Hostage to the Devil

Malachi Martin was born in Ireland in 1921. He was ordained a Catholic priest and over the course of his long career, he became a well known writer, theologian and exorcist. He left Ireland and moved to New York City in 1964 and later became and American citizen.

One of his most significant books was the 1976 release "Hostage to the Devil," which dealt with demonic possession and exorcisms. Martin was involved with numerous paranormal cases and worked closely with John Zaffis and others in the field when they needed a priest trained in the Catholic rites of exorcism.

Martin died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1999. Some say there were strange circumstances around his death. He is buried in New York.

People continue to discover his work and over the past five years, director Martin Stalker has been hard at work on a production titled "Hostage to the Devil," after Malachi's famous book. Information from press releases include these details:

"...a film which examines age-old questions about the existence of the Devil and the debate over good verses evil, all through the life of a controversial, Irish-born Jesuit priest, Fr. Malachi Martin.

Using first person-interviews with paranormal royalty such as Lorraine Warren, Ralph Sarchie and John Zaffis, along with dramatic reconstructions, archival evidence, and words straight from Martin, this spine-chilling documentary takes the audience on a journey through an extraordinary life marked by battles against the Vatican, scandal, contention, and most of all, a deep and all-encompassing belief in the theory and practice of exorcism.

The film explains in graphic detail the process and outcomes of such an ordeal, including the horrifying case study of a four year old girl whom Fr. Martin assessed as requiring an exorcism. This was to be the last case he was involved in before he died under mysterious circumstances."

The director, Stalker, gave us a brief insight on his approach to the film in the following comments:

"I initially had feelings of disbelief that nothing had been made about this incredible and mysterious man before. This was what influenced my decision to get involved and to tell his story. I feel the film industry has been saturated with misconceptions on exorcism and diabolical possession. So it was important that this documentary addressed the realism of this subject matter through the knowledge of one man, through the personal experiences of others, and through using science and the Catholic Church as critical and theological anchors in the film."

Check out a trailer for the film here: