With all the excitement over Mike Flanagan’s upcoming Carrie series for Prime Video, you might have forgotten he’s also the point person tasked withbringing The Exorcist back to form in the wake of 2023’s forgettable The Exorcist: Believer. Now, that project has taken a huge step by casting a huge star: Scarlett Johansson.
Johansson, last seen on screen in Jurassic World Rebirth—she’s expected to return for its recently announced sequel as well—is a prolific actor who has excelled across genres, with both indie and blockbuster success. But she hasn’t made too many horror films (Under the Skin being one exception; maybe there are some 8 Legged Freaks defenders too?), meaning The Exorcist by way of Flanagan is somewhat new turf for her.
Of course, there’s no word yet on what the story of this new Exorcist will be. A press release simply notes this will be a “radical new take” on the story, which made Hollywood history thanks to William Friedkin’s 1973 adaptation of William Peter Blatty’s novel.
What that will look like remains to be seen, but The Exorcist has had a colorful screen history to date. The Linda Blair and Ellen Burstyn-starring original is a masterpiece; the 1977 sequel is not quite a camp classic. The Exorcist III is a supernatural serial-killer thriller directed by Blatty himself, and there are two competing fourth films of varying quality that tell the same story. Plus, there was a really good TV show that ran for two seasons, and then Believer—a series low despite bringing back both Blair and Burstyn.
“Scarlett is a brilliant actress whose captivating performances always feel grounded and real, from genre films to summer blockbusters, and I couldn’t be happier to have her join this Exorcist film,” Flanagan said in the press release, which also (thankfully) specifies yet again that his film is not a sequel to Believer.
It will shoot in New York City, and despite earlier reports that it would be coming in 2026, that has very likely shifted. The press release did not specify a release date.
Art imitates life, and life can be horrifying. Every axe-murdering psychopath the ever stalked the pages of a thriller novel owes their existence to a real world killer. Fiction has its basis in fact, and the fact is, planet Earth is not a very nice place. Man eating beasts, cannibal murderers, this world has seen it all. While good horror fiction can haunt our dreams, real-life horror stories disturb our waking ours. The cosmic writers’ room that governs our reality has come up with some seriously chilling plot twists over the years, and these novels are inspired by the real life monsters that make our world a worse place. These are 10 books based on horrifying true stories, for the true crime lover in you.
The Hunger
(G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Human history is littered with examples of us going places we shouldn’t. The Mariana Trench. Outer space. The peak of some desolate mountain top, places that weren’t meant to be seen by human eyes. The Hunger by Alma Katsu is the story of one of the most famous doomed expeditions in American history: that of the Donner Party. This party was anything but festive – in 1846, a group of 87 men, women and children all journeyed up into the Sierra Nevada on a trek to California. After becoming snowbound, they had to rely on each other to survive – not in a cooperative sense, but cannibalistic one. According to Katsu’s retelling of the tale, these deplorable events may have had supernatural causes. Maybe the Donner’s didn’t eat each other, maybe there was something else in the mountains, something hungry for them?
The Amityville Horror
(Bantam Books)
The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson is the ultimate haunted house story, a recounting of one of the infamous paranormal experiences in American history. In 1975, 23 year old Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered six members of his family in their suburban home. One year later, the Lutz family moved in to the DeFeo’s old place. Over a period of 28 days, the family claims to have been plagued by supernatural horrors – hauntings by the restless spirits of the dead. After listening to hours worth of tape recordings made by the Lutzes about their experiences, Anson wrote the manuscript that would later become the novel. While framed as a truthful account of Lutz’ experiences, the book is not without controversy, and critics have claimed that details have been embellished or made up. Whether fact or fiction, the truth is clear: this one of the most unsettling horror novels ever written.
