This was the most shocking scene in the Exorcist?

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The Power of Christ compels you!

It doesn't seem scary by itself but if you see it in context of the original film it is quite awful.

Also, no one had ever seen anything quite like this before.

Now this is compelling...

Max Von Sydow looked like an old man in this clip, but he's still making movies 40 years later.

I laughed at the crabwalk scene in the "version you've never seen before" (the "restored" rerelease from 2000).

Are they already making a movie about Joan Rivers' death?

I thought this movie was corny as fuck, I didn't even flinch for a second.

Oh R8, you're just so above-it-all, aren't you.

The Exorcist may somehow not be frightening to certain people, but it is by no means 'corny'.

r9 no its pretty lame tbh. Even my parents saw it back in its heyday, and thought it was lame. Was this the movie that made you sleep in your parents bed until you were 17? If so im sorry I offended you.

R10,

This happened toward the beginning of the satanic panic hysteria. People were freaked out because the majority of people in the U.S. are Christian and believe this sort of thing is real. So even though they went in knowing it was a movie they really treated it as a documentary.

People were genuinely freaked. At least one person died, heart attack. It was a phenomenon in and of itself.

eh r11 im not saying people are dumb, but it was lame. Like I said my parents saw it in the "hysteria" and said it was lame as well. btw this came out in the 70s fuck you talkin about Christianity for? maybe in the 50s that would apply, but after the 60's religion, patriotism, took a back seat.

I wont see it but can anyone tell me what the scene in the link is?

R12,

The satanic panic hysteria actually being in the mid 70s, though most only say it was an 80s thing. In reality it began in the mid 70s and lasted to the mid 90s. During this time period the public was fascinated with all thing satanic and occult, from witchcraft and Satanism, to Ouija board and demonic possession. Every single thing from wearing black and liking scented candles was looked as proof of being a Satanist.

The scariest part was the music, Tubular Bells.

The scene in which the demon telekinetically opens the nightstand's drawer is an interesting one. Father Karras asks "did you do that?", and the demon sort of nods "Ahhh..." and smiles mischievously. The voice-over and sound editing of the demon's role is pretty masterful, basically layering the character over Linda Blair's image during the segments where Reagan is under possession. The demon "character" is actually built up of voices like the actress Mercedes McCambridge and (I think) some others. I liked the way the demon haggled and negotiated "kindly undo these straps" and snapped at the priests ("bastards!) and was also self-pitying during the exorcism. Friedkin was very clever in that way.

Close eyes and listen while your mother sucks cocks in Hell.

You're full of shiny, r11. I was there. It was heavily hyped, but NO ONE died of a heart attack. Most of the reports of people fainting and running out if the theatres was PR. I was 16 at the time, and the buzz was astounding (though nothing like the TITANIC buzz). But when I saw it, I thought it wasn't so scary at all.

And there was no satanic panic going in then. A little bit back in 1969 from the Manson murders, and then again in the 1989s with the advent if goth. But not in 1973/74.

R13, it's one of the brain scan scenes. They have to stick something in her jugular vein and blood comes shooting out of her neck while they do it.

The scariest scene for me when I first watched this film is when the doctors come to the house to see her "spasms". When Regan is flying up and down on the bed really fast. Whoooo, freaked me out.

The part where she pees on the oriental rug during mommy's fancy party, saying: "you're gonna die up there"

"after the 60's religion, patriotism, took a back seat."

Tiresome R12 apparently masturbated through the Reagan, Bush, and Bushier administrations, the Prop 8 fiasco and several wars.

I'm glad I don't have to go through THAT to get a CT scan these days. How excruciating.

[quote]The part where she pees on the oriental rug during mommy's fancy party, saying: "you're gonna die up there"

Yeah, that was creepy and after that she shuts down and doesn't answer Chris when she's asking her questions in the bathtub, she just stares blankly. The devil has arrived.

I don't understand why they didn't give her Valium or some other sedative before the arteriogram. This wasn't the 1940s, by the early 70s invasive procedures were pretty civilized. The radiologist isn't going to get a good image if the patient is twitching from anxiety, this was all understood even back then.

The tech calls her "REEgan" which sounds so icky.

I *hate* this scene, lol. I get completely nauseous and light headed when I have to give blood samples. Its the feeling of a cold hard needle in my vein that makes me almost pass out. Part of it is a fear that if I move around at all I'm going to feel that needle scraping around inside of me.

This movie gave Tourette's Syndrome a bad name.

A friend and I went to see it when we were in our early teens. We got progressively more nervous as we bought the tickets, got seated, and waited for the movie to start. We had seen filmgoers on the ads for the movie talking about how terrifying it was. One girl even said she fainted in the first ten minutes! We both ended up laughing through it. We thought it was cool and funny, but not scary. I did learn some great new curse words, though.

[quote][R9] no its pretty lame tbh. Even my parents saw it back in its heyday, and thought it was lame

R10 = hipster douchebag offspring of hipster douchebags.

I was most freaked out by the scene where Linda Blair turns into the priest's dying mother.

What you can' tell about this scene in the video is the sound...

That is what was frightening in the theater....it was so loud and disturbing I remember people freaking out..I did...because it was something "everyday" in this movie that had such mystery about it..

much more so than the pea soup...people were really prepared for that..

That said at the time it was one of the most shocking and scary movies and I was really into that stuff since the 50's...

Burstyn was magnificent...everyone was...

[quote]The part where she pees on the oriental rug during mommy's fancy party, saying: "you're gonna die up there"

I've always thought the movie was mostly boring, but I'm not old enough to have seen it in a theater.

That said, the quote above is one of the most chilling moments in the movie, as far as I'm concerned.

