Tag: The Exorcist

Geekscape 561: The ‘Cursed Films’ Filmmakers!

by Jonathan

Shudder’s ‘Cursed Films’ is a docu-series that explores the facts, myths and mysteries surrounding iconic films and franchises whose casts and crews have been struck by misfortune and tragedy, including “The Exorcist,” “Poltergeist,” “The Omen,” and others. On a new Geekscape, ‘Cursed Films’ filmmakers Jay Cheel and Mitch Horowitz join me to discuss making the Shudder docu-series and whether or not a film can actually be “cursed”!

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Don’t Watch This New ‘The Exorcist’ TV Spot Before Bed!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: FOX today debuted a new TV spot for its upcoming The Exorcist remake… and if you’re prone to nightmares you might not want to watch this one before bed.

The 30 second spot features some freaky-as-hell imagery, but also that classic theme music that may give you a bad case of intronitus.

Widely regarded as the greatest horror movie ever made, The Exorcist broke box office records and terrified audiences around the world. Now, more than four decades after the Academy Award-nominated film, The Exorcist returns as a TV series. Directed by Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), The Exorcist is a propulsive psychological thriller following two very different priests tackling one family’s case of horrifying demonic possession.

Father Tomas Ortega (Alfonso Herrera, “Sense8,” “The Chosen”) is the new face of the Catholic Church: progressive, ambitious and compassionate. He runs a small but loyal parish in the suburbs of Chicago. He has no idea that his quiet life is about to change forever. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, another priest finds himself locked in a life-and-death struggle with evil. Father Marcus Brennan (Ben Daniels, “Flesh and Bone,” “House of Cards”) is a modern-day Templar Knight, an orphan raised since childhood by the Vatican to wage war against its enemies. Father Marcus is everything Father Tomas is not: relentless, abrasive and utterly consumed by his sacred mission.

Caught in the middle is the Rance family, members of Tomas’ parish. On the surface, they’re a normal, suburban family, but all is not as it seems in this household. The patriarch, Henry Rance (guest star Alan Ruck, “Spin City,” Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), is slowly but surely losing his mind. Eldest daughter Katherine (Brianne Howey, “Scream Queens”) has become a recluse who refuses to leave her room. Her younger sister, Casey (Hannah Kasulka, “The Fosters”), thinks she’s hearing strange noises coming from inside the walls. And mother Angela (Academy Award and Golden Globe winner Geena Davis, “Commander in Chief,” Thelma & Louise) has been plagued by recurring nightmares, each more frightening than the last. Angela believes there is something in the house, a demonic presence, growing stronger by the day. Desperate, she begs Father Tomas for help, unwittingly setting the naïve young priest on a collision course with Father Marcus. Separately, each faces an insurmountable task, but together they become the only hope against an evil force that has been mobilizing for centuries.

Take a look at the TV spot below, and be sure to let us know what you think. The Exorcist premieres on September 23rd!

https://youtu.be/V4848V12Zc4

Take A Sneak Peek At FOX’s ‘The Exorcist’!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: Well this looks… actually cool.

FOX today debuted an excellent sneak peek at its upcoming exorcist series, which features a bunch of neat footage as well as interviews with cast and crew.

Widely regarded as the greatest horror movie ever made, The Exorcist broke box office records and terrified audiences around the world. Now, more than four decades after the Academy Award-nominated film, The Exorcist returns as a TV series. Directed by Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), The Exorcist is a propulsive psychological thriller following two very different priests tackling one family’s case of horrifying demonic possession.

Father Tomas Ortega (Alfonso Herrera, “Sense8,” “The Chosen”) is the new face of the Catholic Church: progressive, ambitious and compassionate. He runs a small but loyal parish in the suburbs of Chicago. He has no idea that his quiet life is about to change forever. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, another priest finds himself locked in a life-and-death struggle with evil. Father Marcus Brennan (Ben Daniels, “Flesh and Bone,” “House of Cards”) is a modern-day Templar Knight, an orphan raised since childhood by the Vatican to wage war against its enemies. Father Marcus is everything Father Tomas is not: relentless, abrasive and utterly consumed by his sacred mission.

Caught in the middle is the Rance family, members of Tomas’ parish. On the surface, they’re a normal, suburban family, but all is not as it seems in this household. The patriarch, Henry Rance (guest star Alan Ruck, “Spin City,” Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), is slowly but surely losing his mind. Eldest daughter Katherine (Brianne Howey, “Scream Queens”) has become a recluse who refuses to leave her room. Her younger sister, Casey (Hannah Kasulka, “The Fosters”), thinks she’s hearing strange noises coming from inside the walls. And mother Angela (Academy Award and Golden Globe winner Geena Davis, “Commander in Chief,” Thelma & Louise) has been plagued by recurring nightmares, each more frightening than the last. Angela believes there is something in the house, a demonic presence, growing stronger by the day. Desperate, she begs Father Tomas for help, unwittingly setting the naïve young priest on a collision course with Father Marcus. Separately, each faces an insurmountable task, but together they become the only hope against an evil force that has been mobilizing for centuries.

Take a look at the sneak peek below, and be sure to let us know what you think.

https://youtu.be/a9A_lMvrrbY

“The Exorcist” Being Remade, But For Television

by Eric Diaz

In the world of horror movies, there is William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, and then there is everything else. Possibly the most disturbing horror film ever made, it still stands as the only movie of its kind to break out of the usual horror movie niche and become a genuine blockbuster. (adjusted for 2012 dollars, would have made $875 million domestically today) Even a horror buff like me can’t watch it in a dark room alone.  I know there are certain people out there that the movie doesn’t scare, but I usually find them to be the kind of people who don’t understand the difference between being “startled” and being “frightened.” The Exorcist get under your skin and stays there forever; it truly frightens.

So in the creatively bankrupt past decade in Hollywood (for horror films anyway) the one classic film that has remained untouched has remained The Exorcist. Until now. But it looks like it won’t be coming back to the big screen, but to television instead. According to the Vulture,  Sean Durkin, director of the indie movie Martha Marcy May Marlene, is developing The Exorcist into a ten-episode TV series with Roy Lee, the executive producer of The Ring. It seems Durkin’s version of The Exorcist follows the events leading up to a demonic possession and especially the after-effects of how the MacNeil family copes with it.

Since this is only being shopped as a ten episode series, it should be obvious this will end up on cable and not a network. While I usually loathe remakes, especially horror remakes, I see this is as less a shitty cash in from a studio who happens to own a property, and rather a new interpretation of a classic novel in a different medium. Not only can the original film never be topped as another film, no studio would dare make a mainstream film as scandalous and blasphemous as the original again, especially in our current cultural climate. This isn’t the free wheeling, experimental 70’s anymore; the MPAA has become considerably more conservative than they were forty years ago. There is no way that the classic movie would get anything but an NC-17 these days. Meanwhile, most HBO fare is much racier than your average Hollywood movie….the average episode of True Blood would get an NC-17 from the MPAA if it was a movie. Cable has become the new home of “racy” material, in the way movie theaters were in the past.

The Exorcist is currently being shopped around to various networks, and is said to have a lot of interested parties chomping at the bit. I’d guess we might have this new version premiere next year, the 40th Anniversary of the original film.