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The Exorcist (film)

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The Exorcist
Exorcist ver2.jpg
Theatrical release poster

Directed by
William Friedkin
Produced by
William Peter Blatty
Screenplay by
William Peter Blatty
Based on
The Exorcist
by William Peter Blatty
Starring
Ellen Burstyn
Max von Sydow
Lee J. Cobb
Kitty Winn
Jack MacGowran
Jason Miller
Linda Blair
Mercedes McCambridge
Music by
Jack Nitzsche (additional)
Cinematography
Owen Roizman
Editing by
Norman Gay
Distributed by
Warner Bros.
Release date(s)
December 26, 1973

Running time
122 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Latin
Greek
French
German
Arabic
Budget
$10,497,444[1]
Box office
$441,071,011[2]
The Exorcist is a 1973 American horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted by William Peter Blatty from his 1971 novel of the same name. The book, inspired by the 1949 exorcism case of Roland Doe,[3][4] deals with the demonic possession of a 12-year-old girl and her mother's desperate attempts to win back her child through an exorcism conducted by two priests.
The film features Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller, Lee J. Cobb, Linda Blair, and (in voice only) Mercedes McCambridge. It is one of a cycle of "demonic child" films produced from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s, including Rosemary's Baby and The Omen.
The Exorcist was released theatrically in the United States by Warner Bros. on December 26, 1973. The film earned 10 Academy Award nominations, winning two (Best Sound Mixing and Best Adapted Screenplay), and losing Best Picture to The Sting. It became one of the highest-grossing films of all time, grossing over $441 million worldwide. It is also the first horror film to be nominated for Best Picture.
The film has had a significant influence on popular culture.[5][6] It was named the scariest film of all time by Entertainment Weekly[7] and Movies.com[8] and by viewers of AMC in 2006, and was No. 3 on Bravo's The 100 Scariest Movie Moments.[9][dead link] In 2010, the Library of Congress selected the film to be preserved as part of its National Film Registry.[10][11] In 2003, it was placed at No. 2 in Channel 4's The 100 Greatest Scary Moments in the United Kingdom.

Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production 3.1 Factual basis for the film
3.2 Casting
3.3 Direction
3.4 Music
3.5 Filming locations
3.6 Special effects
4 Urban legends and on-set incidents
5 Alternative and uncut versions 5.1 The spider-walk scene
6 Sequels and related films 6.1 Other films
6.2 Other references
7 Home media
8 Reception 8.1 Box office
8.2 U.K. reception
8.3 Audience reception 8.3.1 Alleged subliminal imagery

9 Awards and honors 9.1 Academy Awards
9.2 Golden Globe Awards
9.3 Library of Congress
9.4 American Film Institute Lists
10 See also
11 References
12 External links
Plot[edit]
In Northern Iraq during an archeological dig, archeologist and priest Father Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow) discovers a small amulet, and after studying it discovers it resembles a statue of Pazuzu, a monstrous demon in the form of a man, falcon, serpent and lion. Merrin suspects Pazuzu, whom he defeated many years ago, will return.
In Georgetown, Washington D.C., actress Chris McNeil (Ellen Burstyn) begins noticing strange and frightening behavioral changes in her daughter Regan (Linda Blair) such as constant swearing and abnormal strength. When medicine fails, Regan is given a few unpleasant tests, but X-rays results prove "negative" much to the confusion of the doctors. In reality, Regan is now possessed via a Ouija board by Pazuzu, who pretended to be her imaginary friend "Captain Howdy."
Burke Dennings (Jack McGowan), Chris's British director, dies mysteriously after falling from Regan's open bedroom window while Chris' secretary Sharon Spencer (Kitty Winn) was out. His murder is investigated by detective William Kinderman (Lee J. Cobb), who questions both Chris and a young priest named Damien Karras (Jason Miller) who has lost faith in God after the death of his ill and elderly Greek mother, with only Chris suspecting Regan. After Regan assaults a psychiatrist, the doctors finally decide an exorcism may be Regan's only hope. Chris, however, is tentative as she and Regan have no religious beliefs.
Karras agrees to see Regan for Chris but refuses to perform an exorcism; however, further supernatural phenomena forces him to accept Regan needs an exorcism. Karras is given permission by the bishop, who, at the request of the university's president, also hires Merrin to help, since he has prior experience with exorcisms.
Working together, Karras and Merrin attempt to exorcise Pazuzu from Regan, but the demon taunts them, especially Karras for his weak faith and guilt over his mother's death. Karras is dismissed after a break, as Merrin knows he is not mentally fit for a second attempt. Despite this, Karras returns to the room where Regan is now free from her binds and Merrin lies dead. In a fit of rage he assaults Regan and orders the demon to take him instead. Pazuzu obeys and Karras throws himself from the window. He then dies of his injuries, but not before doing last rites with his friend Father Dyer (William O'Malley).
Days later the McNeils leave for Los Angeles. They meet Dyer and say goodbye, and Regan remembers nothing, she embraces him after noticing his white collar. After missing the duo, Kinderman decides to befriend Dyer by inviting him to see a movie with him.
Cast[edit]
Ellen Burstyn as Christine "Chris" MacNeil, a famous actress temporarily living in Washington, D.C., with her daughter. She is an agnostic and has a quick temper but is also a loving mother. When Regan displays strange behavior, Chris experiences an emotional breakdown and tries to find help for her daughter, consulting neurosurgeons, psychiatrists, and finally a Catholic exorcist.
Jason Miller as Father Damien Karras, a troubled priest, vocational counselor, and psychiatrist. He suffers deeply when his mother dies and confesses to have (apparently) lost his faith in God. Jack Nicholson was the original choice for the role, but Miller was cast after Friedkin saw his play, That Championship Season, and meeting the playwright/actor after the performance.
Max von Sydow as Father Lankester Merrin, an elderly priest and archeologist. A quiet and patient man with great faith, he has prior experience in performing exorcisms and is aware of the risks of facing evil.
Linda Blair as Regan Teresa MacNeil, Chris's friendly, loving, faithful, and sweet twelve-year-old daughter. She displays strange and aggressive behaviors after playing with a Ouija board, which are later revealed as early symptoms of demonic possession.
Lee J. Cobb as Lieutenant William F. Kinderman, a police detective investigating Burke Dennings's death. Assertive and cunning, he thinks Regan was involved in Dennings's death, which may be related to the recent desecration of a nearby church.
Mercedes McCambridge provided the voice of the demon, Pazuzu.
Kitty Winn as Sharon Spencer, Chris's friend and personal assistant who acts as Regan's tutor.
Jack MacGowran as Burke Dennings, an eccentric film director and close friend of Chris; his unexplained death while looking after Regan elicits a police homicide investigation.
Father William O'Malley as Father Joseph Dyer, a close friend of Karras's who tries to help him deal with his mother's death.
Robert Symonds as Dr. Taney.
Barton Heyman as Dr. Samuel Klein, a doctor who suggests that Regan needs "special" help.
Arthur Storch as the psychiatrist.
Titos Vandis as Karras's uncle.
Eileen Dietz as a face associated with the demon, seen only in visions and flash cuts.
William Peter Blatty himself has a small speaking role during the scene where Chris is filming in front of Healy Hall. His character engages in a minor technical dispute with director Burke Dennings.
Production[edit]
Factual basis for the film[edit]
See also: Exorcism of Roland Doe
Aspects of the novel were inspired by an exorcism performed on a young boy from Cottage City, Maryland, in 1949 by the Jesuit priest, Fr. William S. Bowdern, who formerly taught at both St. Louis University and St. Louis University High School. Hunkeler's Catholic family was convinced the child's aggressive behavior was attributable to demonic possession, and called upon the services of Father Walter Halloran to perform the rite of exorcism.[12] Although Friedkin admits he is very reluctant to speak about the factual aspects of the film, he made the film with the intention of immortalizing the events that took place in Cottage City, Maryland in 1949, and despite the relatively minor changes that were made, the film depicts everything that could be verified by those involved. It was one of three exorcisms to be sanctioned by the Catholic Church in the U.S. at that time. In order to make the film, Friedkin was allowed access to the diaries of the priests involved, as well as the doctors and nurses; he also discussed the events with the boy's aunt in great detail. Friedkin doesn't believe that the "head-spinning" actually occurred, but this has been disputed. Friedkin is not a Christian of any denomination.[13]
Casting[edit]

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Although the agency representing Blair did not send her for the role, Blair's mother brought her to meet with Warner Brothers's casting department and then with Friedkin. Pamelyn Ferdin, a veteran of science fiction and supernatural drama, was a candidate for the role of Regan. April Winchell was considered, until she developed Pyelonephritis, which caused her to be hospitalized and ultimately taken out of consideration. Denise Nickerson, who played Violet Beauregarde in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, was considered, but the material troubled her parents too much, and they pulled her out of consideration. Anissa Jones, known for her role as Buffy in Family Affair, auditioned for the role, but she too was rejected, for much the same reason as Ferdin. The part went instead to Blair, a relative unknown except for a role in The Way We Live Now.
The studio wanted Marlon Brando for the role of Father Lankester Merrin.[citation needed] Friedkin immediately vetoed this by stating it would become a "Brando movie." Jack Nicholson was up for the part of Karras before Stacy Keach was hired by Blatty. Friedkin then spotted Miller following a performance of Miller's play That Championship Season in New York. Even though Miller had never acted in a film, Keach's contract was bought out by Warner Brothers, and Miller was signed.
Jane Fonda and Shirley MacLaine were each approached to play Chris, but both refused to do the film. Audrey Hepburn was approached, but said she would only agree if the film were to be shot in Rome. Anne Bancroft was another choice, but she was in her first month of pregnancy. Burstyn then received the role.
Friedkin originally intended to use Blair's voice, electronically deepened and roughened, for the demon's dialogue. Although Friedkin felt this worked fine in some places, he felt scenes with the demon confronting the two priests lacked the dramatic power required and selected legendary radio actress Mercedes McCambridge, an experienced voice actress, to provide the demon's voice. After filming, Warner Brothers attempted to conceal McCambridge's participation, which led to a lawsuit from McCambridge and opened a grudge between her and Friedkin.[citation needed]
Direction[edit]

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The puppet used in the film.
Warner had approached Arthur Penn (who was teaching at Yale), Peter Bogdanovich (who wanted to pursue other projects, subsequently regretting the decision), and Mike Nichols (who did not want to shoot a film so dependent on a child's performance) and John Boorman—who would direct the second film—said he did not want to direct it because it was "cruel towards children". Originally Mark Rydell was hired to direct, but William Peter Blatty insisted on Friedkin instead, because he wanted his film to have the same energy as Friedkin's previous film, The French Connection. After a standoff with the studio, which initially refused to budge over Rydell, Blatty eventually got his way. Stanley Kubrick was offered the film (and later on its first sequel) but declined.
Production of The Exorcist began on August 14, 1972, and though it was only supposed to last 85 days, it lasted for 224.
Friedkin went to some extraordinary lengths, reminiscent of some directors from the old Hollywood directing style, manipulating the actors, to get the genuine reactions he wanted. Yanked violently around in harnesses, both Blair and Burstyn suffered back injuries and their painful screams went right into the film. Burstyn injured her back after landing on her coccyx when a stuntman jerked her via cable during the scene when Regan slaps her mother. According to the documentary Fear of God: The Making of the Exorcist, however, the injury did not cause permanent damage, although Burstyn was upset the shot of her screaming in pain was used in the film. After asking Reverend William O'Malley if he trusted him and being told yes, Friedkin slapped him hard across the face before a take to generate a deeply solemn reaction that was used in the film, as a very emotional Father Dyer read last rites to Father Karras; this offended the many Catholic crew members on the set. He also fired a gun without warning on the set to elicit shock from Jason Miller for a take, and only told Miller that pea soup would hit him in the chest rather than the face concerning the projectile-vomiting scene, resulting in his disgusted reaction. Lastly, he had Regan's bedroom set built inside a freezer so that the actors' breath could be visible on camera, which required the crew to wear parkas and other cold-weather gear.
Music[edit]

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Lalo Schifrin's working score was rejected by Friedkin. Schifrin had written six minutes of music for the initial film trailer but audiences were reportedly too scared by its combination of sights and sounds. Warner Bros. executives told Friedkin to instruct Schifrin to tone it down with softer music, but Friedkin did not relay the message.
In the soundtrack liner notes for his 1977 film, Sorcerer, Friedkin said had he heard the music of Tangerine Dream earlier, he would have had them score The Exorcist. Instead, he used modern classical compositions, including portions of the 1971 Cello Concerto by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, Five Pieces for Orchestra by Austrian composer Anton Webern as well as some original music by Jack Nitzsche. But the music was heard only during scene transitions. The 2000 "Version You've Never Seen" features new original music by Steve Boddacker, as well as brief source music by Les Baxter.
The original soundtrack LP has only been released once on CD, as an expensive and rare Japanese import. It is noteworthy for being the only soundtrack to include the main theme Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield, which became very popular after the film's release, and the movement Night of the Electric Insects from George Crumb's string quartet Black Angels.
The Greek song playing on the radio when Father Karras leaves his mother's house is called "Paramythaki mou" (My Tale) and is sung by Giannis Kalatzis. Lyric writer Lefteris Papadopoulos has admitted that a few years later when he was in financial difficulties he asked for some compensation for the intellectual rights of the song.
Filming locations[edit]

