Unbelievable Truths About The Exorcist That Will Shock Every Horror Fan!

Everyone knows that The Exorcist (1973), directed by William Friedkin, is one of the scariest horror movies ever made. It was so scary in fact that psychologists thought it could trigger neurosis in people that watched it. While that is well-known, the following facts about The Exorcist aren’t, unless you’re a true diehard fan.

The iconic poster for "The Exorcist"

The Real-Life Inspiration

The movie is based on a book, which was inspired by a real-life exorcism. The novel, also titled The Exorcist, written by William Peter Blatty, was first published in 1971. It was based on the 1949 Maryland case of a 13-year-old boy, only known under the pseudonym of Roland Roe. The boy was suffering from an inexplicable ailment after the death of an aunt who had introduced him to the Ouija board and started presenting extreme signs of demonic possession.

The first attempt at the ritual was performed by Roman Catholic priest, Edward Hughes, at Georgetown University Hospital (a Jesuit institution). The exorcism was unsuccessful and stopped when the priest was physically harmed, as the boy was said to have broken free from his restraints and slashed the priest using a mattress spring. Rev. William S. Bowdern, in St. Louis, was granted permission to perform another exorcism by the Catholic church. The boy is said to have undergone around 30 exorcisms, many in which he succeeded in breaking free from his restraints and becoming violent.

Aspects of Blatty's novel were inspired by the 1949 exorcism performed by Jesuit priest William S. Bowdern.

Behind the Scenes

Principal photography was also difficult. Many cast and crew were injured, some died, and unusual accidents delayed shooting.

The author of the book also wrote the screenplay for the film and acted as producer.
Previous to making the bestseller list, Hollywood studio after Hollywood studio rejected his screenplay for the film.
The book on which it is based was initially a failure when published.
The author hit some luck when he was invited as a last-minute guest on late night show, The Dick Cavett Show.
Blatty, who also produced, and Friedkin, his choice as director, had difficulty casting the film.
Their choice of relative unknowns Burstyn, Blair, and Miller, instead of major stars, drew opposition from executives at Warner Bros.

Documentary The Fear of GodThe Making of The Exorcist

Casting and Characters

The lead roles, particularly Regan, were not easily cast. Jack Nicholson was considered for Karras, and Paul Newman was interested, before Blatty hired Stacy Keach. Three A-list actresses of the time-Audrey Hepburn, Anne Bancroft and Jane Fonda-were considered for Chris, but rejected the part. Friedkin also rejected Blatty's friend Shirley MacLaine since she had starred in The Possession of Joel Delaney, a similar film. Ellen Burstyn received the part after she told Friedkin she was "destined" to play Chris, discussing the Catholic upbringing she had later rejected.

Linda Blair secured the role of Regan Macneil, having defeated 500 other actresses.
Max von Sydow, who played elderly Father Lankester Merrin, was only 43 years old. He spent 3 hours a day in makeup to age him.
The role of Father Dyer is played by real-life priest William O’Malley.
Warner Bros originally wanted Marlon Brando for the role of Father Merrin. Friedkin vetoed his involvement because then it would become a Brando film and not The Exorcist.

The Demon Pazuzu

The demon’s name in the film is Pazuzu. The name of the demon is never explicitly mentioned in the film. At the beginning of the film when Father Merrin stands in front of a statue in an archaeological site in Iraq, he is actually in the ancient Nineveh. The statue is that of Pazuzu.

A statue of the demon Pazuzu

He is an ancient Assyrian and Babylonian demon, king of the demon winds and son of the Hanbi, the god of evil. He had the power to control winds that could cause destruction and famine.

The demon that possesses Regan MacNeil is actually named Pazuzu, however the demon’s name is never mentioned in any way in either version of ‘The Exorcist’ (or ‘The Exorcist: The Restored Version’).
During the film Pazuzu lies to Father Damien Karras claiming to be the actual Devil.

Extreme Directing Methods

Friedkin manipulated the actors to get genuine reactions. Unsatisfied with O'Malley's performance as Dyer ministers to the dying Karras at the end of the film, he slapped him hard across the face to generate a deeply solemn yet literally shaken reaction for the scene, offending many Catholic crew members. He also fired blanks without warning to elicit shock from Miller for a take; Dietz recalls him also doing this during the scene where Regan assaults the doctors at the house.

Director William Friedkin actually took deliberate measures to abuse the cast for a fear effect.
He went as far as firing guns without warning behind the actors to frighten them.
He slapped Father O’Malley across the face to catch footage of his shocked reaction for the film.

Injuries and Accidents

The screams you hear when Regan’s mother is thrown to the floor after the possessed girl slaps her, are actually genuine.
Ellen Burstyn received a permanent spinal injury during filming. In the sequence where she is thrown away from her possessed daughter, a harness jerked her hard away from the bed. They use that scene in the movie as her reaction was authentic.
Linda Blair also injured her back while filming. Linda Blair did fracture her back due to the rig and not being propertly secured during the scene where Regan is being thrown by the bed. The fracture later resulted in scoliosis.

The Chilling Atmosphere

Regan’s room was literally freezing.
The director wanted it to appear genuine that the room was cold and literally chilled it to achieve this effect. The entire room of Regan was refrigerated to catch the breath of the actors on camera.
The refrigerated bedroom set was cooled with four air conditioners and temperatures would plunge to around 30 to 40 below zero.
It was so cold that perspiration would freeze on some of the cast and crew.
On one occasion the air was saturated with moisture resulting in a thin layer of snow falling on the set before the crew arrived for filming.

The Voice of the Demon

For the voice of the possessed Regan, Friedkin was looking for something that straddled the line between female and male, which led him to reach out to Mercedes McCambridge who he felt had the kind of voice that could fit the bill. After showing her a rough cut of the film (with the demon dialogue delivered by the innocent sounding Blair), he recalls her saying, “Do you know anything about me? I was a practicing Catholic from childhood. Then I became a suicidal drunk. I went through AA, and I can no longer have a drink even. But in order for me to do what you need me to do for this voice, I’m going to have to put alcohol down my throat, and I’m gonna to swallow raw eggs several times a day, and I’m going to take up smoking again.”

Read also: Become an Exorcist: Training

Mercedes McCambridge provided the chilling voice of the demon

Mercedes McCambridge went to extreme lengths for the voice of the demon.
She provided the vocalizations of the demon and in order to perfect the distorted voice, she actually gave up sobriety.
She chain-smoked cigarettes, drank heavily, even ate raw eggs to master the Satanic voice.
McCambridge also insisted on being bound to a chair to make her voice acting more authentic.
Friedkin has said that the extremes she went to has scared him to this day.

Vomiting Sequences

Linda Blair’s double, Eileen Dietz, also sued for not being credited for the vomiting sequences.
The shooting of these were actually so complex that Dietz couldn’t even close her mouth.
For the vomiting sequences, Eileen Dietz doubled (uncredited) for Linda Blair, and later sued unsuccessfully for puking credit.
Makeup veteran Dick Smith rigged Dietz’s facial contours with sheets of heat-formed plexiglass that were secured at the corners of her mouth and behind her head.
A camouflaged nozzle anchored in Dietz’s oral cavity provided the apparatus through which the “vomit” could be forcefully discharged, fed by supply tubes discreetly embedded in the plexiglass on both sides of her face.
The substance that the possessed Regan hurls at Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller) is thick pea soup. Specifically, it’s Andersen’s brand pea soup. The pea soup used during the vomit scenes are from Andersen's.
The scene where Regan vomited the pea soup was done in one take.
The vomit mixture was meant to hit Father Damien Karras (played by Jason Miller) in the chest, but it instead hit him in the face when the rig malfunctioned.
Linda Blair hated vegetables so much during filming that having split pea soup in and around her mouth made her actually vomit.

Death Threats and Security

Linda Blair received an insane amount of death threats.
The majority of these were from religious zealots, many who believed her to be Satan’s voice and helper.
These threats got to be so horrendous that Warner Bros had to hire bodyguards to be with her 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for nearly 6 months.
Due to death threats against Linda Blair from religious zealots who believed the film “glorified Satan”, Warner Bros.