The Exorcist
(Harper Collins)
The Exorcist by William Blatty is the stuff of horror legend, its film adaption is often hailed as one of the finest works in the genre. The famous plot revolves around a little girl possessed by an ancient demon, and the efforts taken to exorcise it by her mother and a pair of Catholic priests. The novel was inspired by a genuine exorcism that took place in 1949 – that of Ronald Edwin Hunkeler, previously known under the pseudonym Roland Doe. Hunkeler, a former Nasa employee, claimed he began experiencing malevolent supernatural events at 14. A Jesuit priest conducted over 20 exorcism rituals on Ronald while he was a teenager, during which he allegedly screamed phrases in Latin. The story was later covered in The Washington Post in 1949, and Blatty was inspired to write The Exorcist after hearing about it.
The Girl Next Door
(Leisure Books)
The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum is the story of teenage Meg and her disabled sister Sarah, who are kept imprisoned in a basement by their aunt and her three children. As the days turn to weeks, Sarah and Meg are subject to increasingly brutal tortures by their cousins – tortures spurred on by their psychopathic guardian. A boy named David, who serves as the novel’s narrator, attempts to rescue the two sisters – things don’t go as planned. Horrifying and brutal, the novel was inspired by the real life murder of Sylvia Likens – who was tortured by her caretaker Gertrude Baniszewski, some of Baniszewski’s children, and even some of her neighbors. It’s a deeply painful read, an echo of one of the most infamous killings in American history.
Room
(Little, Brown and Company)
Room by Emma Donoghue is the story of a five year old boy raised in captivity. Jack has lived his entire life within the confines of a single room alongside his mother, who herself has been there for seven years. Told from Jack’s point of view, the novel details’ his mother’s escape attempt – one that will free them from the grip of their terrifying captor Old Nick. The novel was inspired by the real life case of Elisabeth Fritzl, who was held captive by her father Josef for 24 years. He used her as a sex slave, and she was forced to bear him multiple children – children that served as her only company. In spite of the horrific real life story that inspired it, Room is an unexpectedly uplifting novel – a story of mother’s love told from her son’s point of view, detailing her determination to provide her child with a better life than the one they live.
Burial Rites
(Little, Brown and Company)
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent is inspired by the true story of Agnes Magnúsdóttir – the last woman who was executed in Iceland. A servant, Agnes was charged with murder of her former master and was exiled to a remote farm to await her death. The farmer and his family were horrified, shunning the woman accused of such a brutal crime. As the days passes however, the family learned that there are two sides to this story, and Agnes tells a very different tale than the one that they heard. While the real details behind the murder are unclear to this day, Kent paints Agnes in a sympathetic light – a woman who was a victim of both prejudice and circumstance.
Alias Grace
(Doubleday)
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood is a historical fiction inspired by the story of Grace Marks, a servant who was convicted of killing her employer and his housekeeper/mistress. While languishing in prison, Grace is visited by a character of Atwood’s invention – a doctor named Simon Jordan, who is researching the case. Acting on behalf of those who believe Grace is innocent, Simon attempts to separate fact from fiction surrounding the day of the murder – a day that Grace herself can’t remember. What begins as a clinical study of criminality soon blossoms into a genuine connection as Simon attempts to absolve Grace of a crime she appears not to have committed – a crime that may stem from a supernatural cause.
The Devil In The White City
(Crown Publishers)
The Devil In The White City by Erik Larson is a historical fiction about a real life event so unbelievable it sounds completely made up. It’s the story of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair – a worldwide gathering of artists and inventors unveiling their incredible creations. The novel branches into two intertwining narratives, one following the event’s architect Daniel H. Burnham, the other following H.H. Holmes – a now infamous serial killer. Holmes oversaw the creation of the World’s Fair Hotel – a labyrinthian piece of architecture that doubled as a series of torture chambers. The novel details how Holmes lured his victims to the hotel, trapping them within the structure and carrying out his gruesome murders using a built in crematorium and gas chamber. While the novel (and the press at the time of Holmes was caught) embellished some of the facts, much of what transpired at “The Murder Hotel” actually happened. Real life can sometimes be stranger (and far more horrible) than fiction.
The Terror
(Back Bay Books)
The Terror by Dan Simmons tells the tale of the HMS Terror, an unfortunately named vessel that was lost during Captain Sir John Franklin’s doomed expedition to find the Northwest Passage in 1845. Seeking to establish a route through the Arctic Circle, Franklin and his men became icebound during the voyage. As if a combination of dwindling temperatures and food supplies wasn’t bad enough, the men discover that they are being hunted by something malevolent that stalks the snow. Inspired by Inuit myth, The Terror is a chilly historical horror that elicits the exact reaction the title suggests.
The Hidden People
(Arcadia)
The Hidden People by Alison Littlewood is inspired by the real life murder of Bridget Cleary – who was set on fire by her husband on suspicion that she was a changeling. Changelings are spirits of European folklore, fae beings that were said to be able to take human form. The novel takes place after the death of Lizzie Higgs – a woman immolated by a husband, who believed her to be something other than what she seemed. Her cousin Albie Mirralls leaves his life in London behind the piece together the details of Lizzie’s death, journeying to the remote town of Halfoak – where the “hidden people” are said to roam. It’s a stunning work of folk horror like The Witch and Midsommar, and deserves its own A24 adaptation
Sarah Fimm (they/them) is actually nine choirs of biblically accurate angels crammed into one pair of $10 overalls. They have been writing articles for nerds on the internet for less than a year now. They really like anime. Like… REALLY like it. Like you know those annoying little kids that will only eat hotdogs and chicken fingers? They’re like that… but with anime. It’s starting to get sad.
Evil aired its final episode this week (probably), which means there’s nowhere to turn for your infusion of priests and nuns, shadowy Vatican operatives, Antichrist figures, sarcastic skeptics, and conniving Satanists getting in each other’s way as they battle the forces of good and evil. Except, well, that’s not true! Those are much-loved themes in film and TV, and while Evil did them in its own wonderfully quirky way, it did sometimes tread familiar ground.
Here are 10 more places to turn, if you want a break from re-watching Evil‘s four seasons on Paramount+.
The Pope’s Exorcist
The timelines don’t quite add up—Russell Crowe’s irreverent Father Amorth, based on the Pope’s real-life personal exorcist, is a mid-1980s dude. But it’s still tempting to imagine him showing up to the Vatican one day and meeting the newest members of his team: Evil‘s Father Acosta (Mike Colter) and Dr. Bouchard (Katja Herbers). They’re newly arrived in Rome, but they’re well-trained in Amorth’s primary area of interest: chasing demons out of humans and back to hell. Stream on Netflix.
The Exorcist TV series
Obviously, The Exorcist movies are very Evil-adjacent, but the Ben Daniels-led TV series, which ran for two seasons across 2016 and 2017, is also an ideal companion piece. Imagine if Evil starred two priests instead of a trio of assessors (including one priest, of course), and followed a single case over a season rather than digging into a monster of the week, with the added intrigue of loosely tying into the movie franchise. Both shows are equally character-driven and both are genuinely scary. Stream on Hulu.
Stigmata
In this 1999 release, Gabriel Byrne plays a Jesuit priest in the business of investigating and/or debunking miracles; the Vatican gets involved when he’s drawn into the case of a woman (Patricia Arquette) who’s suddenly sprouted stigmata-like wounds, and is spewing mysterious phrases in Aramaic. There’s a big conspiracy and cover-up, not unlike the frustratingly murky practices of Evil‘s Entity, who’d prefer you did not refer to them as the Vatican’s secret service. Stream on Tubi.
The Borderlands (also known as Final Prayer)
The Borderlands, also released under the title Final Prayer, is a cut-above 2013 British found-footage film about a trio of men—a priest, a religious brother, and a techie (swap in “psychologist” for “religious brother” and you have Evil‘s team make-up)—who’re sent by the Vatican to investigate disturbing reports coming out of an ancient church. Strange sounds, strange occurrences, people doing strange things—you know it’s all leading up to something, but you’ll never guess what happens in its truly shocking final scenes. Stream on Tubi.