The scariest bit was the crucifix masturbation to me. How they got away with that is beyond me. That'd never get a greenlight in a mainstream studio film these days. Just look at all the possession flicks that have followed. They all involve vocal manipulation and body contortions, but none have had the balls to pull off a scene like that.

How is that, say, after the release of Halloween, there were several pretty decent imitations like Friday the 13th and He Knows You're Alone, but there hasn't been a single, truly frightening possession film since The Exorcist?

Saw it in my early teens as well. Started laughing when she pissed and continued the whole way through.

[quote]The scariest bit was the crucifix masturbation to me. How they got away with that is beyond me. That'd never get a greenlight in a mainstream studio film these days.

Agreed. That scene horrified me. Wouldn't that have ruined her down there? No one in the movie seemed real concerned with tending to the wounds.

My dad and my uncle both saw it when it came out. Dad was 25 and uncle was 19. My father was so freaked out: came home couldn't sleep, was scared/creeped-out, etc for weeks afterward. My uncle: zero effect, didn't bother him at all.

Why do we need so many Exorcist threads? Is it because real threads keep getting deleted?

When I was a kid they thought I had a brain tumor and put me through the same tests they gave Reagan in the film. They didn't sedate me either until one of the tests made me freak out (it started with a spinal tap) and only then did they give me something. I know, what fucking morons.

Now CT scans and MRIs have made those test pretty much obsolete.

They are torture. With the angiogram you feel like your entire body is on fire.

FYI, what I had was diagnosed as a benign pseudo tumor that I got because I was given too much vitamin A. It gave me all the symptoms of a tumor including doctors seeing pressure on my brain when they looked into my eyes. I had totally double vision to where I could not walk and an extreme headache. It happened suddenly. I was fine one minute and the next I couldn't see to cross the street.

I had to stay on a huge amount of prednisone for over a month. My entire face swelled up so badly that my eyes were squeezed shut and my eyebrows became horribly bushy for some reason. I was really scary to look at. I also sweated like I had never sweated before. I had to have two fans going by my bed in the middle of winter.

Lesson that people later learned was don't take too much of some vitamins like A, E, D, the oily ones.

[quote]Even my parents saw it back in its heyday, and thought it was lame

That's because your parents weren't really paying attention to the movie. They just wanted to get home to their key party.

The most shocking scenes in "The Exorcist" were Regan's clinical tests. All of her medical specialists SMOKED CIGARETTES! There were ashtrays on all of the conference tables. Oh, and those beige touch-tone phones!

I think the brain scan scene is the scariest, but my favorite is, "Let Jesus fuck you!"

People who laugh all the way through this movie are juvenile. Really -- this is what you find funny? You're immature; there's no getting around it.

People who find it mostly boring: stupid, possibly juvenile. It's a great story, brilliantly photographed and edited into a gritty, groovy 70s movie. There's hardly anything else like it.

I had a submandibular sialogram in the 80s, nowhere near as extreme as this exam but very scary to this 17 year old. They didn't sedate me and didn't tell me what to expect either other than "we're going to take an xray." They didn't bring my mother into the procedure room either. What they did was insert a catheter into a salivary gland located under my tongue, and then they injected dye. The radiologist told me I'd feel some pressure but it was way way more intense than he described. I felt horrible burning pain on the left side of my head from under my tongue to the eye, it was like the worst headache of my life and it also made my vision change for a split second (I saw blood vessels suddenly) and then they took pictures. I remember the radiologist barking at me to stop crying and lay still. The worst part was they then repeated it on the other side. Now I knew what to expect, so I had horrible anxiety. Same pain, ugh. They let me spit and rinse my mouth out and sent me back out to my mother and gave her the preliminary results right away, there was no tumor or stone. I told my mother I would never ever have that test again, she apologized and told me she had no idea, but I think she also told me to man up and that there are much worse medical tests.

Because I pay my $18 to start my own threads and you don't, cheapskate R36.

Why did Blatty make Father Karras Greek in the book/film? Greeks, largely, are not Roman Catholics... It would have made more sense if he were Italian.

The "spider walk" scene was what really freaked people out--it made people faint in previews, so they had to take it out (and restored it 25 years later).

Maybe I'm alone, but I find the Iraqi intro unnerving.. when Father Merrin almost gets run over by the horse carriage, sees the the Pazuzu demon statue, and then the two dogs start fighting with loud growling... then fade scene to Regan and Ellen Burstyn in Georgetown. Unsettling.

R45, I don't think that's true at all. Where did you get that?

Freidkin took it out because he felt it interrupted the movie, didn't add anything. It takes away from the impact of Burstyn's character learning about the death of her friend.

I don't recall hearing it even made it to test audiences, much less that anyone fainted from it. Certainly if they HAD fainted, that wouldn't be cause for them to remove it! It would've only aided publicity.

I found it completely unrealistic. Everyone knows there are much more successful ways of dealing with children who refuse to tinkle in the proper place.

80s kid here. I first saw it in my late teens and didnt find it scary. The psycological aspect is brilliant. After several repeat viewings I find the possession scened funny. I mean: the sow is mine, your cunting daughter, karras you faithless slime, la plume de ma tante is comedy gold. The only scary part is when Pazuzus face appears on the wall behind the mother. On the other hand the movie that truly horrified me and gave me nightmares was 8mm. Specially the fact thar whar is seen in that movie actuallu happens in real life.

Even if you didn't grow up Catholic believing all of the mumbo-jumbo about demons, possession, and exorcisms, it is still frightening to see the young girl's transformation into a violent, raving, murderous lunatic.

I forgot to add: the most shocking scene for me in this movie—which kept me from watching it the whole way through from about age 7 until I was maybe 13—was this spasm scene. The bulge in her throat, her rolled-back, white eyes, the spasms themselves. As a very young kid, this was the most upsetting thing I'd ever seen, and I was a huge fan of horror movies.

I think the lack of a musical score, which makes the movie seem more realistic and almost documentary-like, was another major factor.

As an adult—and an atheist—it's not exactly terrifying anymore. But I can now say I had my first actual panic attacks, where I felt like my heart sunk to the floor and I went completely pale and my pulse raced, whenever I would try to watch this movie, or be surprised by clips from it that would show up on television from time to time. For that reason alone, I still consider it one of my life's most important movies. It had that strong an impact on me growing up.

Whoops, meant to include this link to the spasm scene.

R49, why is "La plume de ma tante" funny?

I remember reading the book and Blatty making something of Regan's using the phrase "my pearl". What up with that?

the ouji board always bothered me.

Especially because lots of kids had them amongst their games in the basement.

two cool shots are when the blanket flies out the window and at the beginning when the nuns skirt's start to blow in the wind.

I just re-watched The Exorcist a week ago and it really bothered me this time -- even had nightmares. Probably my 4th time seeing it in full, plus seeing clips all the time.

A child demands to be raped (Jesus is a moot point.) Seeing her body ruined from her mother eyes...Burstyn's performance of whether to hate the demon inside her child, or love her despite the demon inside...not even lightning strike Kidman, Farmiga or Watts the same way.

The TV series seems like a bomb. The first episode was lame.

I remember as a kid they would show this on the local TV channel (KTLA in Southern Cal) every so often on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon (the edited, more censored version of course, with commercial breaks). My dad would always watch it, and my mom would shuffle off into the kitchen, saying that watching the film was "bringing the devil in the house!" She would then demand that I go play outside, but I would peek in to catch some of it every so often. Ha - growing up Catholic!

I always thought the movie made the devil seem sort of powerless. I mean the worst he could do was make some little girl writhe around in her bed a lot?

I mean you'd think the devil would have other fish to fry.

[quote] I mean you'd think the devil would have other fish to fry.

He did, R60, on Fridays (nyerk, nyerk)

R16 also applies to Clinton's exorcism of Trump last night.

I believe the guy placing the IV was an actual X-ray tech from NYU Medical Center. He also turned out to be serial killer. He preyed on men in leather bars in the late 70s. I don't think he was the direct inspiration for Cruising, because the book was written a few years before he was active, but I can't believe that Friedkin wasn't influenced at least a little by him when he made the movie.

The arteriogram is bad, but the pneumoencephalogram (the one where the X-ray is spinning around her head) was pure torture. They would remove most of the cerebrospinal fluid and pump in helium. It could take months to recover from it.

I think I love you, R38.

I think the desecrated statue of the Virgin Mary freaked me out the most. The way it was filmed, it came as a total surprise and was really disturbing.

The scene where the detective stakes out the MacNeil home from his car and sees a shadow moving in front of Regan's window.. while Regan is presumably restrained to the bed with straps. Creepy little scene.

Bump

r63--where did you hear that about the x-ray tech? I've never heard it before.

Actually, I found this:

Wow, I wonder what Paul Bateson is doing now? He was cute back in '73.

The scariest part of The Exorcist for me was going to see it when I was sixteen, running across a highway to get to the theatre, and being hit by a car--only to discover the driver was a priest in Roman collar.

The office visits and tests were unnerving.

Reagan saying "I don't feel anything!"

Fuck

People forget that it was nominated for Best Picture

R71, I don't remember her ever saying "I don't feel anything." Is that in the re-edited 2001(?) release?

The decor in that rented DC house -- OMG!

R74, beautiful, no?

Seeing Ellen Burstyn without make-up.

It wasn't actually Satan himself possessing Regan. Pazuzu is a pestilence demon, or a demon of the air or something like that.

Linda Blair's parents must've been hella lenient, first letting her take on that role and then letting her shack up with a much older Rick Springfield when she was still a teen (she lost her virginity to him).

Rick James wrote Cold Blooded about her.

Another freaky, subtle scene. During the medical examination, a nurse watches as Regan hums and flits around the room like a crazy. The nurse's face is very WTF?

Chris wandering in the dark through the attic looking for the source of the strange noises she's hearing is pretty creepy.

I also thought "Ramblin' Man" playing during the bar scene was a nice touch. Pazuzu rambled all the way from the other side of the world to possess a little girl in DC.

R8 here. Nothing bothers me. Hee hee hee HEE HAHAHAHAHAHA HAAAAAAAAHOOOOOHAAAA!!!!!!!!

The HORROR!

R81, I never thought about "Ramblin' Man" in that way! Ha. I always thought it was a nice touch, as something grounding the movie to the then-present day. Again, documentary-like.

R80, whatever scene you're talking about is not in the original release. I think it's unfortunate that the re-edit was ever released. It is inferior in so many ways.

"Wouldn't that have ruined her down there? No one in the movie seemed real concerned with tending to the wounds."

I always thought about that too. In the movie, it appears that's she's stabbing herself with the crucifix (which is made of sharp looking metal). In the book she actually does fuck herself with it thrusts it down in her vagina and shoves it in and out. The cross in the book is described as "bone white" but doesn't specify if it's made of metal or plastic or wood. From what is described it would appear that she was ripped up down and would need immediate medical attention. She definitely would have needed stitches and antibiotics to prevent infection. But by that time Chris MacNeil is keeping her away from doctors and nurses because she's afraid they'll find out little Regan killed Burke Dennings. And of course an injury like that would probably have all kinds of people investigating how it happened. So...do Chris and her loyal band of helpers (Sharon, Karl and Willie) take care of her ripped up genitals in whatever way they can? I don't see how that would have been possible.

She also shat on the bed and told Karras to consecrate it.

You mean fuck shit?

No, consecrate it. Like a communion wafer.

Pazuzu was actually quite a chatty demon. In the novel he and Karras had several lively conversations. Later Father Merrin tells Karras not to do that, because the demon mixes lies with the truth and it's a psychological attack. In the movie he talks a lot less and vomits a lot more.

[quote]Pazuzu is a pestilence demon, or a demon of the air

He's the demon of the southwest winds to the ancient Mesopotamian peoples. That culture believed that famine came in on the wind and he was the actor who transmitted it.

Ironically he was considered a protector of pregnant women because he was the big rival to the horrible demon lamashtu was killed babies in the womb. So pregnant women wore pazuzu medals or amulets so she would fuck off.

Also since he was the famine demon perhaps he had a slimming effect!

[quote] [R80], whatever scene you're talking about is not in the original release. I think it's unfortunate that the re-edit was ever released. It is inferior in so many ways.

R84, I somewhat disagree. Yes, the spider-walk and the subliminal demon faces were a bit cheesy, but the additional medical evaluation scenes add to the foreboding ambiance of the film. I also appreciated the ending with Lt. Kinderman and Father Dyer walking arm-in-arm.. it made the ending less bleak.

Here are some of the re-inserted medical scenes. Unfortunately, I could not find the aforementioned humming/nurse scene.

I always thought Jason Miller turned in the best performance of all of the actors, for his turn as the intense, conflicted Father Karras with mother issues. Miller, btw, was supposedly Irish in real life, but I always thought he had some Italian in him.

Linda Blair was largely guided in her performance by Friedkin, but she did excellent physical acting in her role. She should have beat Tatum O'Neal.

Didn't the controversy/scandal about Mercedes McCambridge cost her the Oscar?

When he's performing CPR on Father Merrin, the little giggle the demon makes really creeped me out.

Linda Blair shouldn't have beaten Tatum O'Neal. Madeline Kahn should have.

Linda Blair was no actress (neither was Tatum O'Neal). She was a kiddie model who'd done some tv commercials. She was chosen for the role of Regan because she had the right look (a very cutie pie face) and Friedkin supposedly thought she was stable enough psychologically to do a role where she cursed incessantly, fucked a cross and shoved her mother's face into her bloody crotch. The role was strenuous physically but didn't require any real acting. And the voice of the demon was supplied by Mercedes McCambridge. At first she didn't get credit for her efforts; it was kept under wraps because it was thought that if it got out that Blair didn't do the voice that would hurt her chances at winning an Oscar. But the truth eventually came out.

Linda Blair didn't turn out to be as mentally sound as Friedkin thought she was. After she got famous she went wild; at fifteen she was getting boinked by Rick Springfield (he was 24). Her family was so thrilled with her celebrity that they allowed her lover to move into the family home; whatever your little heart desires, my little movie star darling! She quickly degenerated into a groupie, partying with the lies of Ozzie Osbourne and Keith Moon and attending every rock concert on the planet. She was very chummy with Lynyrd Skynyrd and went on tour with them. Eventually she was arrested for cocaine possession and her career dwindled to nothing. Of course it would. Her efforts after the Exorcist confirmed that she had no acting talent at all and possessed an annoying retarded little girl's voice.

As much of a hot mess that Linda Blair became, Tatum O'Neal turned out as an even hotter mess. People at least seemed to say that Linda is/was fun. Tatum is still just a crazy bitch.

Let's wait and see if Linda falls into Rosie's pussy as well before we declare a loser.

Linda should have won the Oscar. Make-up and voice over be damned, a lesser young actress would not have been able to pull off the polar nature of that role so effortlessly.

Also, no matter what became of her mental health later on, she endured a LOT physically. I'm not saying that means she deserved to win (I agree it should have been Kahn), but she still did really well on something that might have broken some adult actresses too.

Hell, I'm surprised that any of them escaped Friedkin's tricks with intact sanities.

[quote] The "spider walk" scene was what really freaked people out--it made people faint in previews, so they had to take it out (and restored it 25 years later).

Actually, Friedkin states in his autobiography that the reason they cut the scene was they didn't have the technical ability to digitally erase the wires that helped Blair do the gymnastics required. She was in a harness.

Wasn't it a contortionist, not Linda?

What about the iconic sequel "The Exorcist II: The Heretic"?

The Exorcist | Original CBS Broadcast TV Edits

Clips from the original edited-for-TV version of The Exorcist, which had its broadcast premiere on CBS in 1980, demonstrating the numerous edits the film received in order to be deemed suitable for television.

Most of the profanity and "blasphemous" language was either dubbed with new dialogue (by actress Ellen Burstyn) or cut out completely. As director William Friedkin did not wish to work with Mercedes McCambridge again, Friedkin himself provided some of the demon’s new lines - including the famous “your mother sucks cocks in hell” which was changed to “your mother still rots in hell”.

There are also a couple of alternate shots, including one of the Virgin Mary statue crying blood which was filmed especially for the broadcast, replacing the more explicit image of a desecrated Mary found in the original version of the movie.

Your mother sews socks that smell!

Some interesting names of actresses who auditioned for the role of Regan but didn't get it. Anissa Jones was one, Buffy from Family Affair. Can you imagine? And her fate was far worse than Linda's or Tatum's.

[quote] Wasn't it a contortionist, not Linda?

Probably yes, for most of the shots, but I think Linda may have had a closeup when she gets to the bottom of the stairs. I can't remember if he differentiated in the book. I know Eileen Dietz was Blair's stand in for most of the film, and performed a lot of the more salacious shot when you didn't see Blair's face or it was covered in makeup.

For whoever was asking, this is a post-release photo of Paul Bateson.

r107, in OP's video, at 0:53, you can clearly see the S&M leather bracelet on Bateson's wrist... No doubt, even at the time of the filming, Bateson was stalking the leather bars, looking for men to "pick-up." Unsettling to think that he is out of prison, and still alive and walking around somewhere...

A very well made movie where the suspense builds and builds in just the right way.

if you follow the Chris MacNeil/Shirley MacLaine comparasins, that means Regan MacNeil is loosely based on Sachi Parker.

This scene is also disturbing.. I guess this is the spinning x-ray that R63 is referring to. Such crude, frightening medical technology! I am no medical expert, but I am hoping none of this is used anymore!

[quote]This scene is also disturbing.. I guess this is the spinning x-ray that [R63] is referring to. Such crude, frightening medical technology! I am no medical expert, but I am hoping none of this is used anymore!

That's it. Not only is the prep for it agonizing, but in order to have the procedure, that table she's sitting on would be tilted and rotated in all different positions to get the fluid that remained to settle in different parts of her brain. And no, it fell out of use with CT scans and MRI.

[quote]you can clearly see the S&M leather bracelet on Bateson's wrist

Is that what that is? I thought it was some kind of 70s watch.

There were two sets of killings. The ones that Bateson allegedly confessed to happened in '77-78, where bodies in trash bags would wash up at points along the Hudson. There were six victims in total, and none were identified. There was also a spate of killings in January 1973 (which puts it while the movie was still filming, if my dates are right), where six men who all had ties to the leather scene were killed. For some reason, the cops were less than enthusiastic to investigate a bunch of dead queers. Gives me the shivers a bit.

Creepier still, that's still three years AFTER Cruising was first published.

Oh God, EVERY female child actress was supposedly offered or seriously considered for the role of Regan: Jodie Foster, Anissa Jones, Dana Plato, Pamelyn Ferdin, Denise Nickerson. Supposedly Kim Basinger, Sharon Stone, Melanie Griffith, Laura Dern and Eve Plumb all "auditioned" for the role of Regan. Somebody named April Winchell states that she was seriously considered for the part of Regan MacNeil until she developed pyelonephritis, which caused her to be hospitalized and ultimately taken out of consideration.Supposedly producers also sought to have Jamie Lee Curtis audition for the role of Regan MacNeil but her mother Janet Leigh refused. Supposedly Kay Lenz turned down the role of Regan McNeil because she didn't like the script. William Friedkin decided she was too old. According to Panorama magazine, William Friedkin didn't give Brooke Shields the part of Regan McNeil because "she was too young for the part". She was eight years old at the time.According to Variety magazine, Carrie Fisher and her mother Debbie Reynolds were contenders for the roles of Regan and Chris MacNeil.

I think most, if not all of these stories, are probably pure bullshit. Dana Plato claimed that she had been offered the role of Regan but her mother Kay had turned it down. In the book Former Child Stars: The Story of America's Least Wanted, William Peter Blatty later said that he had "no such recollection" of this actually happening, and that Plato herself may have been the source for this rumor.

Friedkin auditioned a few hundred applicants for the role of Regan. It would seem that he DIDN'T want somebody well known in the role. A smart move.

Pamelyn Ferdin was the first actress seriously considered for Regan, but she was rejected for the role because she was considered too hyperfamiliar to audiences in 1973. It's funny, because she is barely remembered now--but she was everywhere back in the early 70s.

Yes, it was a smart move, R112.

Thank you, R107 for the post-prison release images!

Linda Blair did not wear the harness in the spider walk scene. She didn't do the "gymnastics" so there's no reason why she would've worn it. And yes, it's true that the wires were visible, but there were also interviews given where principals (including Freidkin) indicate that it interrupted the narrative of the film.

That "spider walk"...there WAS no spider walk in the novel. What Regan did glide along the floor like a snake, flicking her tongue out. She attempted to tongue Sharon's ankle; Chris screams to call the doctor and "get him out of bed!" Everywhere Sharon went, Regan would follow. I don't think they could have achieved a special effect that would have allowed Blair to glide like a snake. And the spider walk didn't work out so well, either. It always looked very fake.

Regan also "spun rapidly like a top" in the book.. I can't imagine how they woulda pulled that off in the film!

Thank you, R103, for sharing that time capsule from 1980. I didn't see it on TV until USA and WPIX11 (NYC) showed it—and of course it was exactly that version that CBS showed. I didn't even realize it had received a network showing (I was born in 1979 and didn't start attempting to watch the movie until maybe 1986 or '87).

Bump burp belch

I've heard the story that Chris and Regan McNeil were loosely based on MacLaine and Sachi, but how could that be if Sachi was living with her father in Japan?

You answered your own question, r119, when you said it was only "loosely based."

Going back to the Oscars, Madeline Kahn should have won for two reasons:

1) Tatum was in the wrong category. She should have competed in Lead. (if that 6yr old girl from Beasts of No Nation is lead, Tatum most definitely was!)

2) Linda Blair was thought to be incredible when the movie was first released. Then it turned out she was mostly in presence only, The majority of her performance was special effects and Mercedes McCambridge. I'm not sure if it was even her who was peeing on the rug. "You're all gonna die up there!".

R120 - yeah but how? Was there some period where Sachi was in the states, MacLaine thought she was possessed and hired an exorcist? What is the connection? Did Sachi mention anything about it in her book? I'm just really curious if you or anybody else knows.

Mad Magazine's The Ecchorcist was one of their best!

I love memorabilia and behind the scenes stuff as it relates to this movie. I wasn't alive in 1973, so the whole era seems so "unknowable" to me, and I love to see it come to life through things like filmgoer's remembrances of seeing it when it was in theaters, or the MAD magazine thing. I know: MARY!

I too would like to understand the sacchi connection

Watching the OP's video, it strikes me how much clearer the dialogue is from the assistants, including our beloved Bateson. I'm guessing this is from the 2000 "Version You Wish You'd Never Seen". In the original, I do not remember Bateson saying "REE-gan", but that just might be my faulty memory, and I don't remember the nurse reassuring her when she was attaching the blood pressure strap to Blair's arm.

My asshole older brothers made me watch tons of horror movies when I was a kid, so by the time I saw The Exorcist, I was pretty jaded 9-year-old.

The most disturbing and horrifying scenes, to me:

1) Regan's medical procedures, especially the spinal tap [and didn't she get electroshock therapy, too?]

2) Karras POUNDING SOOO FUCKING HARD on Merrin's chest after the old priest bites it -- even as a kid, I knew that if the old guy *had* been alive, that pounding would have finished him the fuck off!

3) The pea soup vomit scene, bleargh!

Blatty was a friend of MacLaine's, and claimed Shirley's obsession with her "favorite character" Pazuzu is why he wrote a sequel.

[quote]If not for his good friend Shirley MacLaine, Blatty, 61, probably wouldn't have bothered to make the gesture. After reading Blatty's The Exorcist—the 1971 novel he then turned into an Academy Award-winning screenplay—MacLaine wanted to know what happened to her favorite character, the devil.

As for the girl being Sachi, I think it was just a vague comparison if anything. Over the years the rumor has grown, with people saying the girl on the cover of the novel was Sachi, but there IS no girl on the cover of the first edition.

In fact, it was Shirley who claimed Sachi was on the cover, and Blatty himself called her on this obvious lie. Her response was hilarious:

[quote]BLATTY: No. But Shirley was my first choice for the part because I had modeled the character of the mother (Chris MacNeil) on her. Not on Jane Fonda. On Shirley. Shirley was the first to read it. It didn't happen. And the next thing I knew, Jason Miller was telling me that he'd run into Shirley, who to this day I love, and she told him that the cover illustration on the book jacket was her daughter Sachiko . And the next time I saw Shirley, I said, "Shirley, how would I get the picture of Sachiko put on the cover?" She said, "Well, you broke into the house and you took it." I said, "Well, I didn't do that. Someone at Harper & Row created that image. How? I have no idea. It was not Sachiko."

She still claims it was Sachi, though. Here's an AFI interview (just 1 minute long) where she brags about it.

I found it the campiest schlock fest ever. I laughed the whole time

About the Spider Walk scene.... the stunt was done by contortionist contortionist Linda R. Hager on April 11, 1973. Here's the behind-the-scenes footage. You should get the amazing 2010 Blu-ray box set which come with a 30 minutes home movies special that shows the entire making-of the movie. EVERYTHING is shown, from Linda rehearsing the crucifix scene, to the guys shaking the bed behind the wall, to them raising her off the bed with wires -- every single thing. Someone found all these home movies and put them together. It is the most amazing discovering in movie history.

Behind-the-scenes of the crucifixion scene.

Linda Blair's own voice without Mercedes McCambridge.

I've never understood why people say she's masturbating with the crucifix, because she's clearly trying to injure herself in the film. I guess they're saying it because of the book, but the film changes it and it's kind of creepy to see people claim that it's masturbation.

r134, she's saying, "Let Jesus fuck you," thus, it's being used for masturbation.

There was a shocking scene in The Exorcist?

Go know.

Is there actually some mythical demon named Pazazu? I thought it was made up for the book.

R135 but it's used in a very perverse way—"fuck" in quotation marks. It's obviously stabbing, self-mutilation. People are right to question the term "crucifix masturbation scene".

I love Ellen Burstyn's frantic desperation. She kills it.

"Let Jesus fuck you" sounds a little too close to "Let Jesus fuck you up."

[quote]Is there actually some mythical demon named Pazazu?

Yes.

"Your mother sucks cocks in Hell." That line TERRORISED all the mothers in my family. We kids were all saying it far away from adults but if they happened to hear it, well, you'd have been better off having been Regan.

There's a pending Blu-Ray release of Exorcist III coming out that includes both the theatrical cut and a reassembled Director's Cut under the original title Legion. They apparently had to pull some of the footage from videotapes of the dailies, so I'm not exactly sure what kind of quality we're looking at, but at least we won't see the cheesy tacked on exorcism scene.

The funniest review of the new tv series from the Guardian was titled: "Your Mother Sucks Fox in Hell!"

The Chris MacNeil in the book is described as someone who is well liked by everyone, but it's damned hard to understand why. She's foul-mouthed and DUMB. She barely speaks coherent English (she says things like "what's doin'?") and frequently loses her temper and shrieks like a madwoman. Is that what Shirley MacLaine is really like? And her relationship with her daughter seems quite unlike the one MacLaine had with her daughter Sachi. Chris and Regan are quite close; in fact their closeness is publicized to the extent that it irked her husband Howard. She tells Sharon "it was always me and Rags on the magazine covers, mother and daughter. Pixie twins. Anyway, it's hard to get hacked with him Sharon, I just can't." In real life MacLaine ignored her daughter most of the time. But they did, like Chris and Regan, get on a magazine cover, and did a photo layout of mother and daughter playing dress up and cavorting merrily together. What a crock!

huh?

You have piss-poor taste, R136.

Thanks R112, Pamelyn Ferdin or whatever her name was haunts me to this day. She was everywhere and for the longest time I tried to remember her name and now I know!! She was like Helen Hunt back in the day. Everywhere. She would've been a horrible Regan. Blair was perfect but as you can see from the Heretic had pretty bad skills as an actor or she grew to be a bad actress like Melissa Sue Anderson.

I seriously doubt Sharon Stone auditioned for the part of Regan. She was in Pennsyltucky just beginning to devise her strategy for the Miss Pennsylvania contest.

Ellen Burstyn's frantic desperation.

Whatever happened to (Sharon) Kitty Winn? She had the beginnings of a nice, little career going for her in the early '70s.

[quote]Didn't the controversy/scandal about Mercedes McCambridge cost her the Oscar?

I never really liked Linda Blair's acting in the early normal scenes. She seems so affected the memorable scenes are diminished by knowing McCambridge did the voice. She really was just a model as someone said above who could do "emotive poses" (as the British would say).

I think the whole she'd have won the Oscar stuff is a new narrative that Ellen Burstyn pushes. (I think that may be some guilt over how Blair turned out.)

Wasn't Syliva Sydney the person people thought would win that Oscar?

r148 Pamela is some kind of animal rights activist nowadays I think. I've heard her on call in radio sometimes when there is an animal issue.

Agree about Sharon Stone. She was just a kid in PA at that time and from what she says she was kind of a nerdy kid who didn't really blossom until later.

Was Kim Basinger in LA at that time? Wouldn't she have just been some Georgia kid too?

R145, "barely speaks coherent English"? Come on, dude, you're being disingenuous and you know it. I do agree that Chris MacNeil isn't the most likable character, but you're being hyperbolic and a bit preposterous.

"Come on, dude, you're being disingenuous and you know it. I do agree that Chris MacNeil isn't the most likable character, but you're being hyperbolic and a bit preposterous."

Have ever read the novel "The Exorcist?" A lot of people haven't; they've only seen the movie. Chris MacNeil is, judging from the way she talks, uneducated. As previously noted she comments on her husband's envy over the publicity focusing on her and Regan: "it's hard to get hacked with him, I just can't." What the hell does THAT mean? It's not exactly....coherent.

"Pamela is some kind of animal rights activist nowadays I think. I've heard her on call in radio sometimes when there is an animal issue.'

LInda Blair is also a big animal rights activist. I guess that's something to do when you're a female child star and your career is over: become an animal rights activist.

Linda Blair still makes a decent living just based on her appearances at anything Exorcist-related. There was a time, I think, when she really resented her portrayal of Regan and how it defined her entire career. She's beyond that now - she's learned to embrace it. Guess she figures it's her bread and butter..

OP, but that scene was wrong! [italic]Shockingly[/italic] wrong!

[quote] Wasn't Syliva Sydney the person people thought would win that Oscar?

If so, it would have been a career Oscar and nothing more. I recently saw the film (Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams) and Sidney had two very lackluster scenes. She did the best shw could, but the role itself wasn't the least bit oscar worthy, and the nomination itself was inexplicable. A win would have been baffling. I agree O'Neal should have been place in Lead, and in that year, she might have won considering they gave it to Glenda Jackson for a forgettable performance in a forgettable movie three years after she'd won her first.

R159 I will never understand how Jackson won for A Touch of Class (and I believe her performances in Women in Love and Sunday, Bloody Sunday are two of the best ever captured on screen). My 16 year old gayling-self was outraged that Barbra didn't win, though now the film and performance mainly have a kind of sweet nostalgic value for me; Woodward had taken some critics' awards, but I think it's far from her best work--the character is such a shrew--Martin Balsam actually gives the best performance, and you're right, Sidney gets a death scene and that weird scene with the gay wait (was she the go-to for grandmas of gay men? as in An Early Frost). I know Marsha Mason got a lot of coverage for Cinderella Liberty--she was new on the screen a bit different from other actresses and not calcified in her Mrs. Neil Simon stuff. I would have thought that Burstyn would have won, given that many thought she should have won for The Last Picture Show and was in a big box-office film, but maybe voters thought of it as a special effects movie. If so, that's too bad, because her work in it is very real and moving. But if she had won for that, she probably wouldn't have won the next year for Alice, making way for Gena Rowlands in Woman Under the Influence...and so it goes.

For supporting, it should have gone to Kahn, hands down. Her Trixie Delight is exactly what the Supporting Actress category was invented for--a few great scenes, you walk away really remembering her, but she doesn't steal the spotlight from the main relationship.

R145, I noticed the last time I saw the film that MacNeil was thoroughly unlikable; previously, I'd just thought I didn't like Burstyn's performance, but I know better now. This time I realized the importance of the comparison between her being rich, famous, and full of foul-mouthed demands (and ridiculous "witch doctor" comment, which I think paints her as a little dumb) and the ungodly tests Regan had to go through, versus Karras' mother's complete lack of treatment thanks to abject poverty. Both were hell, in their way.

And Chris was demanding everyone ELSE save her daughter, while Karras was willing to do the saving himself. So was Merrin. Chris was traumatized but never would have sacrificed herself for her daughter; the idea just never entered into her head.

1973 was such a good year for movies, though I agree Kahn should have won, but the others were fine contenders too.

Glancing through the nominees for that year, I can hardly find a film nominated that wasn't a great film. Jonathan Livingston Seagull is the worst film there, and it just got the novelty nom for Editing so you can hardly be mad at that. Every other film went on to be well regarded, if not a full-fledged classic.

