William Friedkin’s The Exorcist wrote the book on exorcism horror, with no other genre specific film coming close to achieving the critical accolades this spectacularly horrifying movie did back in 1973.
Yes, a film without the technological advances of today is still making most horror pics look like child’s play, both in the effects department, and concerning true, pants-wetting scares. Friedkin and writer William Peter Blatty created a timeless classic that has been terrifying audiences for years, with its magnitude, profanity, and violation of the laws of nature becoming the stuff of nightmares.
While many stories of possession have hit the big screen since this multiple-award-winning sensation swept the collective American consciousness, none have ever reached its level. It’s without a doubt the best entry in the exorcism genre and is an absolute horror classic. But it might just have some competition in the form of The Devil And Father Amorth, a new documentary from Friedkin which follows him as he witnesses and shoots an actual exorcism.
“This is not fiction. It’s different from all the movies. And I was there to film it,” says the director in the doc’s first trailer, which was released today and can be viewed up above. Promising a truly chilling and spooky experience, it sees Friedkin meeting Father Gabriele Amorth, official exorcist of the Diocese of Rome, and accompanying him on one of his “harrowing house calls.”
From there, things get pretty scary, with the preview teasing an encounter with the Devil that’s sure to have even the most jaded of horror fans covering their eyes. After all, it left the director shaken to his core, as he told Variety the following:
“It was terrifying. I went from being afraid of what could happen to feeling a great deal of empathy with this woman’s pain and suffering, which is obvious in the film.”
Set to be distributed by The Orchard, The Devil and Father Amorth will hit theaters on April 20th.
