Famed producer Jeff Miller talks about his latest film, EXORCIST VENGEANCE starring Robert Bronzi.
A possession spooker with state-of-the-art special effects, the film tells of a tough priest (Bronzi), someone the Vatican calls to do their dirty work. When a prominent family is terrorized by a demonic force, the priest is called upon by Bishop Canelo to root out the evil, but soon realizes the solution to this mystery is tied to his own past. He must find the killer and stop the Devil’s hold on the family before it’s too late,
Directed by Scott Jeffrey & Rebecca J Matthews, EXORCIST VENGEANCE is written by Matthew B.C. (Medusa: Queen of the Serpents) and Jeff Miller (The Toybox; Ouija House; Clowntown), based on the latter’s story. The film also stars Sarah Alexandra Marks, Nicola Wright, Simon Furness, Nicole Nabi, and Anna Liddell.
-PH: How’s your year been so far, Jeff?
-Jeff: Good, very busy so far, which I guess is good. Delivering a couple movies now, another couple in post, and prepping more to hopefully shoot this year.
-PH: Was the pandemic as punishing on your as it was most in the industry?
-Jeff: 2020 was tough. I had one film that shot and wrapped in late February 2020 (THE GARDENER), right before the pandemic, so we lucked out timing-wise. After that I think I had only one other film that shot that year, and it was out of state and I couldn’t even visit because of quarantine time. 2021 was much better though. I had 5 features shot and was on set for 4 of them. The vaccines helped.
-PH: Was it a blessing that you work primarily with direct-to-digital releases, considering what happened with theatrical releases, you think?
-Jeff: I’d still much rather have big theatrical releases, haha.
-PH: I recall one of your films recently screening on the big screen though – so seems you were still able to book theaters?
-Jeff: ESCAPE FROM DEATH BLOCK 13, also starring Robert Bronzi, played in a few theaters, and even some drive-ins. That was cool.
-PH: EXORCIST VENGEANCE- – where did this idea hail from?
-Jeff: The directors were pitching me some ideas and mentioned that there was a big-budget remake of THE EXORCIST in the works. I think they pitched this to me as EXORCIST VS. THE CONJURING. I came up with a treatment, I thought it’d be cool to have Bronzi play a tough-as-nails priest. The team in England hired a writer, Matthew B.C., to flesh out a script. We called it EXORCIST VS. CONJUROR for awhile but finally settled on EXORCIST VENGEANCE.
-PH: And was this ever intended to be a bigscreen release or has everything gone to plan?
-Jeff: Everything to plan. This was never intended for a bigscreen release, at least not on any major scale.
-PH: The film is like a homage to so many classic horror pics, but are there any in particular you wanted the look, style and tone to emulate?
-Jeff: THE CONJURING, THE EXORCIST, maybe THE OMEN … also I love whodunits and wanted this to be kind of a supernatural whodunit. I would describe it to people as “DEATH WISH meets THE EXORCIST meets KNIVES OUT.”
-PH: Tell us about the filmmakers.
-Jeff: This is my fifth movie with Scott Jeffrey & Rebecca J Matthews. They’re talented and energetic young British filmmakers, easy to work with. We’d had a lot of success with action movie THE GARDENER, starring Bronzi and Gary Daniels, so I wanted to do another Bronzi movie with them. And this seemed like a good fit. We brought back the extremely talented Nicola Wright from THE GARDENER to play one of the leads, and Michael Hoad returned as fight director.
-PH: Do you think the horror genre is healthier than ever right now?
-Jeff: Sure, a lot of great movies out there. I think Ari Aster is a talent to watch.
-PH: What have you both been enjoying, film-wise?
-Jeff: Seeing a few newer movies, but I love the options on streaming now so have been trying to catch up on older films I never got around to seeing. Also binge-watching some shows. Was late to the party on THE MANDALORIAN, but I’m all caught up, and it was great. YELLOWJACKETS is pretty fun.
-PH: Is there a sequel to Exorcist Vengeance on the way?
-Jeff: If this one makes money. Cross your fingers!
EXORCIST VENGEANCE is now on digital and dvd.