In terms of films not seen from last year, Martha Marcy May Marlene remains my most egregious oversight, and one I wish I’d more quickly fixed due to today’s news. You see, the writer and director of the film, Sean Durkin, will be adapting his own version of the classic horror blockbuster, The Exorcist, into a 10-part television series. His story will deal not only with the actual exorcism procedures overseen by Father Karras, but with the events unfolding before and after the demonic theatrics of his attempt to remove Satan from a young girl.
The pitch must still be shopped around to all the various TV studios, so there’s no word on if this will end up as a network property, or somewhere like HBO that will allow for a harder edge. If I were a betting man (wait, I am actually), I’d put money on AMC gunning for this pretty hard along with the premium cable channels.
Of course, it’s not fair to call this a “remake” per se, as it’s one of those ole “readaptations” as Durkin is pulling from the same William Peter Blatty source novel that William Friedkin interpreted for his four-decade-old classic.
Does this shift in format and length calm any of your “remake” ire? Or are you displeased with anything challenging the Exorcist throne, pedigree of talent notwithstanding?
Source | Vulture
5 comments
10 parts (i’m assuming an hour each) seems excessive, unless he also pulls elements from the excellent written sequel Legion (which became Exorcist III). In the books i recall that there were whole pages of reflection on the human condition that, when translated to film just consisted of someone looking out a window for a moment. I want to see how they handle that.
Who do I have to blow to get Idris Elba in a bee costume in the season ending cliff hanger?
John Hawkes as Karras?
Well, if a remake of a classic really is inevitable,I’d rather see it remade in a different format. Mick Garris’s THE SHINING is a (not very good) example of this.
The Exorcist is a brand that has already been run into the ground. There are few series that can boast an immediate remake of the fourth sequel. Part of what made the original work was that it deftly cut through some of the dull stuff and got to the heart of the matter. The priest struggling with faith will still hold up as a theme, but the atheist mother with a daughter going through supernatural torment may not. Whatever the case, the strength of film is the cut in that it is another draft or edit of the original source and often an improvement. A mini-series tells me right away that it would be quantity programming stretching itself too thin. I’m not immediately against remakes. Carrie is being updated by the director of Boys Don’t Cry and Stop-Loss. Nothing especially impresses me about this director’s name or unknown agenda. If AMC has any taste they will avoid this one. I don’t much know the appeal of a series anyway with the possibility of budget collapse at any stage. Universal may as well step up and do the Jaws prequel following Quint onto the Indianapolis or Peter Benchley’s novel complete with Mrs Brody and Hooper having an affair (complicating the Hooper cage scene). Then again, it’s all about hype and people aren’t really talking about The Exorcist anymore. Max Von Sydow’s belief that it is more about the torture of a child might be more common in today’s more atheistic pop culture.
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