Prince of Darkness
io9’s retro review of this John Carpenter classic highlighted how it contains “one of the most disturbing depictions of evil ever,” and it also has a plot that wouldn’t be too out of place on Evil, as a priest teams up with a physics professor and his students to study what may very well be Satan in liquid form. There are plot holes and some unhinged energy afoot, but Prince of Darkness—stocked with a cast of Carpenter regulars, including Halloween’s Donald Pleasence—will haunt you all the same. Rent or buy on Prime Video.
Rosemary’s Baby
The Julia Garner-starring Rosemary’s Baby prequel, Apartment 7A, is coming to (where else?) Paramount+ soon, but if you’re already in a Satanic baby mood thanks to Evil‘s little Timothy, there’s no better place to go than the original. In 2024, Timothy was carried by a willing surrogate, and created using Kristen’s stolen egg and the devil-worshiping sperm of her worst enemy. In 1968, Rosemary—assaulted by Satan, betrayed by her husband, creeped-upon by her coven of neighbors—gives birth to the great hope of the forces of evil. Different Antichrist circumstances… but both, lest we forget, have their father’s eyes. Stream on MGM+ or Paramount+.
The Omen
Speaking of Antichrist kids, you have to imagine Damien, for all his wealth and privilege, was a much more troublesome baby than sweet Timothy. Of course, Damien’s grandmother didn’t take him to be secretly baptized. Stream on Hulu.
The First Omen
This year’s The First Omen proved that even a nearly 50-year-old horror franchise still has stories worth exploring. While we’ve known since 1976 how toddler Damien turned out, we’ve also now witnessed the lead-up to that infamous baby-swap forced on the Thorn family. It’s maybe the most surprising Antichrist tale to date, even taking Evil‘s own wild narrative into account. Stream on Hulu.
The Vatican Tapes
Michael Peña, Dougray Scott, and Djimon Hounsou star in this 2015 film about a young woman (Olivia Taylor Dudley) whose miraculous return from the brink of death turns out to be… demonic, or perhaps even tied to the Antichrist. Other than the Antichrist thing, its link to Evil is its fascination with Vatican’s vast archives chronicling cases of possession over the years. Stream on Tubi.
When Evil Lurks
Sometimes, there’s no explanation. There’s no Satan, there’s no Catholic Church, there’s no Bible-toting priest with rituals to perform. Sometimes, evil just makes itself spontaneously known, then starts following you around and ruining your life and the lives of everyone around you. There’s a reason When Evil Lurks topped many “most scariest movie of the year” lists last year: it’ll get under your skin and stay there. Stream on AMC+ or Hulu.
I had seen The Exorcist before, but it was an even more disturbing experience to watch it frame by frame. That’s what my friends and I did in the early 1990s, when we were high school students working on a class project about the history of subliminal messaging in media.
We adjusted the levels on the most sophisticated stereo we could find to isolate that part at the very end of the Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever” where a distorted voice supposedly says, “I buried Paul.” A generation before us, that short clip of audio fortified conspiracy theories that Paul McCartney (still with us today) had actually died in 1966. We studied a 1973 book called Subliminal Seduction by Wilson Bryan Key, about how covert messages could be deployed as sales tools. The five of us struggled to find the nude figures he claimed were hidden in the ice cubes of old liquor ads. (And some of us were really looking.)
We also went to the video store to rent a copy of The Exorcist, which had long been rumored to contain subliminal imagery aimed at disturbing viewers in ways they could never fully comprehend. We tried to go frame by frame through the 1973 demonic-possession film, or at least moment by moment, as painstakingly as the crude tech of pausing and unpausing a VHS player would allow.
Then we found something. The young priest Father Karras (played by Jason Miller) has a dream about his recently deceased mother descending the steps into a subway station with an agonized expression on her face. We Catholic school kids understood what that represented—a descent into hell, no doubt. But that was symbolism, not subliminal-ism. In the midst of that sequence, however, comes a split-second flash followed by the momentary appearance of a horrid white face, sneering with decayed teeth, eyes pooling in red sores. It’s terrifying—but barely perceptible.
