New York Timesbest-selling author Grady Hendrix has made quite the career researching and writing horror. Best known for his 2014 novelHorrorstör, ahaunted house storyset in an Ikea-esque store, his 2016 cult-hitMy Best Friend’s Exorcismis equally as brilliant and is soon to be made into a movie.
Described as an “unholy hybrid” betweenBeaches— the 1988 Garry Marshall comedy-drama about two polar opposite best friends — and William Friedkin’s 1973 cult classicThe Exorcist,My Best Friend’s Exorcismis set during the 1980s satanic panic and follows best friends Abby Rivers and Gretchen Lang. Both high school sophomores, Abby and Gretchen have been best friends ever since Abby’s 10th birthday, when Gretchen was the only person in attendance and they bonded over roller skating, pop music, and E.T.
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Abby and Gretchendo everything together, and frequently express their love for each other with the phrase “dearly but not queerly.” At school, they share the same classes and other friends, Margaret and Glee. One evening during summer break, the girls are at Margaret’s lake house when they decide to try LSD together. Nothing happens at first, but then Gretchen disappears and things go downhill from there. Returning from the woods battered and bruised hours later, Gretchen is traumatised — and so is Abby. What happened to her best friend, and why is she being so weird?
As the days go by, Gretchen’s behavior becomes even stranger. First hearing voices, she then becomes reclusive, and eventually, even sadistic. Abby decides there is only one possible explanation for this:Gretchen is possessed, and being her best friend, it is her job to bring her back, whatever it takes.
My Best Friend’s Exorcismis a must-read for fans of horror and the 80s alike. Hendrix wears his inspirations on his sleeve with this novel, evoking cult horrors from that time, and you can almost smell the hairspray emanating from the pages.Scary, fun, and campy, it has drawn comparisons toHeathersandMean Girls, but is unique enough to warrant its own cult following. And aside from its story, it deserves extra praise for its ingenious use of (super relevant) songs as chapter titles, and gorgeous VHS-inspired cover.
Two years afterMy Best Friend’s Exorcism’s release, it was announced byThe Hollywood Reporterthat Endeavor Content has acquired the film rights to the novel and that Christopher Landon will produce, alongside Gotham Group and Quirk Books. Landon is the director of the slasher comediesHappy Death DayandFreaky, andTHRreported he is developing the movie as a “potential directing vehicle.” However, it has since been announced that established TV director Damon Thomas will be directing, markingMy Best Friend’s Exorcismas his feature directorial debut.
No novice to horror, Thomas has directed episodes ofPenny DreadfulandDracula, as well asNightflyersandKilling Eve. For the movie, he will be joined by screenwriter Jenna Lamia who also has a background in TV, having written episodes for90210,Awkward,No Tomorrow, andGood Girls. Hendrix himself will also serve as creative consultant on the movie, overseeing the adaptation.
The cast ofMy Best Friend’s Exorcismwas announced back in 2021, with Elsie Fisher leading the ensemble as Abby. Fisher is best known as the breakout star of Bo Burnham’s coming-of-age movieEighth Grade, where she plays the lead role of Kayla Day, an introverted eighth-grader who spends her free time posting self-help videos on the internet. The actress isn’t new to horror either, as earlier this year she starred in David Garcia Blue’sTexas Chainsaw Massacre: the ninth installment of theTCMfranchise. Fisher will be joined by Amiah Miller who will star as her onscreen best friend, Gretchen. Miller previously starred in the David F. Sandberg horrorLights Out, and the Matt Reeves sci-fiWar for the Planet of the Apes.
Other cast members include Rachel Ogechi Kanu (Fatal Frenemies,Cheer for Your Life) who will play Margaret, and Cathy Ang (Over the Moon,And Just Like That…) who will play Glee.Promising Young Womanstar Chris Lowell will also make an appearance as the pious meathead who plays an important role in Gretchen’s exorcism.
My Best Friend’s Exorcismwill be distributed by Amazon Studios but has no release date as of yet. Fans of Hendrix will be pleased to know, however, thatHorrorstöris also being made into a movie, and has been in the works for some time now. Not much is known about the adaptation, other than it was originally supposed to be a series, but has now gone the feature route with New Republic and Aperture Entertainment set to produce.Deadlinealso reports Quirk Books and Hendrix are set to serve as EPs on the movie, with Hendrix adapting his own material for the first time. A lot on the horizon for this die-hard horror fan!
