The Worst Mistake a Horror-Movie Franchise Can Make
What has possessed the Exorcist movies?
Horror franchises tend to be defined by their immutability. Make a hit in the genre, and you’re all but guaranteed a slew of sequels that follow a tight formula: slasher films where a monstrous force stalks the youth, ghost stories set in creepy houses. But has always been different. The William Friedkin’s 1973 film was a box-office sensation—adjusted for inflation, it’s still one of the 10 biggest movies ever made. Yet every attempt to sequelize it has been a baffling, bizarre narrative swerve that takes the theme of demonic possession and places it in a