The face appears for only a handful of frames, and while that might be enough for a viewer to briefly register the image, it’s not long enough for one to actually grasp it. Moviegoers in 1973 would have been left unsure about what, if anything, they had just seen, creating fertile ground for terror. We counted that as proof that there really were subliminal techniques at play in The Exorcist.
While that pallid demonic face is unnerving, it’s also clearly a person in makeup, deliberately slipped into the edit. But as we continued to parse the movie, we found something our minds couldn’t explain as easily.
It happens about 49 minutes into the film, when the possessed young girl, Regan (played by Linda Blair), thrashes on her bed as a team of doctors visit her home. Her eyes roll back and her throat bulges grotesquely (both effectively creepy makeup effects). Then she vaults onto her feet, hauls back her hand, and knocks one of the approaching doctors across the room.
There are a lot of rapid cuts in the sequence, and as we paused and unpaused, looking for hidden images, we saw the young girl’s face suddenly distort. Her eyes became fathomless black pits, her hair appeared to curl into horns, and her face suddenly became more stoic and imposing. We halted on the image, staring at those empty sockets.
The Exorcistis one of the most iconic horror movies ever. In fact, it’s an iconic movie period. Unfortunately, none of the sequels have really captured the magic of the original.
The director, William Friedkin, was right off of the absolute classic The French Connection. He was just one part of the equation though. William Peter Blatty’s novel of the same name had just been published in 1971, and the novel flew off the shelves. Friedkin’s film won multiple Oscars and Golden Globes.
Unfortunately, every sequel to the original movie has either received middling feedback or been panned outright — including the new The Exorcist: Believer which opens this weekend and has gotten absolutely brutal reviews. Let’s go ahead and check out exactly how these shake out on Rotten Tomatoes (with their critics and audience ratings):
As you can see above, most of the movies in the franchise havebrutally low scores. That being said, The Exorcist III has been reappraised to a certain degree and is gaining steam as a cult classic. That’s mostly due to Brad Dourif’s stellar performance as the Gemini Killer.
The only exception here is The Exorcist TV show that ran on television from 2016 to 2017. That project has an 89 percent critic score, with an impressive 91 percent audience score. If you’re a fan of the franchise, that’s probably the one to check out.
On the other hand, the new Exorcist by director David Gordon Green is receiving some pretty disappointing feedback. Most of the criticism claims that the film tries really hard to stick close to the original movie, while also not reaching the same highs. There are supposed to be two more Exorcist sequels on the way, so only time will tell how the trilogy turns out.
Matt Singer wrote in ScreenCrush’s review…
Believer swiftly descends into bad horror movie hell. Although I have no first-hand knowledge about the production, it appears that this Exorcist may have been heavily truncated and reworked in post-production — most obviously in a scene where Burstyn delivers a two-minute monologue almost entirely off-screen while the camera focuses on an endless closeup of Odom’s face.
The Exorcist: Believer opens in theaters tomorrow.
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These sequels ruined the reputations of some great movies.
Even the paranormal powers of The Exorcist are no match for Taylor Swift and the legion of devoted fans she commands. Following Swift’s announcement of a concert film documenting her blockbuster Eras Tour, set to hit theaters on October 13, The Exorcist: Believer, a sequel to the 1973 original, has fled to another date.
The Universal horror film, originally slated for Friday, October 13, will now debut a week earlier on October 6. Blumhouse head Jason Blumannounced the move on social media, writing, “Look what you made me do. The Exorcist: Believer moves to 10/6/23. #TaylorWins.” The Exorcist’s new competition? Sony’s Dumb Money, director Craig Gillespie’s film unpacking the GameStop stock drama of 2021, starring Paul Dano and Seth Rogen.
