Scarlett Johansson and Horror:

The Exorcist Reboot

is Not Her First Dive into the Genre,

But What is the Forgotten Precedent?

The news of Scarlett Johansson's casting as the lead in the highly anticipated forthcoming reboot of The Exorcist, directed by Mike Flanagan, has been met with great enthusiasm, often accompanied by the narrative that the actress is about to tackle her first truly major horror role.

However, a closer look at her prolific filmography reveals a surprising precedent that has faded from collective memory: her participation in Eight Legged Freaks in 2002.

• The Forgotten Horror-Comedy: Years before establishing herself as a Hollywood star with Lost in Translation and becoming the iconic Black Widow of the MCU, a young Scarlett Johansson took part in this horror-comedy focused on giant insects.

• The Role: In the film, the actress plays Ashley, in a plot where a peaceful town is threatened by mutated spiders due to toxic waste. Although it is not a pure, psychological horror like The Exorcist, the movie fully falls within the genre, deliberately adopting a grotesque and nostalgic tone reminiscent of the 2000s.

• Current Context: While Eight Legged Freaks was light entertainment (and, for some, a minor cult classic), the Mike Flanagan project is shaping up to be a radical, and likely more introspective and dramatic, reinterpretation of demonic possession.

In conclusion, although her venture into The Exorcist franchise will undoubtedly mark her debut as the absolute lead in a high-profile horror film with auteur ambitions, her "first time" in the genre technically happened years ago, within a cinematic context that was decidedly more lighthearted and less memorable for the general public.