The Legacy Of … The Exorcist (1973 – 2023)

Often hailed as one of the scariest movies of all time, the impact that The Exorcist had on cinema when released in 1973 is undeniable. Delivered in a golden age of gritty, realistic and terrifying psychological Horror, The Exorcist alongside contemporaries of the time such as Don’t Look Now (1973) and The Omen (1976) would lay the ground work for a new era of Horror, and a changing time in cinema.

The Exorcist was based on the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty who also wrote the screenplay and produced the picture, hand picking William Friedkin to direct after admiring his work in creating The French Connection in 1971. The production was fraught with difficulties, problems with casting, delays and significant overspending, with the film coming in with a reported budget of over $11m (IMDB). Although The Exorcist would go on to gross in the region of $500m worldwide for Warner Bros. Pictures, making it one of the most successful Horror movies of all time.

2023 is a key year in the legacy of the film for a number of reasons. Firstly it marks the 50th anniversary of the now classic Horror, secondly it is the year in which director William Friedkin sadly passed away, and thirdly it is the year in which director David Gordon Green (Halloween – 2018) delivers The Exorcist: Believer, his first film in a new trilogy to reboot the franchise.

It has been the best part of 20 years since we were provided with the franchise prequels of Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) and Dominion: Prequel To The Exorcist (2005), and in the modern climate where there is, for better or worse, an insatiable appetite for revisiting classic film properties, this 50th anniversary year seems like no better time for a new movie in the series.

But here we take a close look back at the vintage first movie, taking a deep dive into the story as well as exploring the legacy with it’s sequels filmed so far :

The Exorcist (1973)

The movie opens with Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow – Needful Things), a priest embarking on an archeological dig in North Iraq where a small statue of great importance to him is unearthed. He seems terrified at what has been found, seemingly a relic of pure evil. The film then cuts to Georgetown, Washington, USA where we meet actress and single mother Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn – Requiem For A Dream) who has recently moved to a new house with her 12 year old daughter Regan (Linda Blair – Savage Streets) while she films a movie in town.

The film’s iconic Tubular Bells score, a piece of music forever associated with The Exorcist, plays in an early scene as Chris walks home from a day on set. That evening we see a glimpse of the happy relationship between Chris and Regan, a calm before the storm. Although Chris discovers that Regan has been playing with a Ouija board that she found in a closet, and this is the first clue that something sinister is coming for the family.

Regan begins to have trouble sleeping and climbs into her mothers bed explaining that her own bed has been shaking, while Chris begins to hear disturbing noises coming from the attic. As she investigates by candlelight the film delivers its first real scene of tension, and audiences back in 1973 would no doubt have been on the edge of their seats waiting for something to make them jump. Meanwhile Regan is taken for hospital tests to address her recent trouble sleeping and changing personality.

Without explanation she gets angry with the doctor and it is explained to her mother she may be suffering from a psychological condition perhaps caused by the stress of her parents recent separation. The doctor also asks whether it is usual for Regan to swear and explains that during the examination she was shouting obscenities at him. In the Extended Director’s Cut, The Exorcist drops a blink it and you’ll miss it bomb during Regan’s examination, as a split second almost subliminal flash image of a terrifying demonic face is presented to her and the audience.

The movie also follows Father Karras (Jason Miller – Toy Soldiers) a Catholic priest and a psychiatric expert who seems eternally sombre and pre-occupied as if he can sense a foreboding doom, He visits his elderly lonely mother and hints that he would like her to move into a nursing home. But instead she falls ill and ends up in a psychiatric ward, she is incredibly unhappy with her son when he visits her and he feels guilt as he cannot afford to move her to a private hospital. Soon after she passes away.

The death of his mother turns Father Karrass to drink as he feels bitter remorse at not being to offer more help and comfort in her final days, as well as not being with her when she passed away. He is haunted by her in a dream where we are shown a second flash of the demonic face as the film makes us consider mortality and the cycle of life, while Karris experiences a crisis of his faith and begins to question whether he fit to continuing working in his role as a priest.

Meanwhile Chris throws a soirée at the house and as she and her friends including a colleague of Karras’s Father Dyer (William O’Malley) are singing around a piano, Regan comes down and exclaims “You’re going to die up there” before urinating on the carpet in front of the crowd. The performance of Linda Blair is incredibly impressive for such a young actress, and as her condition deteriorates in searching for a logical explanation, the hospital doctors fear that she has a brain condition. She undergoes a surgical procedure which is filmed in realistic and graphic detail, but her brain scans prove to be clear.

The Exorcist does a perfect job in allowing its viewer to experience the trauma and fear of what is happening to Regan alongside her mother, who naturally feels helpless as she watches her daughter’s decline. To highlight this the extended directors cut delivers a horrific jump scare of sorts, as Regan suddenly crab walks backwards down the stairs towards Chris, spilling blood from her mouth.

