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The Exorcist and Mike Flanagan - it's a match made in horror movie heaven (wait, is that just Hell?). Ever since Blumhouse announced that the Doctor Sleep director and Midnight Mass creator would be helming an entry into the franchise, we spooky nerds have been eager for updates on the project. And much to our delight, we got one at New York Comic Con 2024, where Mike Flanagan revealed his ultimate goals working on the project.

Flanagan was speaking on a Fall of the House of Usher panel, attended by Kate Siegel, Rahul Kohli, and Carla Gugino, and moderated by Happy Sad Confused host Josh Horowitz. It was toward the end of the panel when Horowitz directed a question to Flanagan on the subject, asking him, "What's important to you about approaching a new Exorcist film?"

Flanagan took a pause before answering. "It's a familiar feeling of nausea," he began, "I felt the same way about Doctor Sleep, where it was like, 'What did I do?,'" which got a laugh from the audience.

"The Exorcist is one of those movies that was incredibly formative to me," Flanagan continued, "It shaped me; I saw it too young. It fucked me up. And they've made so many sequels and prequels to it, but none of them come close. You can't do The Exorcist. There's no point in remaking it, there's no point in trying to do that story again or better than it was already done. So you have to do something new."

That makes sense. The Exorcist is perhaps one of the greatest horror movies ever made, and as formative to cinematic horror history as it was to a too young Mike Flanagan. Still, what does he mean by "something new?"

"It should be something that rhymes with it," Flanagan explained, "And that harmonizes with it, but isn't trying to replace it or retread it. It was the scariest movie of its time, but that was half a century ago. And my only goal isn't to make the scariest movie ever made or to redo The Exorcist. My goal is to make the scariest movie I've ever made, and try to make something that scares the shit out of me."

It's a great approach to a storied horror franchise, and as reverent as you'd expect from an artist like Mike Flanagan. Even more exciting, though, is that the director isn't just rewatching the original 1973 William Friedkin Exorcist to inspire him. 

"Of course I'm watching Friedkin's masterpiece, but I'm also looking a lot at The Exorcist III. That is such a great movie. And it had some ideas that are just ripe to be used further."

No, Mike Flanagan didn't go on to explain what those ideas were. But we sure are excited to find out.

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