It’s safe to say that David Gordon Green’s Exorcist: Believer had a great title but beyond that, it needed something more. Perhaps some scares? Whatever you might think of Green’s attempt, Mike Flanagan plans on upping his game to make his version “the scariest movie I’ve ever made.”
Flanagan has been lauded for his use of atmosphere. Both The Haunting of Hill House and The Fall of the House of Usher are just two examples of how he effectively creates mood and uneasiness; two things the original Exorcist accomplished, and Green needed more of.
After the letdown of Green’s reboot, which was supposed to be one of three, Universal and Blumhouse put the kibosh on the other two and hired Flanagan to try again. But this wasn’t just the studio trying to bring in a hot director into their IP because of his popularity. Flanagan wanted to shoot his shot, and he knows what people are expecting.
“We aren’t making this easy on ourselves,” Flanagan said in an interview with THR. “But I’ve always felt that there’s no point in going into a franchise or into a property that monolithic unless there’s something new you can bring. I chased The Exorcist very aggressively because I was convinced I had something that I could add. This is an opportunity to do something that I believe has never been done within the franchise — something that honors what came before it but isn’t built on nostalgia. I really just saw an opportunity to make the scariest movie I’ve ever made. I know expectations are high. No one’s more intimidated than I am.”
In that same interview, he was asked about movies that scared him. One could argue he picked two of the best.
“The last one that truly frightened me into getting up off of the couch was an Australian movie, Lake Mungo,” he said. “It chilled me to the bone. There are others, like this French film Martyrs. There’s a lot of gore, but it’s gore with a point. I generally don’t love splatter.”
For now, Flanagan is getting ready for the theatrical release of his latest film The Life of Chuck, another adaptation of a work by Stephen King, an author from which he draws inspiration. He has made a few films based on King’s work already, including Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep.