Mike Flanagan Says ‘The Exorcist: Martyrs’ Is the Scariest Movie He’s Ever Made; New Poster!

Mike Flanagan set out to make The Exorcist: Martyrs the scariest movie of his career. Asked at Blumhouse’s New York Comic Con panel whether he accomplished that goal, his answer was immediate.

“Yes.”

“This movie is so goddamn scary, I swear to God,” Flanagan continued. “And I could feel it on set. It was freaking me out in the chair, like off the monitor.“

“But yeah, I really hoped this would be the scariest thing I ever got to work on, and it absolutely is, and I can’t wait for you guys to see it.”

That’s a hell of a promise from the filmmaker behind The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, Ouija: Origin of Evil, and this week’s Carrie. And after watching the full trailer for The Exorcist: Martyrs, I’m especially excited about the direction he’s taking this one.

When asked whether there was a particular take that convinced him he’d delivered on that promise, Flanagan said, “There were about a hundred of them.”

“Every time we thought the scary part was over and we were safe for the day, we were very, very wrong.”

Flanagan also emphasized that finding a different approach to the franchise was essential from the beginning.