The Exorcist steps in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
The film's opening sequence was filmed in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, near the Syrian border. The people of Sinjar are mostly Kurdish members of the ancient Yezidi sect, which reveres Melek Taus. Outsiders often equate Melek Taus with the Devil,[14] though this benevolent being has little in common with the Islamic and Christian Satan.[15] The archaeological dig site seen at the film's beginning is the actual site of ancient Hatra in Nineveh Province.
The "Exorcist steps", stone steps at the end of M Street in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. were padded with 1/2"-thick rubber to film the death of Karras. The stuntman tumbled down the stairs twice. Georgetown University students charged people around $5 each to watch the stunt from the rooftops.
The MacNeil residence interiors were filmed at CECO Studios in Manhattan. The bedroom set had to be refrigerated to capture the authentic icy breath of the actors in the exorcizing scenes, while the bedroom scenes along with many other scenes were filmed in the basement of Fordham University in New York. The temperature was brought so low that a thin layer of snow fell onto the set one morning. Blair, who was only in a thin nightgown, says to this day she cannot stand being cold.[16] Exteriors of the MacNeill house were filmed at 36th and Prospect in Washington, using a family home and a false wall to convey the home's thrust toward the steps. In fact, both then and now, a garden sits atop the embankment between the steps and the home.
The interior of Karras' room at Georgetown was a meticulous reconstruction of Theology professor Father Thomas M. King, S.J.'s "corridor Jesuit" room in New North Hall. Fr. King's room was photographed by production staff after a visit by Blatty, a Georgetown graduate, and Friedkin. Upon returning to New York, every element of King's room, including posters and books, was recreated for the set, including a poster of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J., a paleontologist on whom the character of Fr. Merrin was loosely based. Georgetown was paid $1,000 per day of filming, which included both exteriors, such as Burstyn's first scene, shot on the steps of the Flemish Romanesque Healy Hall, and interiors, such as the defilement of the statue of the Virgin Mary in Dahlgren Chapel, or the Archbishop's office, which is actually the office of the president of the university. One scene was filmed in The Tombs, a student hangout across from the steps that was founded by a Blatty classmate. The motion picture St. Elmo's Fire includes scenes filmed at The Tombs.
Special effects[edit]
The Exorcist contained a number of special effects, engineered by makeup artist Dick Smith. In one scene from the film, Max von Sydow is actually wearing more makeup than the possessed girl (Linda Blair). This was because director Friedkin wanted some very detailed facial close-ups. When this film was made, von Sydow was 44, though he looked 74.[17] Alan McKenzie stated in his book Hollywood Tricks of the Trade that the fact "that audiences didn't realize von Sydow was wearing makeup at all is a tribute to the skills of veteran makeup artist Dick Smith."
Urban legends and on-set incidents[edit]

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Many of the film's participants claimed the film was cursed. Blatty stated on video[18] that there were some strange occurrences during the filming. Lead actress Burstyn indicated some rumors were true in her 2006 autobiography, Lessons in Becoming Myself. Because of a studio fire, the interior sets of the MacNeil residence (with the exception of Regan's bedroom) had to be rebuilt and caused a setback in pre-production. Friedkin claimed that a priest was brought in numerous times to bless the set. After difficulties encountered in the New York production, Blatty asked Fr. King[18] to bless the Washington crew on its first day of filming at the foot of Lauinger Library's steps to 37th Street. The incident was recounted in Fr. King's The Washington Post obituary in 2009.
According to the documentary Fear of God: The Making of the Exorcist, while filming the crucifix masturbation scene, Burstyn was injured and required a doctor's consultation during a scene in which the crew pulled her harness too hard after Blair's character struck her across the face and sent her onto the floor. While filming the scene where Regan is being thrashed by the demon on her bed, Blair's metal harness came loose and injured her back as well. Irish actor Jack MacGowran died from influenza shortly after he filmed his role as director Burke Dennings.
Alternative and uncut versions[edit]
Several versions of The Exorcist have been released: the 1979 theatrical re-issue was reconverted to 70mm, with its 1.75:1 ratio[19] cropped to 2.20:1 to use all the available screen width that 70mm offers. This was also the first time the sound was remixed to six-channel Dolby Stereo sound. Almost all video versions feature this soundtrack.
In both the TV-PG and TV-14 rated network versions, the image of the obscenely defiled statue of the Virgin Mary stays intact. It stays on screen several seconds longer for the TV-14 version. On original TV airings, the shot was replaced with one where the statue's face is smashed in but without other defilement.
The DVD released for the 25th Anniversary retains the original theatrical ending, and includes the extended ending with Dyer and Kinderman as a special feature (as opposed the "Version You've Never Seen" ending, which features Dyer and Kinderman but omits the Casablanca reference). The Special Edition DVD also includes a 75-minute documentary titled The Fear of God on the making of The Exorcist (although PAL releases feature an edited, 52 minute version). The documentary includes screen tests and additional deleted scenes. The Exorcist: The Complete Anthology (box set) was released in October 2006. This DVD collection includes the original theatrical release version The Exorcist; the extended version, The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen; the sequel with Linda Blair, Exorcist II: The Heretic; the supposed end of the trilogy, The Exorcist III; and two different prequels: Exorcist: The Beginning and Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist. Morgan Creek, current owner of the franchise, is now negotiating a cable television mini-series of Blatty's novel, which is the basis for the original film.
The spider-walk scene[edit]
Contortionist Linda R. Hager performed the infamous spider-walk scene on April 11, 1973. Director Friedkin deleted this scene just prior to the December 26, 1973 premiere because it was technically ineffective due to the visible wires suspending Hager in a backward-arched position as she descends the stairs. According to Friedkin, "I cut it when the film was first released because this was one of those effects that did not work as well as others, and I was only able to save it for the re-release with the help of computer graphic imagery."[20] Additionally, Friedkin considered that the spider-walk scene appeared too early in the film's plot and removed it despite screenplay writer William Peter Blatty's request that the scene remain. In the book, the spider-walk is very quiet, and consists of Regan following Sharon around and occasionally licking her ankle.
In 1998, Warner re-released the digitally remastered DVD of The Exorcist: 25th Anniversary Special Edition. The DVD includes the BBC documentary, The Fear of God: The Making of The Exorcist,[21] highlighting the never-before-seen original non-bloody variant of the spider-walk scene.
To appease the screenwriter and some fans of The Exorcist, Friedkin worked with CGI artists to digitally remove the wires holding Hager. The director reinstated the bloody variant of the spider-walk scene for the 2000 theatrically re-released version of The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen.
In October 2010, Warner released The Exorcist (Extended Director's Cut & Original Theatrical Edition) on Blu-ray, including the behind-the-scenes filming of the spider-walk scene.
Sequels and related films[edit]
After the film's success, rip-off films and The Exorcist franchise sequels appeared. John Boorman's Exorcist II: The Heretic was released in 1977, and revisited Regan four years after her initial ordeal. The plot dealt with an investigation into the legitimacy of Merrin's exorcism of Regan in the first film. In flashback sequences, we see Regan giving Merrin his fatal heart attack, as well as scenes from the exorcism of a young boy named Kokumo in Africa many years earlier. The film was so sharply criticized that director John Boorman reedited the film for a secondary release immediately after its premiere. Both versions have now been released on video; the cut version on VHS and the original uncut version now on DVD.
The Exorcist III appeared in 1990, written and directed by Blatty himself from his own 1983 novel Legion. Jumping past the events of Exorcist II, this book and film presented a continuation of Karras' story. Following the precedent set in The Ninth Configuration, Blatty turned a supporting character from the first film—in this case, Kinderman—into the chief protagonist. Though the characters of Karras and Kinderman were acquainted during the murder investigation in The Exorcist and Kinderman expressed fondness for Karras, in Exorcist III Blatty has Kinderman remembering Karras as his "best friend".Jason Miller reprised his Academy Award nomination role.
A prequel film attracted attention and controversy even before its release in 2004; it went through a number of directorial and script changes, such that two versions were ultimately released. John Frankenheimer was originally hired as director for the project, but withdrew before filming started due to health concerns. He died a month later. Paul Schrader replaced him. Upon completion the studio rejected Schrader's version as being too slow. Renny Harlin was then hired as director. Harlin reused some of Schrader's footage but shot mostly new material to create a more conventional horror film. Harlin's new version Exorcist: The Beginning was released, but was not well received. Nine months later Schrader's original version, retitled Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist, was given a small theatrical release. It received better, but still mostly negative, critical responses. Both films were made available on DVD. Like Exorcist II: The Heretic, both films made significant changes from the original storyline. The plot of these films centered on an exorcism that Father Merrin had performed as a young priest in Africa, many years prior to the events in The Exorcist. This exorcism was first referenced in The Exorcist, and in the first sequel Exorcist II: The Heretic, flashback scenes were shown of Merrin exorcising the demon Pazuzu from an African boy named Kokumo. Although the plot for both prequels Beginning and Dominion centered around Merrin's exorcism in Africa, they both took a significant departure from the original storyline, making no effort to be faithful to original details. For example: the African boy, though he appeared in the film was not named Kokomu, and eventually discovered not to actually be the possessed character.
In November 2009, it was announced that Blatty planned to direct a mini-series of The Exorcist.[22][23]
A made-for-television film, Possessed (based on the book of the same name by Thomas B. Allen), was broadcast on Showtime on October 22, 2000, directed by Steven E. de Souza and written by de Souza and Michael Lazarou. The film claimed to follow the true accounts that inspired Blatty to write The Exorcist and starred Timothy Dalton, Henry Czerny, and Christopher Plummer.
Blatty directed The Ninth Configuration, a post-Vietnam War drama set in a mental institution. Released in 1980, it was based on Blatty's novel of the same name. Though it contrasts sharply with the tone of The Exorcist, Blatty regards Configuration as its true sequel[citation needed]. The lead character is the astronaut from Chris' party, Lt. Cutshaw.
Other films[edit]
The success of The Exorcist inspired a string of possession-related films worldwide. The first was Beyond the Door, a 1974 Italian film with Juliet Mills as a woman possessed by the devil. It appeared in the U.S. one year later. Also in 1974, a Turkish film, Şeytan (Turkish for Satan; the original film was also shown with the same name), is an almost scene-for-scene remake of the original. The same year in Germany, the exorcism-themed film Magdalena, vom Teufel besessen was released. In 1976, Britain released The Devil Within Her (also called I Don't Want to Be Born) with Joan Collins as an exotic dancer who gives birth to a demon-possessed child.
Similarly, a blaxploitation film was released in 1974 titled Abby. While the films Şeytan and Magdalena, vom Teufel besessen were protected from prosecution by the laws of their countries of origin, Abby's producers (filming in Louisiana) were sued by Warner. The film was pulled from theaters, but not before making $4 million at the box office.
A parody, Repossessed, was released the same year as The Exorcist III, with Blair lampooning the role she had played in the original.
The prologue for Scary Movie 2 was a short parody of several scenes from the original.
Other references[edit]
A meta-reference to the film was made in an episode of Supernatural- a show where demons possessing humans is a common plot element; demons in the series are human souls corrupted by their time in Hell, lacking physical bodies of their own to interact with Earth-, where Linda Blair appeared as a police detective, with protagonist Dean Winchester finding her character familiar and expressing a strange desire for pea soup at the episode's conclusion.
In Angel: Earthly Possessions, a spin-off comic story based on the TV series Angel, protagonist Angel finds himself dealing with a priest who performs exorcisms, but comes to realize that the priest is summoning the demons for him to exorcise in the first place. He also makes a note of The Exorcist film, noting that the vision it created of possession actually made things easier for possession demons by making it harder for humans to know what to expect from a possession.
Home media[edit]
A limited edition box set was released in 1998; it was limited to 50,000 copies, with available copies circulating around the Internet. There are two versions; a special edition VHS and a special edition DVD. The only difference between the two copies is the recording format.
DVD featuresThe original film with restored film and digitally remastered audio, with a 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio.
An introduction by director Friedkin
The 1998 BBC documentary The Fear of God: The Making of "The Exorcist"
2 audio commentaries
Interviews with the director and writer
Theatrical trailers and TV spots
Box featuresA commemorative 52-page tribute book, covering highlights of the film's preparation, production, and release; features previously unreleased historical data and archival photographs
Limited edition soundtrack CD of the film's score, including the original (unused) soundtrack ("Tubular Bells" and "Night of the Electric Insects" omitted)
8 lobby card reprints
Exclusive senitype film frame (magnification included)
Blu-ray
In an interview with DVD Review, Friedkin mentioned that he was scheduled to begin work on The Exorcist Blu-ray on December 2, 2008.[24] This edition features a new restoration, including both the 1973 theatrical version and the 2000 "Version You've Never Seen".[25] It was released on October 5, 2010.[26][27] A 40th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray will be released on October 8, 2013. The release will contain both cuts of the film and many of the previously released bonus features in addition to two featurettes that revolve around author William Peter Blatty.[28]
Reception[edit]
Upon its December 26, 1973, release, the film received mixed reviews from critics, "ranging from 'classic' to 'claptrap'."[29] Stanley Kauffmann, in The New Republic, wrote, "This is the scariest film I've seen in years—the only scary film I've seen in years ... If you want to be shaken—and I found out, while the picture was going, that that's what I wanted—then The Exorcist will scare the hell out of you."[30] Variety noted that it was "an expert telling of a supernatural horror story ... The climactic sequences assault the senses and the intellect with pure cinematic terror."[31] In Castle of Frankenstein, Joe Dante called it "an amazing film, and one destined to become at the very least a horror classic. Director Friedkin's film will be profoundly disturbing to all audiences, especially the more sensitive and those who tend to 'live' the movies they see ... Suffice it to say, there has never been anything like this on the screen before."[32]
However, Vincent Canby, writing in The New York Times, dismissed The Exorcist as "a chunk of elegant occultist claptrap ... a practically impossible film to sit through ... It establishes a new low for grotesque special effects ..."[33] Andrew Sarris complained that "Friedkin's biggest weakness is his inability to provide enough visual information about his characters ... whole passages of the movie's exposition were one long buzz of small talk and name droppings ... The Exorcist succeeds on one level as an effectively excruciating entertainment, but on another, deeper level it is a thoroughly evil film."[34] Writing in Rolling Stone, Jon Landau felt the film was "nothing more than a religious porn film, the gaudiest piece of shlock this side of Cecil B. DeMille (minus that gentleman's wit and ability to tell a story) ... "[35]
Over the years, The Exorcist's critical reputation has grown considerably. The film currently has an 87% "Certified Fresh" approval rating on the Rotten Tomatoes website, based on 47 reviews the website collected.[36] Chicago Tribune film critic Gene Siskel placed it in the top five films released that year.[37] However, the film has its detractors as well, including Kim Newman who has criticized it for messy plot construction, conventionality and overblown pretentiousness, among other perceived defects. Writer James Baldwin provides an extended negative critique in his book length essay The Devil Finds Work.[citation needed] Director Martin Scorsese placed The Exorcist on his list of the 11 scariest horror films of all time.[38] In 2008, the film was selected by Empire Magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Movies Ever Made.[39] It was also placed on a similar list of 1000 films by The New York Times.[40]
Box office[edit]
The film earned $66.3 million in distributors' domestic (US/CAN) rentals during its theatrical release in 1974, becoming the second most popular film of that year (trailing The Sting).[41] After several reissues, the film eventually grossed $232,671,011 in North America,[42] which if adjusted for inflation, would be the ninth highest-grossing film of all time and the top-grossing R-rated film of all time.[43] To date, it has a total gross of $441,071,011 worldwide.[42]
U.K. reception[edit]
Following a successful re-release in cinemas in 1998, the film was submitted for home video release for the first time in February 1999 [44] and was passed uncut with an 18 certificate, signifying a relaxation of the censorship rules with relation to home video in the UK. The film was shown on terrestrial television in the U.K. for the first time in 2001, on Channel 4.[45]
Audience reception[edit]
Roger Ebert, while praising the film, believed the special effects to be so unusually graphic he wrote, "That it received an R rating and not the X is stupefying."[46]
Theaters provided "Exorcist barf bags".[47]
Because of death threats against Blair, Warner hired bodyguards to protect her for six months after the film's release.[16]
Alleged subliminal imagery[edit]
The Exorcist was also at the center of controversy due to its alleged use of subliminal imagery. Wilson Bryan Key wrote a whole chapter on the film in his book Media Sexploitation alleging multiple uses of subliminal and semi-subliminal imagery and sound effects. Key observed the use of the Pazuzu face (in which Key mistakenly assumed it was Jason Miller made up in a death mask makeup) and claimed that the safety padding on the bedposts were shaped to cast phallic shadows on the wall and that a skull face is superimposed into one of Father Merrin's breath clouds. Key also wrote much about the sound design, identifying the use of pig squeals, for instance, and elaborating on his opinion of the subliminal intent of it all. A detailed article in the July/August 1991 issue of Video Watchdog examined the phenomenon, providing still frames identifying several usages of subliminal "flashing" throughout the film.[48] In an interview from the same issue, Friedkin explained, "I saw subliminal cuts in a number of films before I ever put them in The Exorcist, and I thought it was a very effective storytelling device... The subliminal editing in The Exorcist was done for dramatic effect—to create, achieve, and sustain a kind of dreamlike state."[49] However, these quick, scary flashes have been labeled "[not] truly subliminal".[50] and "quasi-" or "semi-subliminal".[51] True subliminal imagery must be, by definition, below the threshold of awareness.[52][53][54][55] In an interview in a 1999 book about the film, The Exorcist author Blatty addressed the controversy by explaining that, "There are no subliminal images. If you can see it, it's not subliminal."[56]
Awards and honors[edit]
Academy Awards[edit]
The Exorcist was nominated for ten total Academy Awards in 1973, winning two. It is the first horror film to be nominated for Best Picture.[57] At the 46th Annual Academy Awards ceremony, the film won two statuettes (highlighted in bold).[58]
The film was nominated for:
Academy Award for Best Picture – William Peter Blatty and Noel Marshall
Academy Award for Best Actress – Ellen Burstyn
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor – Jason Miller
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress – Linda Blair
Academy Award for Best Director – William Friedkin
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay – William Peter Blatty
Academy Award for Best Cinematography – Owen Roizman
Academy Award for Best Film Editing – Norman Gay
Academy Award for Best Production Design – Bill Malley and Jerry Wunderlich
Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing – Robert Knudson, Chris Newman
Golden Globe Awards[edit]
The Exorcist was nominated for seven total Golden Globes in 1973. At the 31st Golden Globes ceremony that year, the film won four awards.
Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama
Golden Globe Award for Best Director – William Friedkin
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture – Linda Blair
Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay – William Peter Blatty
The film was nominated for
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama – Ellen Burstyn
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture – Max von Sydow
Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress – Linda Blair
Library of Congress[edit]
2010 National Film Registry
American Film Institute Lists[edit]
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – Nominated[59]
AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – #3
AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains: Regan MacNeil – #9 Villain
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes: "What an excellent day for an exorcism." – Nominated[60]
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – Nominated[61]
See also[edit]

Portal icon Horror fiction portal
References[edit]

This article has an unclear citation style. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking. (November 2011)
1.Jump up ^ "Box Office Information for The Exorcist". The Numbers. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
2.Jump up ^ "Box Office Information for The Exorcist". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
3.Jump up ^ Cinema of the occult: new age, satanism, Wicca, and spiritualism in film. Rosemont Publishing & Printing Corp. December 31, 2008. ISBN 978-0-934223-95-9. Retrieved April 4, 2010. "Blatty's novel was loosely based on an actual exorcism, and the producers of Possessed claim the film is closer to the "real" story."
4.Jump up ^ Dimension Desconocida. Ediciones Robinbook. 2009-04. ISBN 978-84-9917-001-5. Retrieved April 4, 2010. "La inspiración del exorcista La historia de Robbie Mannheim es un caso típico de posesión, y es la que dio vida a la película El Exorcista."
5.Jump up ^ Layton, Julia (2005-09-08). "Science.howstuffworks.com". Science.howstuffworks.com. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
6.Jump up ^ "Allmovie.com". Allmovie.com. 2005-09-09. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
7.Jump up ^ Ascher, Rebecca (1999-07-23). "Entertainment Weekly, "The 25 Scariest Movies of All Time"". Ew.com. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
8.Jump up ^ "Movies.com, "Get Repossessed With the Exorcist Movies"". Movies.com. 2010-08-27. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
9.Jump up ^ AMC Poll: The Exorcist Scariest Movie. Multichannel News. October 23, 2006. Retrieved November 30, 2008.
10.Jump up ^ "'Empire Strikes Back' among 25 film registry picks". Retrieved December 28, 2010.
11.Jump up ^ Barnes, Mike (December 28, 2010). "'Empire Strikes Back,' 'Airplane!' Among 25 Movies Named to National Film Registry". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 28, 2010.
12.Jump up ^ [1] Strangemag
13.Jump up ^ [2] The Diane Rehm Show
14.Jump up ^ TNR.com[dead link]
15.Jump up ^ "Scholarisland.org". Scholarisland.org. 1963-12-20. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
16.^ Jump up to: a b "Friedkin's – The Exorcist". Thefleshfarm.com. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
17.Jump up ^ Alan McKenzie, Hollywood Tricks of The Trade, p.122
18.^ Jump up to: a b Youtube.com[dead link]
19.Jump up ^ http://www.bbfc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Exorcist-Final.pdf
20.Jump up ^ USA Today. January 19, 2001 http://www.usatoday.com/community/chat/1011friedkin.htm |url= missing title (help).[dead link]
21.Jump up ^ "The Exorcist 25th Anniversary Special Edition". Timewarner.com. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
22.Jump up ^ "'The Exorcist' Miniseries Reteams Original Writer/Director?".
23.Jump up ^ "Cemetery Dance #62: The William Peter Blatty special issue shipping now!". Cemeterydance.com. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
24.Jump up ^ "Blu-ray.com". Blu-ray.com. October 20, 2008. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
25.Jump up ^ "The Exorcist Announced on Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
26.Jump up ^ "Full Blu-ray Details to Make Your Head Spin – The Exorcist". DreadCentral.
27.Jump up ^ "The Exorcist releasing on Blu-ray in October 2010". Morehorror.com. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
28.Jump up ^ "The Exorcist: 40th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. June 20, 2013. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
29.Jump up ^ Travers, Peter and Rieff, Stephanie. The Story Behind 'The Exorcist', Pg. 149, Signet Books, 1974. ISBN 978-0-451-06207-9
30.Jump up ^ Kauffmann, Stanley. New Republic review reprinted in The Story Behind 'The Exorcist', written by Peter Travers and Stephanie Rieff, pgs. 152–154, Signet Books, 1974. ISBN 978-0-451-06207-9
31.Jump up ^ "The Exorcist". Variety. January 1, 1973. Retrieved November 3, 2007.
32.Jump up ^ Dante, Joe. Castle of Frankenstein, Vol 6, No. 2 (Whole Issue #22), pgs. 32–33. Review of The Exorcist
33.Jump up ^ Canby, Vincent. The New York Times review reprinted in The Story Behind 'The Exorcist', written by Peter Travers and Stephanie Rieff, pgs. 150–152, Signet Books, 1974. ISBN 978-0-451-06207-9
34.Jump up ^ Sarris, Andrew. The Village Voice review reprinted in The Story Behind 'The Exorcist', written by Peter Travers and Stephanie Rieff, pgs. 154–158, Signet Books, 1974. ISBN 978-0-451-06207-9
35.Jump up ^ Landau, Jon. Rolling Stone review reprinted in The Story Behind 'The Exorcist', written by Peter Travers and Stephanie Rieff, pgs. 158–162, Signet Books, 1974. ISBN 978-0-451-06207-9
36.Jump up ^ "The Exorcist" (1973)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved November 3, 2007.
37.Jump up ^ "The Official Site of Gene Siskel". Cmgww.com. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
38.Jump up ^ Scorsese, Martin (October 28, 2009). "11 Scariest Horror Movies of All Time". The Daily Beast. Retrieved November 15, 2009.
39.Jump up ^ "Empireonline.com". Empireonline.com. 2006-12-05. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
40.Jump up ^ "The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made". The New York Times. April 29, 2003. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
41.Jump up ^ Gebert, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Movie Awards (listings of 'Box Office (Domestic Rentals)' for 1974, taken from Variety magazine), pg. 314, St. Martin's Paperbacks, 1996. ISBN 0-668-05308-9. "Rentals" refers to the distributor/studio's share of the box office gross, which, according to Gebert, is normally roughly half of the money generated by ticket sales.
42.^ Jump up to: a b "The Exorcist". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
43.Jump up ^ "All Time Box Office Adjusted for Ticket Price Inflation". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
44.Jump up ^ "Original BBFC.co.uk entry". Bbfc.co.uk. 1999-02-25. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
45.Jump up ^ "TV premiere for The Exorcist". BBC News. March 4, 2001. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
46.Jump up ^ Blog, Chaz's. ":: rogerebert.com :: Reviews :: The Exorcist (xhtml)". Rogerebert.suntimes.com. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
47.Jump up ^ "Screen shockers | Independent, The (London) | Find Articles at BNET.com". Findarticles.com. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
48.Jump up ^ Lucas, Tim and Kermode, Mark. Video Watchdog Magazine, issue No. 6 (July/August 1991), pgs. 20–31, "The Exorcist: From the Subliminal to the Ridiculous"
49.Jump up ^ Friedkin, William. Interviewed in Video Watchdog Magazine, issue No. 6 (July/August 1991), pg. 23, "The Exorcist: From the Subliminal to the Ridiculous"
50.Jump up ^ "Dark Romance – Book of Days – The 'subliminal' demon of The Exorcist". darkromance.com. Retrieved April 7, 2008.
51.Jump up ^ "Films that flicker: the origins of subliminal advertising myths and practices.". subliminalworld.org. Retrieved April 7, 2008.
52.Jump up ^ "subliminal - Definitions from Dictionary.com".
53.Jump up ^ "Subliminal Messages".
54.Jump up ^ "Subliminal Perception".
55.Jump up ^ "Subliminal Advertising".)
56.Jump up ^ McCabe, Bob (1999). The Exorcist. London: Omnibus. p. 138. ISBN 0-7119-7509-4.
57.Jump up ^ "The 46th Academy Awards (1974) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved August 28, 2011.
58.Jump up ^ "NY Times: The Exorcist". NY Times. Retrieved December 29, 2008.
59.Jump up ^ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-08-02.
60.Jump up ^ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-08-02.
61.Jump up ^ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) Ballot" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-08-02.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Exorcist (film)
Official website
The Exorcist at the Internet Movie Database
The Exorcist at AllRovi
The Exorcist at Box Office Mojo
The Exorcist at Rotten Tomatoes
The Exorcist at Metacritic
The Haunted Boy of Cottage City: The Cold Hard Facts Behind the Story that Inspired The Exorcist, by Mark Opsasnick
Jason Miller Remembers The Exorcist
[3] The Exorcist steps

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The Exorcist

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from The Exorcist (book))
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This article is about the novel. For the film adaptation, see The Exorcist (film). For other uses, see Exorcist.

The Exorcist
The Exorcist 1971.jpg
First edition cover

Author
William Peter Blatty
Country
United States
Language
English
Genre
Novel, horror
Publisher
Harper & Row
Publication date
1971
Media type
Print (Hardcover, paperback)
Pages
340 (first edition)
ISBN
978-0-06-010365-1
OCLC Number
29760583
Followed by
Legion
The Exorcist is a 1971 novel by William Peter Blatty. The book details the demonic possession of twelve-year-old Regan MacNeil, the daughter of a famous actress, and the Jesuit priest-turned-psychiatrist who attempts to exorcise the demon. Published by Harper & Row, the novel was the basis of a highly successful film adaption released two years later, whose screenplay was also written by Blatty.
The novel was inspired by a 1949 case of demonic possession and exorcism that Blatty heard about while he was a student in the class of 1950 at Georgetown University.[1] As a result, the novel takes places in Washington D.C. near the campus of Georgetown University. In September 2011, the novel was reprinted by Harper Collins to celebrate its fortieth anniversary, with slight revisions made by Blatty as well as interior title artwork by Jeremy Caniglia.

Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Factual basis for the novel
3 Achievements
4 Republications
5 See also
6 References
Plot[edit]
An elderly Jesuit priest named Father Lankester Merrin is leading an archaeological dig in northern Iraq and is studying ancient relics. Following the discovery of a small statue of the demon Pazuzu (an actual ancient Assyrian demigod) and a modern-day St. Joseph medal curiously juxtaposed together at the site, a series of omens alerts him to a pending confrontation with a powerful evil, which, unknown to the reader at this point, he has battled before in an exorcism in Africa.
Meanwhile, in Georgetown, a young girl named Regan MacNeil is living with her famous mother, actress Chris MacNeil, who is in Georgetown filming a movie. As Chris finishes her work on the film, Regan begins to become inexplicably ill. After a gradual series of poltergeist-like disturbances in their rented house, which Chris attempts to find rational explanations for, Regan begins to rapidly undergo disturbing psychological and physical changes: she refuses to eat or sleep, becomes withdrawn and frenetic, and increasingly aggressive and violent. Chris initially mistakes Regan's behavior as a result of repressed anger over her parents' divorce and absent father.
After several unsuccessful psychiatric and medical treatments, Regan's mother, an atheist, turns to a local Jesuit priest for help as Regan's personality becomes increasingly disturbed. Father Damien Karras, who is currently going through a crisis of faith coupled with the loss of his mother, agrees to see Regan as a psychiatrist, but initially resists the notion that it is an actual demonic possession. After a few meetings with the child, now completely inhabited by a diabolical personality, he turns to the local bishop for permission to perform an exorcism on the child.
The bishop with whom he consults does not believe Karras is qualified to perform the rites, and appoints the experienced Merrin, who has recently returned to the United States, to perform the exorcism; although he does allow the doubt-ridden Karras to assist him. The lengthy exorcism tests the priests both physically and spiritually. When Merrin, who had previously suffered cardiac arrhythmia, dies during the process, completion of the exorcism ultimately falls upon Father Karras. When he demands that the demonic spirit inhabit him instead of the innocent Regan, the demon seizes the opportunity to possess the priest. Karras surrenders his own life in exchange for Regan's by jumping out of her bedroom window and falling to his death.
Factual basis for the novel[edit]
See also: Exorcism of Roland Doe
Aspects of the character Father Merrin were based on the British archaeologist Gerald Lankester Harding, who had excavated the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls had been found and whom Blatty had met in Beirut. Blatty has stated that Harding "was the physical model in my mind when I created the character [of Merrin], whose first name, please note, is Lankester."[2]
Aspects of the novel were inspired by an exorcism performed by the Jesuit priest, Fr. William S. Bowdern, who formerly taught at both St. Louis University and St. Louis University High School.
Recent investigative research by freelance journalist Mark Opsasnick indicates that Blatty's novel was based on an actual 1949 exorcism of a young boy, Ronald Hunkeler, from Cottage City, Maryland, whom Opsasnick refers to using the pseudonyms Robbie Mannheim and Roland Doe. The child's Catholic family was convinced the child's aggressive behavior was attributable to demonic possession, and called upon the services of Father Walter Halloran to perform the rite of exorcism. Ronald was sent to his relative's home on Roanoke Dr in St. Louis where most of the exorcism took place.[3]
Blatty refers to the Loudun possessions and the Louviers possessions throughout the story, mostly when Fr. Karras is researching possession and exorcism to present the case to his superiors.[4] He also has one of his characters tell a brief story about an unnamed fraudulent Spiritualist medium who had studied to be a Jesuit priest. This story can be found in Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol. 114. 1930, in an article about fraudulent practices by Daniel Dunglas Home.[5]
Achievements[edit]
According to a research from the Spanish Book Institute, the Spanish translated version was the eighth-most popular book sold in Spain in 1975.[6]
Republications[edit]
On October 31, 2010, Cemetery Dance published a special omnibus edition of The Exorcist and its sequel Legion, signed by Blatty (ISBN 978-1587672118). A limited edition of 750 copies (with an additional 52 leatherbound copies), it is now out of print.[7] On September 27, 2011, The Exorcist was re-released as a 40th Anniversary Edition in paperback, hardcover and audiobook editions with differing cover artwork. This new, updated edition featured and revised material, as Blatty writes: "The 40th Anniversary Edition of The Exorcist will have a touch of new material in it as part of an all-around polish of the dialogue and prose. It also features all new cover artwork and interiors by the artist Jeremy Caniglia. First time around I never had the time (meaning the funds) to do a second draft, and this, finally, is it. With forty years to think about it, a few little changes were inevitable -- plus one new character in a totally new very spooky scene. This is the version I would like to be remembered for."[8]
See also[edit]

Portal icon Horror fiction portal
Portal icon Novels portal
Walter Halloran (Fr. Walter Halloran)
Edward Hughes
Robbie Mannheim
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Dimension Desconocida. Ediciones Robinbook. 2009. ISBN 9788499170015. Retrieved 2010-04-04. "La inspiración del exorcista La historia de Robbie Mannheim es un caso típico de posesión, y es la que dio vida a la película El Exorcista."
2.Jump up ^ http://www.theninthconfiguration.com/2009/
3.Jump up ^ http://www.strangemag.com/exorcistpage1.html
4.Jump up ^ Pages 245-250 in the 40th Anniversary edition.
5.Jump up ^ Count Petrovsky-Petrovo-Solovo. "Some Thoughts on D. D. Home." In Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol. 114. 1930. Quoted in John Casey (2009), After Lives: A Guide to Heaven, Hell and Purgatory. Oxford. pp. 373-374.
6.Jump up ^ Folha de São Paulo, Ilustrada, p.5, January 28, 1976 (in portuguese) - Retrieved December 29, 2011.
7.Jump up ^ http://www.cemeterydance.com/page/CDP/PROD/blatty02
8.Jump up ^ TheNinthConfiguration.com - Further 40th Details

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Films
The Exorcist (1973)·
Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)·
The Exorcist III (1990)·
Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)·
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005)

Novels
The Exorcist·
Legion

Characters
Regan MacNeil·
Father Damien Karras·
Father Lankester Merrin·
Pazuzu

Related
William Peter Blatty·
The Ninth Configuration (1980)

Categories: 1971 novels
American novels adapted into films
American horror novels
Novels by William Peter Blatty
Arab-American novels
Harper & Row books
The Exorcist

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The Exorcist (film series)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

The Exorcist
The Exorcist anthology DVD.jpg
The Exorcist: The Complete Anthology box set containing all 5 films

Directed by
William Friedkin
John Boorman
William Peter Blatty
Paul Schrader
Renny Harlin
Produced by
Carter DeHaven
John Boorman
William Peter Blatty
Noel Marshall
Written by
William Peter Blatty
(The Exorcist, The Exorcist III)
William Goodhart
Uncredited:
John Boorman
Rospo Pallenberg
(The Exorcist II)
Starring
see individual articles
Music by
Barry Devorzon
Ennio Morricone
Jack Nitzsche
Mike Oldfield
Cinematography
Gerry Fisher
William A. Fraker
Editing by
Peter Lee Thompson
Todd Ramsay
Tom Priestley
Norman Gay
Studio
Morgan Creek Productions (III)
Distributed by
Warner Bros. (I and II and current rights holder of III)
20th Century Fox (III)
Release date(s)
1973, 1977, 1989, 2000, 2004, 2005
Country
United States
Language
English
Box office
$661,478,540
(worldwide total, all five films)
The Exorcist is an American horror film series consisting of five installments based on the fictional story from the novel The Exorcist, created by William Blatty. The films have been distributed by Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox.
The films have grossed over $661 million at the worldwide box office. Critics have given the films mixed reviews. In 2004, a prequel (Exorcist: The Beginning) was released. This was the second version of the prequel film made at that time as the first version (directed by Paul Schrader) was deemed unsatisfactory by the studio upon completion, and the entire project was refilmed by director Renny Harlin. However, Schrader's version received a limited release in 2005, after Harlin's, and was titled Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist.

Contents
[hide] 1 Films 1.1 The Exorcist
1.2 Exorcist II: The Heretic
1.3 The Exorcist III
1.4 Exorcist: The Beginning
1.5 Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist
2 Curse
3 Cut scenes 3.1 The "Spider-Walk Scene"
3.2 III
4 Reception 4.1 Box office
5 Awards and honors 5.1 Academy Awards
5.2 Others
6 Homemedia release 6.1 On the DVD
6.2 In the box
6.3 Blu-ray
7 References
8 External links
Films[edit]
The Exorcist[edit]
Main article: The Exorcist (film)
Based on the 1971 novel by William Peter Blatty, The Exorcist marries three scenarios into one plot.
The movie opens with Father Merrin (Max von Sydow) on an archaeological dig in Al-hadar near Nineveh in Iraq. He is then brought to a near-by hole where a small stone is found, resembling a grimacing, bestial creature. After talking to one of his supervisors, he then travels to a spot where a strange statue stands, specifically Pazuzu, with a head similar to the one he found earlier. He sees an ominous figure and two dogs fight loudly nearby, setting the tone for the rest of the film.
Exorcist II: The Heretic[edit]
Main article: Exorcist II: The Heretic
Father Philip Lamont (Richard Burton), who is struggling with his faith, is assigned by the Cardinal (Paul Henreid) to investigate the death of Father Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow), who had been killed four years prior in the course of exorcising the Assyrian demon Pazuzu from Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair). The Cardinal informs Lamont (who has had some experience at exorcism, and has been exposed to Merrin's teachings) that Merrin is up on posthumous heresy charges. Some Church authorities are not sure the exorcism should have been performed (even though it had been officially approved by the local Bishop); also, Merrin’s writings are considered very controversial. Apparently, Church authorities are trying to modernize and do not want to acknowledge that Satan (in terms of an actual evil entity) exists.
The Exorcist III[edit]
Main article: The Exorcist III
It is a film adaptation of his 1983 novel Legion, and stars George C. Scott including several cast members — Jason Miller, Ed Flanders, Scott Wilson and George DiCenzo — from his previous film The Ninth Configuration.
The story takes place 15 years after the events of The Exorcist (ignoring Exorcist II: The Heretic[1]) and centers around the philosophical police detective William F. Kinderman from the first film, who is investigating a baffling series of murders in Georgetown that appear to have a satanic motive behind them and furthermore have all the hallmarks of "The Gemini", a deceased serial killer (portrayed by Brad Dourif).
Originally titled Legion, the film was drastically changed in post-production after re-writes and re-shoots ordered by the studio executives of Morgan Creek Productions,[2] demanding the last-minute addition of an exorcism sequence, and the film was released as The Exorcist III in order to be more commercial. The final version differed from Blatty's vision; and all of the original footage is apparently lost.[3]
Exorcist: The Beginning[edit]
Main article: Exorcist: The Beginning
The plot revolves around the crisis of faith suffered by Father Merrin (Stellan Skarsgård) following the horrific events he witnessed during World War II.
After WWII, Merrin is an archaeologist in Cairo, when he is approached by a collector of antiquities who asks him to come to a British excavation in the Turkana region of Kenya. This dig is excavating a Christian Byzantine church from the 5th century—long before Christianity had reached that region. Further, the church is in perfect condition, as though it had been buried immediately after the construction was completed. Merrin is asked to participate in the dig and find an ancient relic hidden in the ruins before the British do. Merrin takes the job, but soon discovers that all is not well—something evil lies in the church and is infecting the region. The local tribesman hired to dig refuse to enter the building, and there are stories of an epidemic that wiped out an entire village. However, when Merrin, growing suspicious of these rumors, digs up one of the graves of the supposed victims of this plague, he discovers it is empty. Meanwhile, the evil grows, turning people against each other and resulting in violence, atrocities, and more bloodshed
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist[edit]
Main article: Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist
Many years before the events in The Exorcist, the young Father Lankester Merrin (played by Skarsgård, who played the same part in the Exorcist: The Beginning) travels to East Africa. Merrin has taken a sabbatical from the Church and devoted himself to history and archaeology as he struggles with his shattered faith. He is haunted especially by an incident in small village in occupied Holland during World War II, where he served as parish priest. Near the end of the war, a sadistic Nazi SS commander, in retaliation for the murder of a German trooper, forces Merrin to participate in arbitrary executions in order to save a full village from slaughter.
He meets up with a team of archaeologists, who are seeking to unearth a church that they believe has been buried for centuries. At first, Merrin resists the idea that supernatural forces are in play, but eventually helps them, and the ensuing events result in an encounter with Pazuzu, the same demon referenced in The Exorcist.
Curse[edit]
Some claim the first film was cursed. Blatty has stated on video[4] some strange occurrences. Burstyn indicated some rumors to be true in her 2006 autobiography Lessons in Becoming Myself. The interior sets of the MacNeil residence, except for Regan's bedroom, were destroyed by a studio fire and had to be rebuilt. Friedkin has claimed that a priest was brought in numerous times to bless the set. Other issues include Blair's harness breaking when she is thrashing on the bed, injuring the actress. Burstyn noted she was slightly hurt when Regan throws her across the room. Actor Jack MacGowran (Burke Dennings) died during filming.
Cut scenes[edit]
The "Spider-Walk Scene"[edit]
Contortionist Linda R. Hager was hired to perform the infamous "spider-walk scene" that was filmed on April 11, 1973. Friedkin deleted the scene just prior to the original December 26, 1973 release date because he felt it was ineffective technically. However, with advanced developments in digital media technology, Friedkin worked with CGI artists to make the scene look more convincing for the 2000 theatrically re-released version of The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen. Since the original release, myths and rumors still exist that a variety of spider-walk scenes were filmed[5] despite Friedkin's insistence that no alternate version was ever shot.[6]
In 1998, Warner Brothers re-released the digitally remastered DVD of The Exorcist: 25th Anniversary Special Edition. This DVD includes the special feature BBC documentary, The Fear of God: The Making of The Exorcist,[7] highlighting the never-before-seen original non-bloody version of the spider-walk scene. The updated "bloody version" of the spider-walk scene appears in the 2000 re-release of The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen utilizing CGI technology to incorporate the special effect of blood pouring from Regan's mouth during this scene’s finale.
III[edit]
Despite his misgivings about the studio-imposed reshoots, Blatty is proud of the finished version of Exorcist III, having said “It’s still a superior film. And in my opinion, and excuse me if I utter heresy here, but for me it’s a more frightening film than The Exorcist."[8] Nevertheless, Blatty had hoped to recover the deleted footage from the Morgan Creek vaults so that he might re-assemble the original cut of the film which he said was "rather different" from what was released, and a version of the film fans of the Exorcist series have been clamouring for. In 2007, Blatty's wife reported on a fan site that "My husband tells me that it is Morgan Creek's claim that they have lost all the footage, including an alternate opening scene in which Kinderman views the body of Karras in the morgue, right after his fall down the steps." Mark Kermode has stated that the search for the missing footage is "ongoing".[9]
An upcoming book titled The Evolution Of William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist III: From Concept To Novel To Screen by author Erik Kristopher Myers will reveal the whole story behind the film's development, and publish never-before-seen images, the original script, studio notes, various drafts of the story as it has evolved, and interviews with Blatty, Brad Dourif, Mark Kermode, John Carpenter, and many others associated with the film.[3] Myers in an interview said that The Exorcist III "has sort of turned into horror genre’s equivalent to Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons, in that it was originally a very classy film that the studio hacked apart and turned into a commercial piece [...] I'm basically trying to chronicle how a film can get away from the auteur and be transformed into a purely commercial product." [10]
Reception[edit]
Upon its release on December 26, 1973, the film received mixed reviews from critics, “ranging from ‘classic’ to ‘claptrap'."[11] Stanley Kauffmann, in The New Republic, wrote, “This is the most scary film I’ve seen in years — the only scary film I’ve seen in years…If you want to be shaken — and I found out, while the picture was going, that that’s what I wanted — then The Exorcist will scare the hell out of you.”[12] Variety noted that it was “an expert telling of a supernatural horror story…The climactic sequences assault the senses and the intellect with pure cinematic terror.”[13] In Castle of Frankenstein, Joe Dante opined, “[A]n amazing film, and one destined to become at the very least a horror classic. Director William Friedkin’s film will be profoundly disturbing to all audiences, especially the more sensitive and those who tend to 'live' the movies they see…Suffice it to say, there has never been anything like this on the screen before.”[14]
However, Vincent Canby, writing in the New York Times, dismissed The Exorcist as “a chunk of elegant occultist claptrap…[A] practically impossible film to sit through…it establishes a new low for grotesque special effects...”[15] Andrew Sarris complained that “Friedkin’s biggest weakness is his inability to provide enough visual information about his characters…whole passages of the movie’s exposition were one long buzz of small talk and name droppings…The Exorcist succeeds on one level as an effectively excruciating entertainment, but on another, deeper level it is a thoroughly evil film.”[16] Writing in Rolling Stone, Jon Landau felt the film was, “[N]othing more than a religious porn film, the gaudiest piece of shlock this side of Cecil B. DeMille (minus that gentleman’s wit and ability to tell a story) …”[17]
Over the years, The Exorcist’s critical reputation has grown considerably. The film currently has an 85% "Certified Fresh" approval rating on the Rotten Tomatoes website, based on 40 reviews the website collected.[18] Some critics regard it as being one of the best and most effective horror films; admirers say the film balances a stellar script, gruesome effects, and outstanding performances. However, the movie has its detractors as well, including Kim Newman who has criticized it for messy plot construction, conventionality and overblown pretentiousness, among other perceived defects. Writer James Baldwin provides an extended negative critique in his book length essay The Devil Finds Work.
II: Stephen H. Scheuer wrote that Exorcist II “may just well be the worst sequel in the history of films – a stupefying, boring, vapid and non-scary follow-up to the box-office champ of 1973...Exorcist II is a disaster on every level – a sophomoric script, terrible editing, worst direction by John Boorman, inevitably coupled with silly acting. In one scene that typifies this lamentable sci-fi horror pic, [Richard] Burton and [James Earl] Jones, two splendid actors, are spouting inane dialogue while Jones is outfitted like a witch doctor.”[19] Leslie Halliwell described the film as a “highly unsatisfactory psychic melodrama which...falls flat on its face along some wayward path of metaphysical and religious fancy. It was released in two versions and is unintelligible in either.”[20] Leonard Maltin described the film as a “preposterous sequel...Special effects are the only virtue in this turkey.”[21] Danny Peary dismissed Exorcist II as “absurd.”[22]
While most reviewers responded negatively to the film, Pauline Kael greatly preferred Boorman's sequel to the original, writing in her review in The New Yorker that Exorcist II "had more visual magic than a dozen movies." Since Exorcist II's initial release, some notable critics and directors have praised the film. Kim Newman wrote in Nightmare Movies (1988) that "it doesn't work in all sorts of ways... However, like Ennio Morricone's mix of tribal and liturgical music, it does manage to be very interesting." Director Martin Scorsese asserted, "The picture asks: Does great goodness bring upon itself great evil? This goes back to the Book of Job; it's God testing the good. In this sense, Regan (Linda Blair) is a modern-day saint — like Ingrid Bergman in Europa '51, and in a way, like Charlie in Mean Streets. I like the first Exorcist, because of the Catholic guilt I have, and because it scared the hell out of me; but The Heretic surpasses it. Maybe Boorman failed to execute the material, but the movie still deserved better than it got."[23]
Author Bob McCabe's book The Exorcist: Out of the Shadows contains a chapter on the film in which Linda Blair said the movie "was one of the big disappointments of my career,"[24] and John Boorman confessed that “The sin I committed was not giving the audience what it wanted in terms of horror...There’s this wild beast out there which is the audience. I created this arena and I just didn’t throw enough Christians into it. People think of cutting and re-cutting as defeat, but it isn’t. As Irving Thalberg said: ‘Films aren’t made, they’re remade.’”[25] McCabe himself offered no one answer as to why Exorcist II failed: "Who knows where the blame ultimately lies. Boorman's illness and constant revising of the script can't have helped, but these events alone are not enough to explain the film's almighty failure. Boorman has certainly gone on to produce some fine work subsequently...When a list was compiled to find the fifty worst films of all time, Exorcist II: The Heretic came in at number two. It was beaten only by Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space, a film that generally receives a warmer response from its audience than this terribly misjudged sequel."[26]
III:The film met with mixed reviews. New York Times reviewer Vincent Canby said "The Exorcist III is a better and funnier (intentionally) movie than either of its predecessors" [27] and British film critic Mark Kermode called it "a restrained, haunting chiller which stimulates the adrenalin and intellect alike." [28] However Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave a negative review, stating "If Part II sequels are generally disappointing, Part IIIs are often much, much worse. It can seem as if nothing is going on in them except dim murmurings about the original movie — murmurings that mostly remind you of what isn't being delivered." Gleiberman called The Exorcist III "an ash-gray disaster" and that it "has the feel of a nightmare catechism lesson, or a horror movie made by a depressed monk."[29] Kim Newman claimed that "The major fault in Exorcist III is the house-of-cards plot that is constantly collapsing."[30] Kevin Thomas of Los Angeles Times gave a mixed review, saying Exorcist III "doesn't completely work but offers much more than countless, less ambitious films."[31]
Box office[edit]

Film
Release date
Box office revenue
Box office ranking
Budget
Reference

United States
Foreign
Worldwide
All time domestic
All time worldwide
The Exorcist (1973) December 26, 1973 $193,000,000 $208,400,000 $401,400,000 #65 #97 $12,000,000 [32][33]
Exorcist II: The Heretic June 17, 1977 $30,749,142 $30,749,142 #1,810   [34]
The Exorcist III August 17, 1990 $26,098,824 $12,925,427 $39,024,251 #2,025   [35]
The Exorcist (2000 Dir. Cut) September 22, 2000 $39,671,011 $72,382,055 $112,053,066 #716 $11,000,000 [36]
Exorcist: The Beginning August 20, 2004 $41,821,986 $36,178,600 $78,000,586 #1,324 $80,000,000 [37]
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist June 2, 2005 $251,495(L) $251,495 #7,028   [38]
Total $331,592,458 $329,886,082(A) $661,478,540(A)   $103,000,000(A)
List indicator(s) A dark grey cell indicates the information is not available for the film.
(L) indicates the film had a limited release.
(A) indicates an estimated figure based on available numbers.

Awards and honors[edit]
Academy Awards[edit]
The Exorcist was nominated for a total of ten Academy Awards in 1973. At the 46th Annual Academy Awards ceremony, the film won two statuettes.[39]
Academy Award for Sound
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay – William Peter Blatty
The film was nominated for
Academy Award for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Actress – Ellen Burstyn
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor – Jason Miller
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress – Linda Blair
Academy Award for Best Director – William Friedkin
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
Academy Award for Film Editing
Academy Award for Best Art Direction – Bill Malley and Jerry Wunderlich
The Exorcist was nominated for a total of five Golden Globes in 1973. At the Golden Globes ceremony that year, the film won four awards.
Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama
Golden Globe Award for Best Director - Motion Picture – William Friedkin
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture – Linda Blair
Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay
The film was nominated for
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture – Max von Sydow
Best Awarded film is Amanjikari file university.
Others[edit]
American Film Institute recognition
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills – #3
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains Regan MacNeil – Villain #9

