ScarJo in an Exorcist remake? It’s already making my head swivel

Scarlett Johansson is to star ina remake of The Exorcist, William Friedkin’s 1973 horror movie - news that made me twist in my chair like an angry, hissing cat.

- Barbara Ellen

The writer-director will be Mike Flanagan, who has made Stephen King adaptations. But ~ sniff — not the classic Stephen King adaptations.

The Exorcist isn’t your average horror franchise: it’s a sacred calling, with meaning that goes far beyond the fabled snaking cinema queues of horror-blockbuster legend. The most recent attempt ata sequel, The Exorcist: Believer (2023), starring the original's Ellen Burstyn, failed because it dealt in tawdry Halloween jump-scares. The real Exorcist, based on the 1971 book by William Peter Blatty, is about good, evil, faith, mortality, memory, depravity, degradation of childhood and personal sacrifice. It’s as heartbreaking as it is chilling. Linda Blair’s Regan hovering above a bed, click-turning her head 180 degrees, has precious little to do with it.

This misunderstanding leads to poor remakes — though the 1995 version of Village of the Damned is a classic of synthetic blond wigs and unintentional hilarity. Good horror happens in the small moments. It’s