clearly has some formidable plans for this film, and with this solid and premise, there’s a lot to be enthusiastic about.
The Exorcist: Martyrs hits theaters on March 12, 2027.