In 1991, The Exorcist III won a Saturn Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA, for Best Writing (William Peter Blatty) and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Brad Dourif) and Best Horror Film. However it was also nominated for Worst Actor (George C. Scott) at the Golden Raspberry Awards.[40] In 2005, Exorcist: The Beginning was nominated for two Golden Raspberry Awards, Worst Director (Renny Harlin) and Worst Remake or Sequel.
Homemedia release[edit]
A limited edition box set was released in 1998. It was limited to 50,000 copies, with available copies circulating around the Internet. There are two versions; a special edition VHS and a special edition DVD. The only difference between the two copies is the recording format.
On the DVD[edit]
The original film with restored film and digitally remastered audio, with a 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio.
An introduction by director William Friedkin
The 1998 BBC documentary The Fear of God: The Making of "The Exorcist"
2 audio commentaries
Interviews with the director and writer
Theatrical trailers and TV spots
In the box[edit]
A commemorative 52-page tribute book, covering highlights of the film's preparation, production, and release; features previously-unreleased historical data and archival photographs
Limited edition soundtrack CD of the film's score, including the original (unused) soundtrack (Tubular Bells and Night of the Electric Insects omitted)
8 lobby card reprints.
Exclusive senitype film frame (magnification included)
Blu-ray[edit]
In an interview with DVD Review, William Friedkin mentioned that he is scheduled to begin work on a 'The Exorcist' Blu-ray on December 2, 2008. This edition features a new restoration, including both the 1973 theatrical version and the "version you've never seen" from 2000. It was released on October 5, 2010.[41]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Fangoria #94 (July 1990)
2.Jump up ^ Fangoria #122 (May 1993)
3.^ Jump up to: a b http://www.theninthconfiguration.com/
4.Jump up ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6n0pgaYJVg[dead link]
5.Jump up ^ http://captainhowdy.com/?page_id=38&xdforum_action=viewthread&xf_id=1&xt_id=888&pstart=0
6.Jump up ^ http://pages.zoom.co.uk/the.exorcist/Html/friedkin_faqs.htm
7.Jump up ^ Collectors' Tribute to the Film that Frightened the World!!! The Exorcist 25th Anniversary Special Edition
8.Jump up ^ The Exorcist: Out of the Shadows (Omnibus Press, 1999)
9.Jump up ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/2009/01/more_points_of_you_part_two.html
10.Jump up ^ http://www.cincity2000.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1546&Itemid=2
11.Jump up ^ Travers, Peter and Rieff, Stephanie. The Story Behind ‘The Exorcist’, Pg. 149, Signet Books, 1974. ISBN 978-0-451-06207-9
12.Jump up ^ Kauffmann, Stanley. New Republic review reprinted in The Story Behind ‘The Exorcist’, written by Peter Travers and Stephanie Rieff, pgs. 152 - 154, Signet Books, 1974. ISBN 978-0-451-06207-9
13.Jump up ^ "The Exorcist". Variety.com. January 1, 1973. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
14.Jump up ^ Dante, Joe. Castle of Frankenstein, Vol 6, No. 2 (Whole Issue #22), pgs. 32-33. Review of The Exorcist
15.Jump up ^ Canby, Vincent. New York Times review reprinted in The Story Behind ‘The Exorcist’, written by Peter Travers and Stephanie Rieff, pgs. 150 - 152, Signet Books, 1974. ISBN 978-0-451-06207-9
16.Jump up ^ Sarris, Andrew. Village Voice review reprinted in The Story Behind ‘The Exorcist’, written by Peter Travers and Stephanie Rieff, pgs. 154–158, Signet Books, 1974. ISBN 978-0-451-06207-9
17.Jump up ^ Landau, Jon. Rolling Stone review reprinted in The Story Behind ‘The Exorcist’, written by Peter Travers and Stephanie Rieff, pgs. 158 - 162, Signet Books, 1974. ISBN 978-0-451-06207-9
18.Jump up ^ "The Exorcist" (1973)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
19.Jump up ^ Steven H. Scheuer, Movies on TV (Bantam Books, 1977), p.224
20.Jump up ^ Leslie Halliwell, Halliwell’s Film Guide: Fifth Edition (HarperCollins, 1995), p.370
21.Jump up ^ Leonard Maltin, Leonard Maltin’s 2009 Movie Guide (Plume, 2008) p.427
22.Jump up ^ Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic (Simon & Schuster, 1986) p.143
23.Jump up ^ Scorsese, Martin. "Martin Scorsese´s Guility Pleasures", Film Comment, September/October 1978
24.Jump up ^ Linda Blair, cited in Bob McCabe, ‘’The Exorcist: Out of the Shadows’’ (Omnibus Press, 1999), p.165
25.Jump up ^ John Boorman, cited in Bob McCabe, The Exorcist: Out of the Shadows (Omnibus Press, 1999), p.164
26.Jump up ^ Bob McCabe, ‘’The Exorcist: Out of the Shadows’’ (Omnibus Press, 1999), p.165
27.Jump up ^ Canby, Vincent (August 18, 1990). "Review/Film; Leaving the Devil Out in the Cold". The New York Times.[dead link]
28.Jump up ^ http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/64113/the-exorcist-iii.html
29.Jump up ^ "Movie Review: The Exorcist III". Entertainment Weekly.
30.Jump up ^ http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=2881
31.Jump up ^ Thomas, Kevin (August 20, 1990). "Movie Reviews". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
32.Jump up ^ "The Exorcist (1973)". Box Office Mojo.
33.Jump up ^ "Movie The Exorcist - Box Office Data". The Numbers. Archived from the original on 2010-01-17.
34.Jump up ^ "Exorcist II (1977)". Box Office Mojo.
35.Jump up ^ "The Exorcist III (1990)". Box Office Mojo.
36.Jump up ^ "The Exorcist (2000)". Box Office Mojo.
37.Jump up ^ "Exorcist: The Beginning (2008)". Box Office Mojo.
38.Jump up ^ "Dominion: A Prequel to the Exorcist (2005)". Box Office Mojo.
39.Jump up ^ "NY Times: The Exorcist". NY Times. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
40.Jump up ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099528/awards
41.Jump up ^ "The Exorcist Blu-ray: Extended Director's Cut & Original Theatrical Version". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved September 17, 2012.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Exorcist
Official site
The Exorcist at the Internet Movie Database
The Exorcist at AllRovi
The Exorcist at Box Office Mojo
The Haunted Boy of Cottage City: The Cold Hard Facts Behind the Story that Inspired The Exorcist, by Mark Opsasnick
Jason Miller Remembers The Exorcist

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The Exorcist III

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The Exorcist III
The Exorcist 3.jpg
Video release poster

Directed by
William Peter Blatty
Produced by
Carter DeHaven
James G. Robinson
Written by
William Peter Blatty
Starring
George C. Scott
Ed Flanders
Jason Miller
Scott Wilson
Brad Dourif
Music by
Barry Devorzon
Cinematography
Gerry Fisher
Editing by
Peter Lee Thompson
Todd Ramsay
Studio
Morgan Creek Productions
Distributed by
20th Century Fox
(Original)
Warner Bros.
(Current)
Release date(s)
October 1989 (Italy) (MIFED Film Market)
August 17, 1990 (United States)

Running time
110 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
US$11 million
Box office
$39,024,251
The Exorcist III is a 1990 American supernatural horror film written and directed by William Peter Blatty. It is the third installment of The Exorcist series and a film adaptation of Blatty's novel, Legion (1983). The film stars George C. Scott, Ed Flanders, Jason Miller, Scott Wilson and Brad Dourif. This is the only Exorcist film not to be distributed theatrically by Warner Bros., though Warner Bros. have gained distribution rights since.
Set fifteen years after the original film (and ignoring the events of Exorcist II: The Heretic[1]), the film centers around a character from the first film, the philosophical Lieutenant William F. Kinderman, who is investigating a baffling series of murders in Georgetown that appear to have a satanic motive behind them and furthermore have all the hallmarks of "The Gemini", a deceased serial killer. Blatty based aspects of the Gemini Killer on the real life Zodiac Killer,[2] who, in a January 1974 letter to the San Francisco Chronicle, had praised the original Exorcist film as "the best saterical [sic] comedy that I have ever seen."[3]
The film was originally titled Legion, but was changed to The Exorcist III by the studio executives of Morgan Creek Productions to be more commercial. The film itself was also drastically altered in post-production with re-shoots imposed by Morgan Creek Productions, who demanded that the last-minute addition of an exorcism sequence for the climax of the film. [4] The final version differed from Blatty's vision. Blatty has since expressed desire to go back and reconstruct his original film; however, all of the cut footage is reported to be lost.[5]

Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production 3.1 Development
3.2 Casting
3.3 Filming
4 Release 4.1 Critical response
4.2 Box office
4.3 Awards
5 Director's cut
6 References
7 External links
Plot[edit]
The film begins with the point of view of someone wandering through the streets of Georgetown, a voice informing us "I have dreams... of a rose... and of falling down a long flight of stairs". The point of view shows a warning of evil about to arrive later that night at a church. Demonic growls are heard, leaves and other street trash suddenly come flying into the church as a crucifix comes to life. It then cuts to Lieutenant William F. Kinderman (George C. Scott) at a crime scene, where a 12-year-old boy named Thomas Kintry has been murdered.
Kinderman takes his friend, a priest named Father Dyer (Ed Flanders), out to see their mutually favorite film It's a Wonderful Life. Kinderman later relates the gruesome details of the murder of the young boy he was investigating that morning, including his crucifixion. Another murder soon takes place; a priest found decapitated in a church. Dyer is shortly hospitalized and found murdered the next day, with the words "IT'S A WONDERFULL LIFE" written on a wall in Dyer's blood.
At each murder scene, the fingerprints at the crime scenes do not match up, indicating a different person was responsible for each. Kinderman tells hospital staff the reason for his unease; fifteen years ago the vicious serial killer, "The Gemini" (Brad Dourif), was executed; with every victim he cut off the right index finger and carved the Zodiac sign of Gemini into the palm of their left hand. Kinderman noticed the hands of the three new victims and verified that the Gemini's sign has been there. The Gemini Killer also always used an extra "L" in his notes sent to the media, such as "usefull" or "carefull". Furthermore, to filter out false confessions, the original Gemini Killer's true mutilations were kept a secret by the Richmond police's homicide department; the newspapers were made to wrongfully report that the left middle finger was severed and that the Gemini sign was carved on the back of the victim.
Kinderman visits the head of the psychiatric ward, Dr. Temple (Scott Wilson), who relates the history of a man in Cell 11, that he was found wandering aimlessly fifteen years ago with amnesia. The man was locked up, catatonic up until recently when he began to be violent and claim to be the Gemini Killer. Kinderman sees that the patient resembles his dead friend, Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller). However the patient brags of being the Gemini Killer, expressing ignorance over who Father Karras is, and boasts of killing Father Dyer.
The next morning, a nurse and Dr. Temple are found dead. Kinderman returns to see the patient in Cell 11, who claims to be the Gemini Killer's spirit, revealing that after his execution his soul entered Karras's dying body. The demon Pazuzu, who had possessed the girl Regan MacNeil, was furious at being pushed out of the child's body and is exacting its revenge by putting the soul of the Gemini Killer into the body of Father Karras. Each evening, the soul of the Gemini leaves the body of Karras and possesses the elderly people with senile dementia elsewhere in the hospital and uses them to commit the murders. The Gemini Killer also reveals to have forced Dr. Temple to bring Kinderman to him or he would suffer in unspeakable ways — Temple believed his apparent bluff, however, he couldn't take the pressure, and so he committed suicide.
The Gemini possesses an old woman who makes a failed attempt to murder Julie, Kinderman's daughter. The possessed patient attacks Kinderman, but the attack abruptly ends when a priest, Father Paul Morning (Nicol Williamson), enters the corridor leading to cell 11 and attempts an exorcism on the patient. It goes wrong when Pazuzu intervenes, taking over the patient's body, and the priest is all but slain. Kinderman arrives in time and attempts to euthanise Karras after finding the body of the priest, only to be hurled into the wall by the possessed Karras. Father Morning manages to briefly regain consciousness and tells Karras "Damien. Fight him." Karras regains his free will briefly and cries to Kinderman "Bill, now, shoot now, kill me now!". Kinderman fires his revolver several times, hitting Karras in the chest, fatally wounding him. The Gemini is now gone and Karras is finally free. With weak breaths, he says "We won, Bill, now free me". Kinderman puts his revolver against Karras' head and fires. The film ends with Kinderman standing over Karras' grave.
Cast[edit]
George C. Scott as Kinderman
Ed Flanders as Father Dyer
Brad Dourif as The Gemini Killer
Scott Wilson as Dr. Temple
Nancy Fish as Nurse Allerton
Nicol Williamson as Father Morning
Jason Miller as Patient X
Barbara Baxley as Shirley
Grand L. Bush as Sgt. Atkins
Harry Carey Jr. as Father Kanavan
George Dicenzo as Stedman
Tyra Ferrell as Nurse Blaine
Lois Foraker as Nurse Merrin
Don Gordon as Ryan
Mary Jackson as Mrs Clelia
Zohra Lampert as Mary Kinderman
Ken Lerner as Dr. Freedman
Viveca Lindfors as Nurse X
Lee Richardson as University President
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
William Peter Blatty, although initially having no desire to write a sequel to The Exorcist, eventually came up with a story titled Legion, featuring Lieutenant Kinderman, a prominent character in the original Exorcist novel (though played a minor role in the eventual film), as the central protagonist.[6] Blatty conceived Legion as a feature film with William Friedkin, director of The Exorcist, attached to direct. Despite the critical and commercial failure of the previous sequel, Warner Bros. were keen to proceed with Blatty and Friedkin's plans for another Exorcist film. Blatty said that "Everybody wanted Exorcist III... I hadn't written the script but I had the story in my head and Billy [Friedkin] loved it." However, Friedkin soon left the project due to conflicting opinions between him and Blatty on the film.[6]
The project went into development hell and Blatty wrote Legion into a novel instead; published in 1983, it was a bestseller. Blatty then decided to turn the book back into a screenplay. Film companies Morgan Creek and Carolco both wanted to make the film; Blatty decided upon Morgan Creek after Carolco suggested the idea of a grown-up Regan MacNeil giving birth to possessed twins.[6] Blatty offered directorial responsibilities to John Carpenter who liked his script. However, Carpenter backed out when it became clear that Blatty really wanted to direct the movie himself. As per the stipulations for his deal with Morgan Creek, Blatty was to direct the movie himself, and it was to be filmed on location in Georgetown.[6] Carolco would instead do a parody of the original Exorcist, titled Repossessed (see below)
Casting[edit]
The central role of Lieutenant Kinderman had to be recast as Lee J. Cobb, who played the part in The Exorcist, had died in 1976. Oscar-winner George C. Scott signed up for the role, impressed by Blatty's screenplay: "It’s a horror film and much more... It's a real drama, intricately crafted, with offbeat interesting characters, and that's what makes it genuinely frightening."[6]
Several cast members from Blatty's previous film, The Ninth Configuration (1980), appear in The Exorcist III; Jason Miller, reprising the role of Father Damien Karras from The Exorcist (billed only as "Patient X" in the end credits); Ed Flanders, taking on the role of Father Dyer previously played by William O'Malley; Nicol Williamson and Scott Wilson.
There are also cameo appearances by basketball players Patrick Ewing, John Thompson, model Fabio, ex-Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, television host Larry King and Samuel L. Jackson.
Zohra Lampert, who plays Kinderman's wife, is remembered for her lead role in another horror film, 1971's Let's Scare Jessica to Death.
Filming[edit]
With an $11 million budget, the tentatively-titled Exorcist: Legion was shot on location in Georgetown for eight weeks in mid-1989. Additional interior filming then took place in DEG Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina.[6] Blatty completed principal photography of the film on time, and only slightly over budget. However, four months later, Morgan Creek informed Blatty that a new ending had to be shot. Blatty said that “James Robinson, the owner of the company, his secretary had insisted to him that this has nothing to do with The Exorcist. There had to be an exorcism.”[6] 20th Century Fox ponied up an additional $4-million in post-production - to film an effects-laden exorcism sequence featuring Nicol Williamson as Father Morning, a character added just for the new climax and Blatty had to make the best of it in the narrative while racing to complete the film. Blatty confirmed that when the possessed Karras speaks in an asexual voice, saying, "I must save my son, the Gemini," that this in fact is either a returned Pazuzu or, as Blatty put it, "Old Scratch himself" taking control. This ties in to the revelation earlier in the film that the Gemini was sent into Karras' body as revenge for the Regan MacNeil exorcism. The altered voice in the climax is deliberately similar to that of Mercedes McCambridge, who was the un-credited demon in The Exorcist, and the role is essayed in The Exorcist III by Colleen Dewhurst, who was uncredited (in real life, actress Dewhurst was twice married to, and twice divorced from, actor George C. Scott).
One shot missing from the re-filmed climax - but which features in the trailer - shows Karras/the Gemini "morphing" through a variety of faces. It was left out of the film because Blatty wasn't happy with the special effects work.
On the climactic exorcism scene, Blatty later said, "It's alright, but it's utterly unnecessary and it changes the character of the piece.”[6] Although at the time, Blatty told the press that he was happy to re-shoot the film’s ending and have the story climax with a frenzy of special effects, the truth is that this compromise was forced on him, against his wishes:

