The reason Blumhouse is one of the most prominent names in horror is that whenever they take big risks, they often change the landscape of the genre. Pursuing a wide release for “Paranormal Activity” was one of the smartest financial decisions in cinema history and ushered in a wave of found footage horror movies. They’ve spawned multiple franchises since, like the “Insidious” and “The Purge” films, and after nearly 10 years of production hell, “Five Nights at Freddy’s” was a bonafide smash hit and gave Blumhouse their biggest box office performance yet. To recover from the disappointing performance of “The Exorcist: Believer,” Blumhouse needs to believe (I’m so sorry) in themselves and take another risk by doing something completely different.
Blumhouse recently merged with horror maestro James Wan’s Atomic Monster production company, and while I am not a studio exec and merely a dyed-in-the-wood horror fan who somehow tricks publications to give me a platform to voice my opinion, they’d be wise to tap into Wan’s creative well. This doesn’t necessarily mean passing the torch to Wan himself, but at the very least, trusting his creative instincts and vision as a producer. Every exorcism movie since “The Exorcist” was released in 1973 has been either paying homage or trying to subvert William Friedkin’s masterpiece. This is the perfect opportunity for Blumhouse to do something totally unexpected. Forget about possessed kids. Forget about Friedkin’s imagery. Make an exorcist film feel wholly unique and reinvent the subgenre. They’ve done it before, and I believe they can do it again.
It’s time to take “The Exorcist: Deceiver” in a completely different direction and make all of the naysayers eat their words.