It can be said without a doubt The Exorcist is one of the scariest films ever made, creating a new benchmark for horror films upon its release in 1973, and is still considered to be that by many even 50 years later. Now with horror filmmaker Mike Flanagan set to direct “a radical new take” on The Exorcist, he wants it to make it “the scariest movie I’ve ever made.”
Flanagan has made quite a reputation for himself in his relatively short career within the horror genre, first coming to prominence with 2013’s Oculus. Since then, he was written, showrun and directed The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass and The Fall of the House of Usher series for Netflix as well as several adaptations of Stephen King’s novels like Doctor Sleep and Gerald’s Game.
At the Fan Expo Canada convention held in Toronto, he and Kate Siegel spoke about The Haunting of Hill House as well as other projects in their career (we’ll have more on that panel later) and Flanagan was asked about the announcement he would direct a new Exorcist.
“The original Exorcist is a formative film for me,” Flanagan said. “I’ve only once in my career felt this feeling of stepping into the shadow of a monolith and it was with Doctor Sleep. I’m already nauseous every day about The Exorcist in a really fun way, but the thing about the exorcist is when it came out it was the scariest movie of all time at that time. Modern audiences don’t necessarily connect with the film the same way, so my mission for this is to try to make it the scariest movie I’ve ever made. If I can do that, then I hope it will connect with people. It’s so much to work on, I’ll say that.”
What do you think on Flanagan’s passion and ambition? Are you excited for his take on The Exorcist or think it might not prosper after last year’s The Exorcist: Believer flopped? Let us know on our social channels at @flickeringmyth…
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.