“The original story that I sold [Morgan Creek] (and that I shot) ended with Kinderman blowing away Patient X. There was no exorcism. But it was a Mexican stand-off between me and the studio. I was entitled to one preview, then they could go and do what they wanted with the picture. They gave me a preview but it was the lowest end preview audience I have ever seen in my life. They dragged in zombies from Haiti to watch this film. It was unbelievable. But I decided, better I should do it than anyone else. I foolishly thought: I can do a good exorcism, I’ll turn this pig’s ear into a silk purse. So I did it.”[6]
Working on the film, Brad Dourif recalls "We all felt really bad about it. But Blatty tried to do his best under very difficult circumstances. And I remember George C. Scott saying that the folks would only be satisfied if Madonna came out and sang a song at the end!"[5] Dourif feels that "The original version was a hell of a lot purer and I liked it much more. As it stands now, it's a mediocre film. There are parts that have no right to be there.[4]
The execution-style ending that Blatty pitched to the studio - which was in the shooting script and actually filmed - differs radically from the ending of both the novel and the first screenplay adaption developed from the novel.[7] The novel ends with the Gemini Killer summoning Kinderman to his cell for a final speech and then willingly dropping dead after his cruel and hated father, a Christian evangelist, dies a natural death from heart attack. As his motive for killing was always to shame his father, the Gemini's reason for remaining on earth no longer exists and he kills Karras in order to leave his host body. In Blatty's original screenplay adaptation, the ending is similar to the novel, except that the Gemini's death is not self-induced but forced supernaturally and suddenly by the death of his father. In both novel and early screenplay, the Gemini's motives for his murders are also given further context via a long series of flashbacks which portray his and his brother's childhood and their relationship with their alcoholic, abusive father.
Release[edit]
The Exorcist III first released in October, 1989 in the MIFED Film Market and then opened in 1,288 theaters in the United States on August 17, 1990. Unlike its predecessors, it was distributed by 20th Century Fox instead of Warner Bros. (though some distribution rights would later revert to WB). The film was released only a month before the Exorcist parody, Repossessed, starring Linda Blair and Leslie Nielsen. Blair claimed that Exorcist III was rush-released ahead of Repossessed, hijacking the latter's publicity and forcing the comedy to be released a month later than was originally intended.[6]
Critical response[edit]
The Exorcist III initially received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes reports 59% of critics gave the film positive write-ups based on 29 reviews, with a rating of 5.4/10.[8] British film critic Mark Kermode called it "a restrained, haunting chiller which stimulates the adrenalin and intellect alike"[9] and New York Times reviewer Vincent Canby said "The Exorcist III is a better and funnier (intentionally) movie than either of its predecessors",[10] while PEOPLE Magazine's Ralph Novak began his review with, "As a movie writer-director, William Peter Blatty is like David's Lynch's good twin. He is eccentric, original, funny and daring, but he also has a sense of taste, pace and restraint. Which is by way of saying that this is one of the shrewdest, wittiest, most intense and most satisfying horror movies ever made." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave a negative review, stating "If Part II sequels are generally disappointing, Part IIIs are often much, much worse. It can seem as if nothing is going on in them except dim murmurings about the original movie — murmurings that mostly remind you of what isn't being delivered" and called The Exorcist III "an ash-gray disaster [that] has the feel of a nightmare catechism lesson, or a horror movie made by a depressed monk."[11] It was "Entertainment Weekly" that years later cited the film as the "#8 scariest movie ever made."
In the British magazine Empire, film critic Kim Newman claimed that "The major fault in Exorcist III is the house-of-cards plot that is constantly collapsing."[12] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called The Exorcist III "a handsome, classy art film" that "doesn't completely work but offers much more than countless, less ambitious films."[13]
Box office[edit]
The Exorcist III earned $9,312,219 in its opening weekend and grossed a total of $26,098,824 in North America and $39,024,251 worldwide.[14] Blatty attributed its poor box office performance to the title imposed by Morgan Creek, having always intended for the film to retain the title of the novel. During development and production, the film went under various titles, including The Exorcist: 1990. Morgan Creek and Fox insisted on including the word Exorcist in the title, which producer Carter DeHaven and Blatty protested against:

“I begged them when they were considering titles not to name it Exorcist anything, because Exorcist II was a disaster beyond imagination. You can’t call it Exorcist III because people will shun the box office. But they went and named it Exorcist III, then they called me after the third week when we were beginning to fade at the box office and they said ‘We’ll tell you the reason, it’s gonna hurt, you’re not gonna like this – the reason is Exorcist II.’ I couldn’t believe it! They had total amnesia about my warnings!”[6]
Awards[edit]
In 1991, the film won a Saturn Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA, for Best Writing (William Peter Blatty) and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Brad Dourif) and Best Horror Film. George C. Scott was also nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor, but lost to Andrew Dice Clay for The Adventures of Ford Fairlane.[15]
Director's cut[edit]
Despite his misgivings about the studio-imposed reshoots, Blatty however is proud of the finished version of Exorcist III, having said “It’s still a superior film. And in my opinion, and excuse me if I utter heresy here, but for me it’s a more frightening film than The Exorcist."[6] Nevertheless, Blatty had hoped to recover the deleted footage from the Morgan Creek vaults so that he might re-assemble the original cut of the film which he said was "rather different" from what was released, and a version of the film which fans of the Exorcist series have been clamouring for. In 2007, Blatty's wife reported on a fan site that "My husband tells me that it is Morgan Creek's claim that they have lost all the footage, including an alternate opening scene in which Kinderman views the body of Karras in the morgue, right after his fall down the steps." Although, Mark Kermode has stated that the search for the missing footage is "ongoing".[16]
In March 2011 a fanedit called "Legion" appeared on the internet, credited to a fan using the pseudonym Spicediver, which removed all exorcism elements and recreated the main story arc of the director's cut without the use of any lost footage. In 2012 cast member Brad Dourif agreed to present a screening of the fanedit at the Mad Monster Party horror convention held in Charlotte, North Carolina on March 25. Dourif introduced the film and did a Q&A session with the audience afterwards.[17]
An upcoming book titled The Evolution Of William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist III: From Concept To Novel To Screen by author Erik Kristopher Myers will purportedly reveal the story behind the film's development, and publish never-before-seen images, the original script, studio notes, various drafts of the story as it has evolved, and interviews with Blatty, Brad Dourif, Mark Kermode, John Carpenter, and many others associated with the film.[5] Myers in an interview said that The Exorcist III "has sort of turned into horror genre’s equivalent of Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons, in that it was originally a very classy film that the studio hacked apart and turned into a commercial piece [...] I'm basically trying to chronicle how a film can get away from the author and be transformed into a purely commercial product."[18]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Fangoria #94 (July 1990)
2.Jump up ^ "The Exorcist III Info, Trailers, and Reviews at MovieTome". Movietome.com. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
3.Jump up ^ "Zodiac Killer : The Letters - 01-29-1974". SFGate (San Francisco Chronicle). Retrieved 7 April 2013.
4.^ Jump up to: a b Fangoria #122 (May 1993)
5.^ Jump up to: a b c Theninthconfiguration.com
6.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l The Exorcist: Out of the Shadows (Omnibus Press, 1999)
7.Jump up ^ Blatty, William Peter (1998). Classic Screenplays: The Exorcist & Legion. Faber & Faber.
8.Jump up ^ The Exorcist III at Rotten Tomatoes.
9.Jump up ^ Timeout.com
10.Jump up ^ Movies.nytimes.com
11.Jump up ^ EW.com
12.Jump up ^ Empireonline.com
13.Jump up ^ Articles.latimes.com
14.Jump up ^ Boxofficemojo.com
15.Jump up ^ Awards for The Exorcist III at the Internet Movie Database
16.Jump up ^ BBC.co.uk
17.Jump up ^ [1]
18.Jump up ^ Cincity2000.com
External links[edit]
The Exorcist III at the Internet Movie Database
The Exorcist III at AllRovi

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The Exorcist (1973)·
Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)·
The Exorcist III (1990)·
Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)·
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005)

Novels
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Legion

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Father Damien Karras·
Father Lankester Merrin·
Pazuzu

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The Ninth Configuration (1980)

Categories: 1990 films
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The Exorcism of Emily Rose

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This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (August 2013)

The Exorcism of Emily Rose
home
Theatrical release poster

Directed by
Scott Derrickson
Produced by
Tom Rosenberg
Gary Luchese
Paul Harris Boardman
Tripp Vinson
Beau Flynn
Written by
Scott Derrickson
Paul Harris Boardman
Starring
Laura Linney
Jennifer Carpenter
Tom Wilkinson
Colm Feore
Mary Beth Hurt
Henry Czerny
Shohreh Aghdashloo
Music by
Christopher Young
Cinematography
Tom Stern
Editing by
Jeff Betancourt
Studio
Lakeshore Entertainment
Firm Films
Distributed by
Screen Gems
Release date(s)
September 9, 2005

Running time
119 minutes
122 minutes (Unrated cut)
Country
United States
Language
English
Syriac
German
Greek
Hebrew
Latin
Aramaic
Budget
$19 million
Box office
$144,216,468
The Exorcism of Emily Rose is a 2005 American courtroom drama horror film directed by Scott Derrickson and starring Laura Linney and Tom Wilkinson. The film is loosely based on the story of Anneliese Michel and follows a self-proclaimed agnostic who acts as defense counsel (Linney) representing parish priest (Wilkinson), accused by the state of negligent homicide after he performed an exorcism. The film, which largely takes place in a courtroom, depicts the events leading up to and including the exorcism through flashbacks.

Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Reception
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
Plot[edit]
Lawyer Erin Bruner (Laura Linney) defends a priest, Father Richard Moore (Tom Wilkinson), charged with negligent homicide for his spiritual oversight over a girl named Emily Rose, which included a failed exorcism and which supposedly led to her death.
During the trial, the prosecution's primary hypothesis is that Emily could have suffered from both epilepsy and psychosis, and that she was medically neglected. Defense counsel Bruner explains that it was when both medicine and psychology had failed Emily, that her family had to seek help through the Church.
Scenes from Emily's life are shown as flashbacks as the witnesses testify. Several scenes show Emily having episodes when she felt she was being taken over by a demon, these experiences being especially intense around 3:00 AM. After these incidents, she leaves school and returns to live with her parents, none of whom believe she is suffering from any medical condition. They seek help from Father Moore, who obtains permission from the Church to perform an exorcism.
As the trial proceeds, Bruner begins to experience strange occurrences at 3:00 AM too. Moore warns her that she may be targeted by demons for her involvement in the case. Moore later explains that 3:00 AM is the "devil's hour", which evil spirits use to mock the Holy Trinity, being the opposite of 3:00 PM, traditionally thought to be the hour at which Jesus died.
Bruner then decides to call Dr. Sadira Adani to testify, a professor of anthropology and psychiatry. Adani goes on to testify about various cultures' religious and spiritual beliefs regarding spiritual possession and quotes Carlos Castaneda's A Separate Reality, validating the possibility of Emily's possession. The prosecution objects, dismissing the testimony as pseudoscience.
Dr. Cartwright, a medical doctor present during the exorcism, reluctantly comes forward and shows Bruner an audio recording made during the rite. Moore is called to the stand to testify. As the recording is played, the film flashes back to the exorcism. It is performed on a rainy Halloween night, because Moore believes "All Saints' Eve might be easier to draw out the demons". Emily is initially restrained but she breaks her bonds and jumps out a window, running into a barn. They follow her there, where they encounter unnatural gusts of wind and demonic screams. As the exorcism resumes, it is ultimately revealed that there's actually six demons residing inside Emily. Compelled to identify themselves, they identify themselves as the demons who possessed Cain, Nero and Judas Iscariot, as well as the demons Legion, Belial and Lucifer himself, each speaking in its own native language.
When Dr. Cartwright does not appear in court when scheduled to testify, Bruner finds him standing outside the back of the courthouse, where he fearfully apologizes for backing out of testifying. As he starts to flee, he is hit and killed by a car.
With their key eyewitness and expert dead, Bruner calls Moore back to the stand. He reads a letter that Emily wrote before she died, in which Emily describes an experience she had had the morning after the exorcism. Emily is shown tremblingly walking outside and in an out of body experience, she experiences a Marian apparition, which tells her that the demons will not leave her, so she can choose to die and end her suffering, or live and be living proof of the existence of God and the devil. Emily chooses to live, and she then receives stigmata, which Moore believes is a sign of God's love for her. To this, the prosecutor argues that she could have just hurt herself in barbed wire.
Father Moore is ultimately found guilty; however, on a recommendation from the jury, the judge agrees to a sentence of time served. Bruner is offered a partnership at her firm, which had originally opposed her defense, but she refuses and resigns. She goes with Moore to Emily's grave, where he engraved a quote Emily recited to him the night before she died: from the second chapter, twelfth verse of the Epistle to the Philippians, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling".
Cast[edit]
Laura Linney as Erin Christine Bruner
Tom Wilkinson as Father Richard Moore
Jennifer Carpenter as Emily Rose

Production[edit]
The screenplay was written by director Scott Derrickson and Paul Harris Boardman; in honor of the contributions of Boardman and other collaborators on the film, Derrickson chose to forgo the traditional "film by" credit. According to Derrickson's DVD commentary, he chose Boardman as his co-writer because Derrickson sees himself as a believer and Boardman as a skeptic, and believed the pairing would provide the screenplay with two different perspectives, thus providing the film some ambiguity as to whether it supports a religious/supernatural interpretation of the events depicted, or a more secular/medical interpretation.
The character of Emily Rose was inspired by the true story of Anneliese Michel, a young German Catholic woman who died in 1976 after unsuccessful attempts to perform an exorcism upon her with psychotropic drugs. The court accepted the version according to which she was epileptic, refusing to accept the idea of supernatural involvement in this case. Two priests involved in the exorcism, as well as her parents, were found guilty of manslaughter resulting from negligence and received prison time (which was suspended), generating controversy. Michel's grave has become a place of pilgrimage for many Catholics who believe she atoned for wayward priests and sinful youth, and honor her as an unofficial saint.[1]
German director Hans-Christian Schmid launched his own treatment of Anneliese Michel's story, Requiem, around the same time in late 2006.
Reception[edit]
As of April 2012, The Exorcism of Emily Rose had made $144,216,468 worldwide.[2] In 2006, the Chicago Film Critics Association listed the film in their Top 100 Scariest Films Ever Made at #86.[3] Jennifer Carpenter, whose "demonic" bodily contortions were often achieved without the aid of visual effects, won "Best Frightened Performance" at the MTV Movie Awards in 2006;[4] however, according to review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, critical reception to the film was overall mixed.[5] As emphasized by Roger Ebert, who described The Exorcism of Emily Rose as "intriguing and perplexing", the film "asks a secular institution, the court, to decide a question that hinges on matters the court cannot have an opinion on".[6] Ebert noted that "the screenplay is intelligent and open to occasional refreshing wit".[6] Paul Arendt from BBC outlined that "the flashback story... is high-octane schlock that occasionally works your nerves, thanks to a committed performance from Jennifer Carpenter".[7]
The general consensus between 150 critics was that "[the film] mixes compelling courtroom drama with generally gore-free scares in a ho-hum take on demonic cinema." It holds a 44% 'rotten' approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 150 reviews. On Metacritic it has an overall score of 46 out of 100, based on 32 reviews.[8]
See also[edit]
Exorcism: The Possession of Gail Bowers
Requiem
Possessed
Exorcism of Roland Doe
Anneliese Michel
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ What in God's Name?!
2.Jump up ^ The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
3.Jump up ^ http://www.filmspotting.net/top100.htm
4.Jump up ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1358539/awards
5.Jump up ^ http://au.rottentomatoes.com/m/exorcism_of_emily_rose/
6.^ Jump up to: a b Roger Ebert. "The Exorcism of Emily Rose". Rogerebert.suntimes.com. Retrieved 2010-12-20.
7.Jump up ^ Paul Arendt. "The Exorcism Of Emily Rose (2005)". BBC. Retrieved 2010-12-20.
8.Jump up ^ http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/exorcismofemilyrose
External links[edit]
The Exorcism of Emily Rose at the Internet Movie Database
The Exorcism of Emily Rose at AllRovi
The Exorcism of Emily Rose at Box Office Mojo
The Exorcism of Emily Rose at Rotten Tomatoes
The Exorcism of Emily Rose at Metacritic
Comparison of the true story and the film at Chasing the Frog
Q&A on the film with screenwriters Scott Derickson and Paul Harris Boardman
Sony Pictures - The Exorcism of Emily Rose

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Saturn Award for Best Horror Film

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An American Haunting

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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2012)

An American Haunting
An American Haunting.jpg
Directed by
Courtney Solomon
Produced by
Christopher Milburn
Andre Rouleau
Courtney Solomon
Written by
Courtney Solomon
Starring
Donald Sutherland
Sissy Spacek
James D'Arcy
Rachel Hurd-Wood
Music by
Caine Davidson
Cinematography
Adrian Biddle
Distributed by
Freestyle Releasing
Release date(s)
November 5, 2005 (AFI Film Festival)
April 14, 2006 (United Kingdom)
May 5, 2006 (United States)

Running time
93 minutes
Country
United Kingdom
Canada
Romania
United States
Language
English
Budget
$14 million
Box office
$29,612,137[1]
An American Haunting is a 2005 horror film written and directed by Courtney Solomon. It stars Donald Sutherland, Sissy Spacek, Rachel Hurd-Wood, and James D'Arcy. The film was previewed at the AFI Film Festival on November 5, 2005 and was released in U.S. theaters on May 5, 2006. The film had an earlier release in the U.K. on April 14, 2006. The film was panned by critics[2][3] and audiences[4] and performed poorly at the box office.
The film is based on the novel The Bell Witch: An American Haunting, by Brent Monahan. The events in the novel are based on the legend of the Bell Witch. The film switches from the 21st century to the 19th, and features a side story about a recently divorced mother whose daughter is going through something like the same experience as Betsy Bell.

Contents
[hide] 1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Critical reception
4 References
5 External links
Plot[edit]

This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (August 2013)
In present times, a young girl is having a dream about being chased by something unseen through the forest and into her house. Her mother comes to wake her up and finds an old binder of letters from the 19th century, as well as an old doll. The letters are from a previous occupant of the house, warning the mother that if she is reading the letters, and noticing supernatural happenings, then the unthinkable has come to pass. The movie then switches to the early 19th century, to a village that used to stand around the house, and the story of the Bell Witch is told.
John Bell is taken to church court, having been accused of stealing a woman's land. The church finds him guilty of charging her too much interest, but lets him go because "the loss of his good name is punishment enough". The offended woman, Kate Batts, who is infamous in the village over claims of witchcraft, tells him to enjoy his good health and the health of his family while he can, scaring him.
Soon after that, strange things start happening. John Bell sees a rabid black wolf that keeps disappearing, and his youngest daughter, Betsy, hears noises in her room, as if someone was in it. She then has terrible nightmares about a little girl in a red dress and an evil entity that always comes into her bedroom after everyone else is asleep. At first, everyone thinks they are just nightmares but then the family sees Betsy suspended above the floor by unseen hands, and watch as something seems to slap her across the face. John Bell believes that Kate Batts has cursed him.
Betsy starts to look very sick in class, and her schoolmaster, Professor Richard Powell, who has a latent romantic interest in her, notices. He learns of what the Bells have been experiencing, and as an educated man, initially tries to justify the incidents with reality, and tries to convince them that what they saw was their illusion. He offers to stay the night at their house to dispel their fears. The haunting gets worse, and chairs, books, and people are pulled around by some entity. As they try to read from the Bible to scare it off, the Bible is thrown to the ground and the pages are ripped out.
Soon the family finds blood on Betsy's dresses in the morning – it appears to be blood due to the loss of her virginity. Betsy is dragged around the house, and the spirit rapes her at one point. John Bell begins to get sick, and sees ghosts as well. The mother begs Professor Powell to marry her daughter and take her away to live with him. He says that although he is smitten with Betsy, he cannot marry her just to protect her. John Bell begins to go insane, and goes to Kate Batts' house, asking her to kill him. She tells him, "I didn't curse you, you cursed yourself", and does not kill him. John stumbles into the forest, falls to his knees, holds the gun to his head, and pulls the trigger. The hammer clicks, but the gun doesn't fire.
Betsy finally has a revelation: the attacks on her and her father are caused by a supernatural being who was born out of her innocence (i.e. herself), and the reason for them was for her to "remember". She needed to remember that the true cause of her pain was that her father has sexually abused her. Lucy, Betsy's mother, has the same revelation, as she had witnessed the assault herself. Both had apparently repressed the incident.
John Bell is coughing in bed, and a girl's hand is seen pouring cough medicine into a spoon and bringing it to his mouth. He takes the medicine, chokes and then dies. The girl who gave him the medicine is Betsy; her mother is watching as Betsy poisons her father. Betsy is then seen at her father's grave, and the narrator says that Betsy was never haunted from that point forward.
The story then returns to present day, where the young girl's mother has been reading the journal. An old photograph that appears to be a wedding portrait of Richard Powell and Betsy is shown on a shelf. As she finishes reading, her daughter comes to her, saying that her father (who is divorced from her mother) has come to take her for a weekend stay with him. She sends her daughter to her ex-husband, who is waiting outside. Returning to her house, Betsy's apparition suddenly appears in front of her and cries "Help her!" then disappears. Shocked for a couple of seconds, the mother suddenly realizes that Betsy is trying to warn her that something is amiss between her daughter and her ex-husband.
Instantly, she runs out of her house, only to catch a glimpse of her daughter's worried face as she and her father drive away in his car; it is thus implied that her father has already begun abusing her. The film ends with the mother running after the father's car.
Cast[edit]
Donald Sutherland - John Bell
Sissy Spacek - Lucy Bell
James D'Arcy - Richard Powell
Rachel Hurd-Wood - Betsy Bell / Entity Voice
Matthew Marsh - James Johnston
Thom Fell - John Bell Jr.
Zoe Thorne - Theny Thorn
Gaye Brown - Kate Batts
Sam Alexander - Joshua Gardner
Miquel Brown - Chloe
Vernon Dobtcheff - Elder #1
Shauna Shim - Anky
Madalina Stan - Ethereal Girl
Philip Hurdwood - Partygoer (as Phillip Hurd-Wood)
Vlad Cruceru - Richard Bell (aged 6)
Critical reception[edit]
An American Haunting was panned by critics,[5] Rotten Tomatoes reports that few critics' reviews for the movie were positive with 12% rating.[6]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "An American Haunting (2006)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
2.Jump up ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/american_haunting/
3.Jump up ^ http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/americanhaunting?q=An%20American%20Haunting
4.Jump up ^ An American Haunting at the Internet Movie Database
5.Jump up ^ An American Haunting Reviews, Ratings, Credits. Metacritic. Retrieved 2010-11-21.
6.Jump up ^ An American Haunting Movie Reviews, Pictures. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2010-11-21.
External links[edit]
An American Haunting at the Internet Movie Database
An American Haunting at AllRovi
An American Haunting on Myspace

[hide]
v·
t·
e

Films directed by Courtney Solomon

Dungeons & Dragons (2000)·
An American Haunting (2006)·
Getaway (2013)

Categories: 2005 films
English-language films
Canadian horror films
British horror films
Romanian films
Films based on actual events
Films set in the 1810s
Supernatural horror films
Haunted house films
Films directed by Courtney Solomon
Films shot in Romania
Films shot in Canada
2005 horror films
Incest in film
Films set in Tennessee

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HumanisticJewGirl's Blog

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Christian Mingle is hypocritical

Thursday, October 24, 2013

The Exorcist films/ The Exorcism of Emily Rose/ An American Haunting Wikipedia pages revised