The Exorcist About To Be Rebooted?

Could Hollywood be about to reboot another cult classic?

And for today’s installment of ‘You Couldn’t Make It Up’ comes the rumored news that Morgan Creek Entertainment is eyeing a reboot of the 1973 horror film ‘The Exorcist‘. If the rumor is true then the company is eyeing a release possibly towards the end of 2021. There is no news on who will be helming this supposed reboot, any casting news, who will be writing it, and so forth at this moment in time. I wouldn’t honestly expect the film to be in theatres before 2022 in all truth due to the backlog in Hollywood and actually getting the film into production for a 2021 release. But the rumor persists that we will be getting a new version of the film soon.

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Give me a break! Even though I’m not the world’s biggest fan of the original 1973 film, this has got to be one of the dumbest decisions in the history of Hollywood. I saw the original film back in the early 1980s on pre-certification VHS in the UK (this was before the video nasty crackdown that occurred during the 80s and saw several films completely banned and at least one filmmaker jailed for releasing his work against the most stupid law in UK home entertainment history) and although some of what I saw shocked me and some disturbed me slightly, I remember thinking ‘So what was the fuss all about?’. I saw the film again once it was finally allowed to be available on DVD and VHS in the UK again (although it was never officially banned, the distributors believed it would be rejected as a video nasty and never bothered to submit it for video classification) and thought ‘It still isn’t that controversial or nasty’. By today’s standards, it is positively tame. But that doesn’t mean it requires a remake or reboot.

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Hollywood has a history of taking classic horror movies and remaking or rebooting them. A select few are actually worthy of the time it took to make them (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003 for one). Others are ill-advised and some are just purely a disgrace (I’m looking at you 2010s ‘A Nightmare On Elm Street’, both remakes of ‘Black Christmas’, the remake of ‘The Fog’, the 2013 ‘Texas Chainsaw’ (although I do like Alexandra Daddario and the film was ill-advised and not bad) and the ultimate insults that are the 1998 remake of ‘Psycho’ and the should have been burned at the stake ‘Rob Zombies Halloween’. They were totally unneeded, unwanted, and should be consigned to bargain bin hell for eternity. And now some bright executive has decided that ‘The Exorcist’ is in dire need of a remake or reboot. Please don’t let the door hit you in the ass as you leave. IDIOT!

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The film did spawn some appalling sequels over the years but compared to some of the reboots that have been foisted upon us over the past twenty or so years, they are Oscar winners in comparison. In actual fact, the 1990s ‘The Exorcist III’ wasn’t too bad. A huge gulf in class and quality compared to the 1973 original film but put against ‘Exorcist II: The Heretic’ and it’s a classic horror movie in its own right. I don’t think many people out there are clamoring for a reboot or remake of the 1973 film but since when has that ever stopped Hollywood from grinding the gears and desecrating the ground that they have blessed years before? I sincerely hope the rumor is just that, a rumor but deep down, I fear that it’s NOT and the remake will be incoming soon to a multiplex near you. Just don’t expect to find me in the line to see it.

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Carl Roberts is a Senior Staff Writer and Books and Literature Correspondent for The Future of the Force. Aside from being our horror genre aficionado, he is also passionate about Star Wars, Marvel, DC, and the Indiana Jones movies. Follow him on Twitter @CarlRoberts2 where he uses the force frequently!

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(Source: Deadline)

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