A couple of days ago now I heard the news that a new 10 part television show has entered into early stages of development supposedly offering a new take on The Exorcist story.
News article here courtesy of Collider.
Now, as anybody who knows me would be able to tell you The Exorcist is my absolute favourite film in the history of forever. I could happily spew out an article of my obsessive adoration for the film right now, but I'll save that for another day, suffice to say that I watch it A LOT and talk about it A LOT.
News of a new entry into the franchise shouldn't come as any real shock. Firstly because their's been numerous sequels to the film throughout the years already (of which I have yet brought myself to watch), and secondly because we do after all live in the age where nothing is sacred. Remakes, reboots, sequels and other such adaptations on existing properties make up a vast majority of what makes it onto our screens today both in the cinema and on television, and so its only understandable that a franchise that is as prevalent in peoples minds and pop culture as much as The Exorcist is wouldn't stay dormant for too long.
The thing that is most irksome and worrisome about this latest project is that its retelling the original story without consent or input from either William Peter Blatty or William Friedkin. Spin-offs of the original film and book are bad enough, but its simple fact that the reason that the original 1973 film adaptation of The Exorcist worked so well was because of the continued input of the 1971 books original author William Peter Blatty throughout the production of the film, aiding director William Friedkin in realising their shared intended vision. What came from this was a film which was a perfect accompaniment to the original novel, allowing both novel and film to stand as phenomenal individual pieces, but to also work together and create a deeper, more vivid and complete story.
Granted, the pedigree they have working on the show is decent thus far. Although I've yet to see the film, Martha Marcy May Marlene writer and director Sean Durkin is the brains behind the project, and I know that the aforementioned film was exceptionally well received by critics and the indie film community. If I heard that he was making a 10 part series about exorcism, but not specifically The Exorcist I would be excited, however it seems to me that the franchise name is needed to carry the series and just generally drum up some early press attention.
The whole thing reminds me of 2 other in production TV series based on film franchises- the upcoming Silence of the Lambs spin off Hannibal, and Hellraiser: The Series. Both are based on franchises I love, and both I have different worry's about, however I can see how they would work as TV series as neither Hellraiser nor Silence of the Lambs are individual open-shut stories in the way that The Exorcist is. They both have a rich mythos which take place over several years and several stories. The Exorcist takes place over just a few months, and to my mind the film and book between them do a perfect job on wrapping up every characters story and any events that happened prior to what happened in the books are explained in sufficient detail enough to not warrant any other entries into the canon of the series (save maybe for Father Merrin's exorcism in Africa which has already been done in two films).
Thankfully its not all doom and gloom for Exorcist fans at the moment. A new print of the film is being released to Blu-Ray next year to celebrate its 40th anniversary, containing new special features and hopefully at last the full uncut versions of all the deleted and unfinished scenes which have been teased to exist in the past and glimpsed in previous releases special features.
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