You’d think America would be brimming with true stories worth adapting for horror (Florida alone), but alas, here we are with yet another film inspired by the real-life exorcism of Roland Doe. The sordid source material that once inspired William Peter Blatty to pen The Exorcist finds new life in Dennis Widmyer and Kevin Kolsch’s Starry Eyes follow-up, Exorcist Diaries, for Summit Entertainment.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film will follow a young woman, “fresh out of rehab and looking to make amends,” stumbling upon her terrifying family history — specifically, the aforementioned exorcism — and how it may explain her brother’s erratic and violent behavior.
Oculus screenwriters Mike Flanagan and Jeff Howard penned the initial script being rewritten by Widmyer and Kolsch, which means we can likely expect a number of twists and turns, all of which will be imperative for audiences, at least if they’re to give a damn about a story that’s been told better than any imitation since.
There is hope, especially when considering Widmyer and Kolsch’s uneasy thrills within the ultra-morbid Starry Eyes, but the two filmmakers do have their work cut out for themselves:
To think, that didn’t even make it into William Friedkin’s final cut. Sheesh.
