The Exorcist: Martyrs trailer has arrived, and somewhere in a Georgetown basement, a pea-soup-stained priest’s collar is twitching with cautious optimism.
Universal Pictures and Blumhouse unveiled the first official footage for Mike Flanagan’s take on the iconic horror property, and instead of the internet reacting with its now-customary reboot fatigue, people are… actually excited? For an Exorcist movie? In this economy?
Let’s break down everything we know, why horror nerds are cautiously uncrossing their arms, and why the words “The Exorcist: Martyrs Trailer” have been trending across every corner of film Twitter (sorry, X) this week.
Wait, who’s getting exorcised this time?
Here’s the pitch, and it’s a genuinely good one: Scarlett Johansson plays a New York City detective named Julie Miller who, thirteen years earlier, ended the reign of terror of a satanic serial killer known as Father Sunday, a case that made her a bona fide hero.
Fast forward over a decade, and a fresh wave of gruesome murders inside a church forces Johansson’s character to reconsider whether the old killers’ claims of demonic possession might have actually been true.
It’s less “spinning head and green vomit” and more “detective slowly realizes the case file she closed years ago never actually ended.” Several outlets have pointed out the vibe lands somewhere between Se7en and The Silence of the Lambs — if either of those movies had a demon problem. That’s the energy of The Exorcist: Martyrs trailer in a nutshell: cop-thriller dread wearing a possession movie’s skin.
The cast is doing a LOT of heavy lifting
Scarlett Johansson headlining a horror franchise is already a flex, but she’s joined by Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sasha Calle, John Leguizamo, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, and a healthy stack of Flanagan’s usual troupe, including Carla Gugino, Hamish Linklater, and Carl Lumbly. For context, that’s basically the horror equivalent of an Avengers lineup, if the Avengers were all extremely good at looking traumatized in candlelight.
The trailer also gives us Sasha Calle as Johansson’s fellow detective, plus a couple of brief glimpses of Laurence Fishburne playing the “old priest” to Ejiofor’s younger one — a mentor/successor dynamic that horror fans will recognize as a classic “one of these two is going to die first, place your bets” setup.
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Mike Flanagan says it’s the scariest thing he’s ever made (sure, Mike)
Every director says their new movie is their scariest yet — it’s basically contractually required at this point. But when it’s Mike Flanagan telling Empire Magazine “It’s the scariest thing I’ve ever made”, it carries a little extra weight, given his résumé runs through Oculus, Hush, Gerald’s Game, Doctor Sleep, and Midnight Mass. This is a guy who has made a career out of turning grief into jump scares with a PhD-level understanding of pacing.
Flanagan has described Martyrs as Se7en or Silence of the Lambs crossed with The Exorcist, and cited William Peter Blatty’s novel Legion — the basis for The Exorcist III — as a key inspiration. That’s a meaningful detail, because Exorcist III is the one entry in this franchise that horror diehards will defend to the death, and multiple outlets immediately clocked the connection.
SlashFilm noted that instead of trying to remake or copy the 1973 original, Flanagan’s Martyrs looks far more indebted to The Exorcist III, widely considered the only genuinely good sequel in the franchise — a smart move, since trying to out-pea-soup William Friedkin is a fool’s errand.
Behind the camera, cinematographer Michael Fimognari is reuniting with Flanagan, which should mean the trailer’s moody, stairwell-heavy visuals are only the appetizer.
That staircase shot is doing some very intentional cosplay
Eagle-eyed fans immediately spotted the opening image of The Exorcist: Martyrs trailer: a long, ominous staircase. It isn’t literally the real Georgetown staircase that Father Karras tumbled down at the end of the 1973 original, but it’s clearly designed to evoke it, which is either a loving homage or a cheeky bit of trailer misdirection, depending on how charitable you’re feeling. Either way, it’s the kind of detail that tells horror obsessives “yes, we know you’ve seen the original forty times, and yes, we’re trolling you a little.”
Where it premiered, and when you can actually see the movie
The trailer was unveiled by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Mike Flanagan at New York Comic Con, during Blumhouse’s showcase of upcoming titles. The Exorcist: Martyrs is set to open in theaters on March 12th, 2027, giving audiences a few months to speculate, theorize, and inevitably make a thousand “Father Sunday is definitely George C. Scott’s character’s secret kid” fan theories (one commenter on Deadline floated almost exactly that).
Production-wise, this is a Blumhouse-Atomic Monster and Morgan Creek Entertainment collaboration, made in association with Flanagan’s own Red Room Pictures, with longtime Flanagan producer Trevor Macy returning on behalf of Intrepid Pictures — the same team behind Oculus, Hush, and Ouija: Origin of Evil.
Why everyone’s holding their breath (reasonably)
To understand why The Exorcist: Martyrs trailer is landing as a genuine sigh of relief, you have to remember the last entry. The Exorcist: Believer, directed by David Gordon Green, arrived in 2023 as a legacy sequel after Universal spent $400 million acquiring the franchise rights with plans for a whole new trilogy.
The reviews were, to put it generously, unkind, and the planned sequel was ultimately canceled in favor of Flanagan’s fresh take — Hollywood’s version of quietly backing out of the room.
So there’s real pressure riding on this one, and critics covering the reveal know it. SlashFilm specifically flagged that Believer wasn’t a box office disaster, but it was critically savaged, which raises the stakes for Flanagan to succeed where recent attempts have failed.
Early reactions suggest he might actually be pulling it off — one outlet covering the BlumFest reveal admitted to having reservations about the project since it was first announced, but conceded the trailer “works,” praising the cinematography and atmosphere.
The verdict (for now)
It’s just a trailer, and trailers have lied to us before (looking at you, every modern horror marketing campaign that’s 90% jump scares that aren’t in the actual film). But between Flanagan’s track record, a genuinely stacked cast, and a story angle that respects Exorcist III instead of just remixing the original’s greatest hits, The Exorcist: Martyrs trailer has done something this franchise hasn’t managed in years: made people want the next installment instead of dreading it.
Mark your calendars for March 12, 2027, keep an eye on that staircase, and maybe don’t watch the trailer alone with the lights off. Actually — do. It’s basically the point.
Further reading on The Exorcist: Martyrs trailer
- Variety: ‘The Exorcist: Martyrs’ Trailer Unveiled at NYCC
- SlashFilm: Scarlett Johansson Stars In The Surprising First Trailer For The Exorcist: Martyrs
- The A.V. Club: Scarlett Johansson walks down the spooky stairs in The Exorcist: Martyrs trailer
- Consequence: Scarlett Johansson Faces Down Evil in First Trailer for The Exorcist: Martyrs
- Nerdist: Mike Flanagan’s THE EXORCIST: MARTYRS Drops First Trailer
- Deadline: ‘The Exorcist: Martyrs’ Trailer: Scarlett Johansson Tracks Demonic Killer
- World of Reel: ‘Exorcist: Martyrs’ Trailer is Here; Flanagan Calls it “The Scariest Thing I’ve Ever Made”
- Wikipedia: The Exorcist (franchise)
