A NEW documentary from Belfast-based production company Causeway Pictures lands on Netflix this weekend – and it's one for all you fans of The Exorcist, Outcast and other 'demonic possession'-based horror shows.
Directed by Marty Stalker, Hostage To The Devil tells the deeply weird story of the late Malachi Martin, an Kerry-born Jesuit priest who became well-known as an exorcist and authority on possessions in the US during the 1970s and 80s.
Martin was an adviser to three different popes and a member of the Vatican Intelligence Network under Pope John XXIII. Indeed, having studied the Dead Sea Scrolls while based at The Vatican, Martin even claimed to have been the inspiration for Father Merrill, the archaeologist priest featured in William Peter Blatty's novel The Exorcist (played by Max von Sydow in the William Friedkin movie).
Using real footage from exorcisms, first-hand interviews, dramatic reconstruction, archival evidence and Martin's own words, the film follows the New York-based priest's controversial crusade against evil right up to his death from a brain injury shortly after his final exorcism in 1999 – a demise some believe was actually murder.
"The fascinating Malachi Martin was and still is an enigma," comments Stalker of his late subject, whom many claimed was actually a fraud.
"I have no doubt we'll be seeing and hearing a lot more about him and his life in the years to come."
:: Hostage to The Devil will be available to Netflix subscribers from Sunday January 15.
