The terrifying trailer for The Exorcist: Martyrs by Mike Flanagan

Scarlett Johansson leads the investigation in this thriller that mixes demonic horror with Seven and Silence of the Lambs.

Mike Flanagan intends to distance himself from William Friedkin’s classic.

The trailer for The Exorcist: Martyrsunveiled yesterday at New York Comic Con and already available below, promises a mix of criminal thriller and demonic horror worn by Scarlett Johansson.

The actress plays Julie Miller, an investigator with the New York Police Department’s homicide squad who arrests a serial killer nicknamed Father Sunday, played by John Leguizamo, before witnessing his execution. But a series of particularly atrocious murders, committed in a church, will soon push her to question her certainties. What if the killers who claimed to be possessed by Satan were telling the truth? The line between criminal investigation and supernatural forces may well prove murkier than expected.

Sasha Calle plays another investigator, while Jacobi Jupe (Hamnet) plays Julie’s 12-year-old son. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Laurence Fishburne complete the cast in the roles of two priests drawn into this strange affair. Diane Lane is also in the cast.

With this new chapter in the franchise, Mike Flanagan, creator of The Fall of the House of Usher, Midnight Mass And The Haunting of Hill Houseas well as films Life of Chuck And Doctor Sleepwants to bring together two genres rarely associated in the saga.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to merge two of my favorite genres: the serial killer film and demonic possession“, the director confides today to Première.

“It was a lot of fun figuring out how to harmonize the two to form some sort of new melody. I had a blast working on this.“

Judging by these first images, the atmosphere evokes more Seven than the traditional horror film. A lineage that Flanagan readily claims:

“The Silence of the Lambs, The Evil Witness, a brilliant but underrated film with Denzel Washington… And even The Exorcist, the sequel, which is phenomenal, whatever anyone says. All these references opened the way for me! “

The Exorcist: Martyrs will be released in French theaters on March 10, 2027.