In the very next sequence the film provides a key scene in the transformation of Regan’s possession. She is thrashing violently in her bed screaming and in what would have been shocking for audiences in 1973, shouts at a doctor to fuck her. Chillingly she growls like a beast and delivers the line “Keep away, this child is mine!” before hitting the approaching doctor to the floor. All they can do is pin her down and heavily sedate her.

A psychiatrist is brought in to hypnotise Regan, during which he brings the demon inside of her to the forefront, Regan once again starts snarling and growling and leaps from he chair to attack him. Regan’s appearance begins to deteriorate further with her face covered in scratches. Doctors ask Chris if she has ever heard of an exorcism, explaining it is a practice the Catholic Church have conducted in historical cases of recorded possessions. But at first she feels as this is a complete nonsense and is upset at its suggestion.

She returns home and discovers that a friend of hers who was left to watch Regan has seemingly leapt to his death from her bedroom window, having broken his neck after tumbling down a steep set of steps next to the property. Investigating the death we meet Lieutenant Kinderman (Lee J. Cobb – 12 Angry Men) who visits Chris. He explains that due to his injuries it seems as if her friend were attacked and killed by someone very strong, before being thrown from the window. But how could that be if only a sedated Regan were alone in the room with him?

In the next scene there is a loud crash from Regan’s bedroom, her mother rushes up to investigate and finds all of the furniture and possessions flying around as if caught in some kind of tornado, while Regan whose face is now horribly disfigured is repeatedly stabbing herself in her vagina with a religious cross that had been left in her room. She then attacks her mother before her head twists around 180 degrees. This is all delivered at an incredibly quick pace and is one of the iconic horror scenes of all time and one which would have been truly shocking for audiences at the time, with legendary reports of people fainting in movie theatres.

This is the straw that breaks the camel’s back for Chris and she visits Father Karris pleading for his help and asking whether he can perform an exorcism on her daughter. He advises that possessions have now been explained by the modern understanding of mental illness and schizophrenia, although he admits the secretive practice does still exist. But he does not want her to go down this route and agrees to see Regan as a psychiatrist only.

Regan is now strapped to her bed and she tells Karris that she is the devil. He asks where Regan is and she replies “In here with us.” She is fully transformed into her demonic state now with great practical make up effects, and another iconic horror scene is delivered as she projectile vomits green goo over the priest. Karris tells Chris that he has seen many psychotics who have told him they are the devil, and that he recommends that she is placed in a secure hospital for observation, but her mother refuses to believe that this is a mental illness and will not section her.

Father Karris is disturbed by the fact that Regan was aware that his mother had recently died. He visits her again and talks to the demon within her who has no choice but to converse with him having been securely tied down. He records their conversation as Regan begins speaking in tongues and plays back the recordings to a colleague where they discover she has been speaking English backwards exclaiming “Let her die!”

Karris feels there is enough evidence to seek permission from the church to conduct an exorcism ritual. He wants to perform this himself but is advised a priest with experience must be called, and Father Merrin who we have not seen since the opening sequence is summoned, arriving at the house in the film’s iconic foggy night time shot. The two priests enter the room and are met with Regan shouting obscenities at Karris as he reads the Lord’s Prayer, including the shocking line “Your mother sucks cocks in Hell!” an extreme example of the over the top language written by Blatty and synonymous with The Exorcist.

Regan struggles and tries to break free from her restraints, rocking the bed which levitates as the priests continue to read from the bible, and as the light darkens we see flashes of the demonic face once again. When they finish reading, Regan’s cries turns to laughter and cupboard doors open and shut. “I cast you out in the name of Jesus Christ” Merrin shouts at the demon. Her head spins 360 degrees, her restraints come free and her body levitates. “The power of Christ compels you!” the two priests repeatedly chant as the wounds of the stigmata magically appear on her.

The lighting in the room is filmed in a smoky blue haze during this classic exorcism scene insinuating an icy cold breath, and the sound effects of the demon breathing and moaning are an equally as chilling background drone. Regan’s body floats back down to the bed and they restrain her hands once again, however their work is not done and as Regan sleeps Father Merrin informs they must rest and then repeat the ritual.

When they go back into her room Regan seems weak and the demon begins speaking to Karris in the voice of his mother. Father Merrin suggests he leaves the room and remains alone with the demon. When Karris returns to the room Merrin is laying dead. Karris attempts CPR but when it doesn’t work he attacks Regan summoning the demon to leave her body and take him instead. The demon obliges and his eyes change but while he still has the strength of his soul inside him, he leaps from the window in order to save Regan and kill the vessel of the demon … a thoroughly tragic ending for the priest.