Controversies and Bans

People actually believed the film was cursed.
The film was banned in the UK. The movie was released with an X rating in the UK in 1974. It was later banned by a few local authorities, and in 1988 the sale of the film was banned under The Video Recordings Act. When originally released in the UK a number of town councils imposed a complete ban on the showing of the film.
It was banned in every Middle Eastern country except Lebanon.
Some cities attempted to ban it outright or prevent children from attending.
The cultural conversation around the film helped it become the first horror film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, as well as nine others.

Tragic Events

There was quite a number of deaths surrounding the movie.
Actor Jack MacGowran died from the flu shortly after shooting ended.
Actress Vasiliki Maliaros also died during post-production, due to natural causes. Both of their characters died in the film.
Linda Blair’s grandfather and Max von Sydow’s brother both died during shooting.

Audience Reactions

A woman was so frightened at a showing of the movie that she passed out and broke her jaw.
A filmgoer who saw the movie in 1974 during its original release fainted and broke his jaw on the seat in front of him.
He then sued Warner Brothers and the filmmakers, claiming that the use of subliminal imagery in the film had caused him to pass out.
The studio settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.
There were many reports of people passing out and fainting during the movie, but much of it is thought to be overblown for marketing.
However, there were two true instances: When the cast appeared for a reunion on Good Morning America in 1984, Burstyn recounted that she went to see the movie in theatres while filming another movie on location in Arizona. She watched a woman wobble up the stairs and she followed. When the woman fainted, Burstyn caught her. However, Burstyn quickly realized that if the woman came-to and saw someone from the movie, it would upset her more, so she handed the woman off to someone else.
In a second instance, a woman sued Warner Brothers and the film makers after fainting and breaking her jaw as she fell into the seat in front of her. She claimed the subliminal shots caused her to faint. They settled out of court.

Historical Significance

This was the first film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. 1973’s The Exorcist, written by William Peter Blatty and directed by William Friedkin, is regarded as one of the greatest horror films of all time - a sentiment we are inclined to agree with. The film elevated the horror genre to a new level, similar to what Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey did for science-fiction films, and it still remains startlingly effective and continues to possess moviegoers generation after generation.

When adjusted for inflation, The Exorcist’s $428 million global box office translates to an astonishing $2.9 billion total gross in 2023 dollars.

Inspirations

Paintings played a pivotal role in the film’s look.
The iconic eerie scene of the priest’s arrival, as he steps out of a cab and in front of the Macneil home, is actually inspired by a series of three oil paintings. One of the most famous scenes in the movie and the shot used for the posters and the cover of the DVD/VHS releases was inspired by the 1954 painting “Empire of Light” (“L’Empire des lumières”) by René Magritte. It is the scene where Fr.

Notable Cameos

A real-life suspected serial killer makes an appearance in the film.
Paul Bateson, a real-life X-ray technician, played the role of the radiologist’s assistant in the scene where Regan is having a carotid angiography.
He was arrested for homicide in 1979, after meeting film critic Addison Verrill, having sex with him, and proceeding to bash his skull in with a skillet.
Bateson boasted about killing other men while awaiting trial, claiming that he did it for fun and dumped their bodies in the Hudson River.
Authorities suspected him of being a serial killer that had been targeting gay men in the years of 1977 and 1978, and wrapping their chopped up remains in plastic bags.
These were known as the Bag Murders.
Though they had a confession, they couldn’t link any evidence to his claim.

Other Facts

Captain Howdy -- what Regan (played by Linda Blair) calls the spirit from the Ouijia board -- is a reference to the name of her character's father, Howard, who left her and her mom, Chris, prior to the movie's timeline.
The “Exorcist steps”, 75 (or 74 - one is very small) stone steps at the end of M Street in Georgetown, were padded with 1/2″-thick rubber to film the death of Father Karras.
The stuntman tumbled down the stairs twice.

The infamous "Exorcist Steps" in Georgetown

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