This shift has already proven to be a prudent one. According to The Hollywood Reporter, ticket presales for Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour have hit $26 million after the first day for distributor AMC Theatres, breaking the record for the highest-ever single-day advance ticket sales, which was previously set by Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021 with $16.9 million. AMC has since added showtimes to the theatrical run, which will happen in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Tickets start at $19.89 for adults and $13.13 for children.
As for The Exorcist: Believer,Ellen Burstyn, star of William Friedkin’s Oscar-winning original, is returning as Chris MacNeil, whose life was forever changed when her daughter, Regan, experienced a paranormal event. In the film, set 50 years after that possession, Leslie Odom Jr. plays Victor Fielding, a father who seeks Chris’s help when his daughter experiences a similar haunting. Halloween trilogy director David Gordon Green is helming the follow-up, the first in a planned trilogy. The second installment, The Exorcist: Deceiver, is set for April 18, 2025.
Taylor Swift’s surprise film announcement has “haunted” Universal into releasing the latest installment of “The Exorcist” one week early.
The “Karma” singer took to social media on Thursday morning to share that her Eras Tour film would hit theaters on Oct. 13, the same release date that the distributor set for “The Exorcist: Believer.”
But after the concert film’s AMC ticket presales reportedly sailed past $10 million and sparked ”#Exorswift” memes, Jason Blum – one of “The Exorcist” sequel’s producers – said the horror film would move up to an Oct. 6 release date.
“Look what you made me do,” wrote the Blumhouse Productions founder and Oscar-nominated producer in a nod to the singer’s 2017 song.
“The Exorcist: Believer moves to 10/6/23 #TaylorWins.”
The horror film isn’t the only would-be Swift competitor to bow out of a potential release date faceoff.
Rapper Moneybagg Yo pushed back the release date of his project “Hard to Love” after he heard that Swift would drop new editions of her album “Midnights” on May 26.
“It would be unwise to underestimate the power of Taylor Swift to draw legions of Swifties to the multiplex, but the release [could] also could draw new fans looking to get in on the Eras Tour experience,” Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, told the outlet.
“This could propel an unprecedented opening weekend that could perhaps top $100 million.”
The new Exorcist movie, The Exorcist: Believer, is a direct sequel from the 50-year-old original film. It co-stars Ellen Burstyn, reprising her role as Chris MacNeil, the mother of the little girl Regan who was possessed by a demon in the original film. But there’s no trace of Regal — or the actress who played her, Linda Blair, in the trailer. That has fans speculating whether Regan will make a surprise appearance in the film.
We were lucky and had Linda as a technical advisor. She helped us bring excellent performances out of young actresses. It was really valuable having a relationship with her and being able to get her as a part of this conversation.
He also explains that the movie alludes to her character throughout in meaningful ways. He didn’t outright say that she wouldn’t be back, so fans are taking that as an indication that she may be back in the future, whether that be in Believer or upcoming sequels that have already been announced. He was also asked about how much influence the new trilogy would take from sequels to the original film.
To be honest, I’m not avoiding any of them, but I don’t know them very well. I’ve seen all of them. I’ve seen Exorcist III more than any of them. I know that one very well. Say what you will about Exorcist II, but it ain’t shy. It is a fearless epic of ideas, but [we’re] not necessarily following a character from Exorcist: The Beginning. We’re not looking into that. It’s not that type of a franchise that needs to check boxes.
The Exorcist: Believer is scheduled to open in theaters on October 13.
I haven’t seen The Pope’s Exorcist, the horror movie starring Gladiator and Beautiful Mind actor Russell Crowe out in theaters right now, but it sounds like the film is pretty middling, and that Crowe can’t elevate the poor take on supernatural demons in the Catholic church. Frankly, I hadn’t heard of it before today, and the reason I finally did is actually pretty hysterical. See, the film, which incidentally is billed as being “inspired by the actual files” of the Vatican’s chief exorcist, sees Crowe’s character learning some chilling things about a founder of the Spanish Inquisition. And according to people who have seen the film, ituses art from Dragon Age: Inquisition when referring to the real-world, Spanish one.