Even by todays standards The Exorcist is a disturbing yet compelling Horror movie, it is incredibly dark and bleak, but there are also some heartwarming moments of character development and the relationships between certain characters are played out with perfect dialogue. The Exorcist is a stonewall classic movie which made its mark on the history of film, and engrained itself in popular culture with sequels and dozens of imitation films and parodies, none of which have represented the sub-genre with anywhere near as much sophistication.

The Exorcist Legacy – Sequels / Prequels

Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

The commercial success of The Exorcist would ultimately lead to a sequel being commissioned, although Exorcist II: The Heretic which was directed by John Boorman (Deliverance) is a fine example of delivering a poor and misguided follow up to a classic movie. Linda Blair reprises her role as Regan four years on from the events of the first story as she undergoes a form of Hypno-Therapy in order to try to remember and understand what had happened to her.

Elsewhere legendary actor Richard Burton (Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Wolf) plays priest Father Philip Lamont who is tasked by the Catholic Church to investigate the events of the first film and the death of Father Merrin. This premise of the film seems reasonable enough on paper as the movie also tries to address the themes of trauma and PTSD, but sadly the execution falls wide of the mark

The Heretic delivers a sequel far from the quality of its source material. The script written by playwright William Goodhart is terribly delivered by almost all concerned and the plot is equally as baffling, as the film confusingly twists and turns its way back to the iconic house and Regan’s bedroom.

Max Von Sydow reprises his role as Father Merrin in a few flashback scenes, and we learn a little of the Demon’s origins as an evil spirit in Africa, it’s affinity with flying locusts and it’s name of Pazuzu. But overall Exorcist II: The Heretic often has the feel of a bad B-Movie, with baffling narrative choices and performances not befitting of the cast or it’s name.

The Exorcist III – Legion (1990)

The Heretic killed the franchise for over a decade but in the meantime William Peter Blatty had written Legion, a follow up novel to his original classic which was published in 1983. The story rightly ignores the events of the second movie and focuses on returning to the characters of Father Dyer and Lieutenant Kinderman 15 years later, as Kinderman investigates a spree of horrific murders baring hallmarks to that of The Gemini Killer who had been put to the electric chair.

Legion had started life as a screenplay written by Blatty with William Friedkin slated to direct, but after Friedkin left the project Blatty converted his story into a novel before Morgan Creek Productions acquired the film rights. It would then be Blatty himself who would direct the third instalment in The Exorcist franchise, and he would create a movie that has become somewhat of a cult classic and a film that far exceeds the The Heretic in terms of it’s quality, as it is a classy yet disturbing companion piece to the original classic.

The Exorcist III also known as Legion, is a psychological-thriller detective story with a perfectly paced script full of twists and turns that keeps the viewer guessing the outcome through to the very end. It features perfect performances from George C. Scott (The Changeling) as Kinderman and Brad Dourif (Child’s Play) as The Gemini Killer, as the mystery of how a long since dead murderer appears to be killing once again.

The movie is one of the most eerie from the era with part of its magic being that you don’t actually see any killings or blood and gore, but it is instead all suggested and described in gruesome detail for the viewer. It also delivers an iconic sequence which provides one of the most chilling jump scares of all time, while cleverly linking back to the original story and the theme of possession in an extraordinarily unique way.

Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) Vs. Dominion: Prequel To The Exorcist (2005)

Over another decade on and it was time to revisit the story, this time by way of Morgan Creek delivering a prequel exploring a younger Father Merrin and his time on an archeological dig in Nairobi, and his first encounter with the demon Pazuzu. A situation hinted at in the first movie and explored further in The Heretic. Dominion was first filmed by director Paul Schrader (Patty Hearst) best known for writing the screenplay to Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976).

It stars Stellan Skarsgård as Father Merrin, a Dutch priest who at this point in his life is experiencing a crisis of faith following a traumatic experience at the hands a Nazi SS squad during the final year of WW2. However stylistically Dominion had little to nothing in common with the original movie and on viewing the finished product Morgan Creek were less than pleased with the final cut.

Fearing the movie would be a failure they hired a new director Renny Harlin (A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master / Die Hard 2) to complete extensive reshoots with the idea of primarily adding more scares, gore and an exorcism! Harlin ended up virtually shooting a whole new movie with a completely revised script and new cast, although Skarsgård remained in the role of Merrin.

The Beginning provided a far more fantastical take on the Dominion story, filmed with more of a horror style and graphic flair. However it bombed at the box office, and led to Morgan Creek also taking the decision to release Scharder’s subtler and more stripped back version a year later. Both lost the studio money and while each movie is a significant improvement on Exorcist II: The Heretic, neither hold a candle to parts I or III. The prequels would signify the end of The Exorcist story … until now. KZ (Oct 2023).

Words by Mark Bates