By John Corrado

We now have the first trailer (and poster) for director Mike Flanagan’s The Exorcist: Martyrs, which is also playing in theatres in front of Other Mommy this weekend. This is the latest attempt to reboot this iconic horror franchise, after David Gordon Green’s 2023 legacy sequel Exorcist: Believer fell flat, and the new trilogy it was supposed to launch got scrapped.

Enter Flanagan, whose Carrie reboot series just launched, to reignite this IP. This trailer makes it clear that Flanagan is approaching Martyrs more as a serial killer procedural that also deals with demonic possession. Scarlett Johansson stars as a detective investigating a series of murders, with Hamnet’s Jacobi Jupe as her adolescent son. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays a Catholic priest, who quotes scripture in the trailer.

I’m not sure if this will directly connect to William Friedkin’s 1973 film, but a fresh approach was needed. This trailer certainly strikes the right grim tone, and it all looks very dark and potentially – hopefully – very scary. I’m looking forward to this one, and cautiously optimistic that Flanagan will be able to deliver a return to form for the series. The film opens exclusively in theatres on March 12th, 2027.