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The Inquisition in BioWare’s fantasy series is the faction the player commands in the 2014 RPG, and it has a symbol it uses to represent the group throughout. It shows an eye with a sword behind it, which is a reference to two in-universe constellations called Visus and Judex. You see the sigil on armor sets, flags, and other props throughout Dragon Age: Inquisition. On top of showing up in the game and on merchandise, it also shows up if you search “Inquisition symbol” on Google, and it seems like that’s what the Pope’s Exorcist team did for a scene in the film, because they use the Dragon Age iconography in a scene where it’s talking about the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, the real-world religious institution that was responsible for centuries of violence against non-Catholics from the 1400s to the 1800s in Spain.
I laugh through the pain because it sounds like we won’t get Dragon Age: Dreadwolfanytime soon, since publisher EA’s earnings report earlier this week said the game wouldn’t be out in 2023. It’s been almost a decade since Dragon Age: Inquisition launched in 2014, so fans have been waiting a long while to see the conclusion to the Solas storyline introduced at the end of that game’s Trespasser DLC. Though the series has had some signs of life through projects like Netflix’s anime series Dragon Age: Absolution, now the most recent thing I’ve seen of Dragon Age has been in a religious horror movie slapping its iconography into a scene without a second thought. Dorian Pavus, I miss you. Call me.
There seem to be two kinds of people in this world — those who are genuinely frightened by horror movies, and those who dismiss them as nothing more than some predictable jump scares and plot devices. Either type of person can enjoy a horror film, just in different ways. But no matter how scary — or not scary — you deem a film to be, there’s no denying that the productions behind many of these movies are a little, well, cursed.
Now, we’re not saying that there was any real paranormal activity going on behind the scenes of The Exorcistor The Conjuring, but you’d be surprised to learn just how many bizarre and sometimes tragic incidents occurred while making these movies. Does it have anything to do with the fact that these films deal with occult-ish matters? Or is it merely a coincidence? Sure, accidents happen on movie sets from other genres, but there seems to be a trend with films that focus on the supernatural.
Typically, these on-set accidents can be attributed to more explainable causes — such as unsafe working conditions and pre-existing health complications. However, in the cases of these 10 movies, it almost seems like there’s some sort of curse at play. Sure, some might call it bad luck, but the filmmakers and actors involved believe there’s more to it than that. Learn more about the “curses” that plagued these scary movies — and then decide for yourself whether or not you think otherworldly forces were involved.
10 Horror Movies That Are Supposedly Cursed
From mysterious on-set accidents to unexplainable audience reactions, these movies have all gained a reputation for being cursed.
As Halloween approaches, it’s time to get those horror movie marathons going. From old school classics to modern takes on beloved franchises, there are so many scary movies that deserve a spot in your rotation. Horror films are well-trodden territory, and the actors who star in them are undeniably connected to their success. It wouldn’t quite be The Shining without Jack Nicholson as the chilling Jack Torrance, nor would it be The Silence of the Lambs without Anthony Hopkins as enigmatic serial killer Hannibal Lecter. But imagine if your favorite horror movies’ iconic villains were played by completely different actors. Believe it or not, that was a real possibility.
Casting a feature film is a long process — sometimes, an actor even ends up with a different role than the one they auditioned for. Other times, an actor just might not be the right fit for a project, no matter how good their audition was. Horror films are no different, and finding the right performer for a villainous role can be tricky. Playing the Big Bad in a potentially successful horror flick can propel an actor’s career forward, but the actor risks becoming typecast as solely an antagonist. It’s important to find a dynamic actor who can send a chill down the audience’s spine without going over the top.
It may be hard to fully grasp an alternate universe where different actors haunt horror favorites such as Scream and American Psycho, but this was almost the case. Here are 10 well-known actors who almost played famous horror movie villains.
10 Famous Actors Who Almost Played Iconic Horror Villains
These movies would have looked a lot different if these famous actors had been cast as their villains.