"She's beyond that now - she's learned to embrace it. Guess she figures it's her bread and butter.."

I guess she is "beyond that now." Who wouldn't be? After "The Exorcist" she did a few things. There was that infamous tv movie where she gets raped with a toilet plunger. And another one where she's a teenage alcoholic. And another one where a teenage witch (I kid you not) moves into her family's house and causes havoc. And the dreadful sequel to "The Exorcist" and that laughable "Roller Boogie" movie. And "Caged Heat" where she plays a female convict; the lezbo convicts lust after her chubby bod. Her acting was terrible; she was nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress five times, winning twice. Speaking of her chubby bod...she attempted to reinvent herself as a sex symbol by posing nude, which was unfortunate, because she looked like a sausage. I guess it finally sunk in that "The Exorcist" was the only real success she ever had, or ever would have. I guess she goes to conventions and stuff like that. But her glory days are long, long behind her.

What happened to Linda's face?!

Cheek implants and maybe a chin implant, though mostly it's just age and a little weight loss.

By today's standards "The Exorcist" is tame, but in 1973 it was shocking. It showed explicitly some things that had never been shown in a mainstream Hollywood film before.

The creepy thing about that scene in OP's post is that the technician guy in the hospital scene later became a serial killer in real life.

Yeah, we talked about that, R166. It's fascinating.

[quote]And another one where a teenage witch (I kid you not) moves into her family's house and causes havoc.

"Stranger in My House," based on Lois Lowry's terrific tween supernatural thriller "Summer of Fear." Supporting performances by the late McDonald Carey and DL Fave Fran Drescher.

I loved all the "scary summer" books when I was a tween back in the 1980s. Summer of Fear was one of the best. I didn't know Linda Blair was in the movie -- now I'll have to watch it.

Kim Basinger was 20 years old in 1973. Sharon Stone was 15 yrs old.

"Kim Basinger was 20 years old in 1973. Sharon Stone was 15 yrs old."

Yeah, a lot of those claims that so-and-so "audtioned for" or was "considered for" or was "offered" the role of Regan are pure bullshit. Melanie Griffith would have been 16 in 1973. Jamie Lee Curtis would have been 15. Carrie Fisher would have been 17. All much too old for the role of 12 year old Regan.

Here's and excerpt from Sachi Parker's book "Lucky Me: My Life With - and Without - My Mom, Shirley MacLaine".

Sachi discusses Shirley MacLaine's friendship with William Peter Blatty, and how he based Chris MacNeil on Shirley.

Those photos of Shirley MacLaine mugging for the camera with her little mini-me Sachi are rather unsettling. They remind me of the photos of Joan and Christina Crawford where they're wearing matching dresses and posing prettily for photographers. Shudder.

When she chews Carefree* Gum. I still have nightmares.

I'm not sure why Shirley and Sachi think the girl on the front cover of the first edition looks like her. It doesn't even look like a girl.

This is the specific book Sachi is talking about in the link R172 posted.

Look just like her...not. That commercial is so freaking creepy!!

Supposedly the photo that's supposed to be Sachi was distorted, which is why it's hard to tell it's Sachi. But that sounds like crap. It's obviously not her.

That was a total experiment in terror at R174.

The Exorcist is still shocking in 2016. There are no horror movies made in this millennium that would include something as graphic as a possessed girl masturbating with a crucifix, or shoving her mother's head into her crotch and telling her to "lick me."

Yes, R179, it really is out of this world. Her BLOODY, gory crotch, no less.

[quote]By today's standards "The Exorcist" is tame

They couldn't make "The Exorcist" today.

I still want to hear 13 year old Linda screaming profanities. Do you think it still exists or was it destroyed?

I thought there were videos on YouTube of Linda Blair saying her lines in "The Exorcist" without the benefit of Mercedes McCambridge's voice dubbed over it. That was a major deception; of course that would have ruined her chances at an Oscar. But how in the hell could anyone believe that LInda Blair did the voice of the demon? Of COURSE that's not her voice.

The video has already been linked at R133, but who actually expected you to read?

The scene that OP linked to would be completely different if filmed today. For one, it would be half as long (there would be jump cuts to speed up the time; some for shock value, some to avoid boring the audience with showing time passage) and there would be music from the first frame telling the audience how to experience what they're seeing. Studio pictures have become much dumber and simplistic since the 70s.

Great scene, by the way. The mother's reaction shots are perfectly placed, so she the audience's anxiety merges with hers.

I totally agree, R185. Horror movies today are totally dumbed down, and I'm not sure why that is. Are audiences generally stupider?

Even the 2000 rerelease of The Exorcist had new music inserted (I remember a lot of cellos) so that the audience would know they were supposed to feel tense. Then there's the digital morphing of Blair's face during the hypnosis scene right before she grabs the shrink's crotch. Mortifying.

[quote]Are audiences generally stupider?

Yes.

Oh, I don't know about that!

The video of Linda undubbed was done by a fan who got hold of some vinyls. They spliced them together with the footage. That's all that exits. Nothing explicit.

R189, which "vinyls" were they?

[quote] They couldn't make "The Exorcist" today.

Today's audiences don't deserve The Exorcist. They deserve rotten shit horror films like Don't Breathe.

[quote]ridiculous "witch doctor" comment, which I think paints her as a little dumb

It's plain bad writing, stuck in there by a conservative Catholic to paint a liberal character as dangerously out of touch with "the truth" and her need to accept the help and guidance of the Church. Blatty believes 100% in all that shit.

I saw it in rerelease at a midnight showing in a movie theatre packed with black teenagers from the local Fresh Air Fund-type camp. It. Was. Hilarious.

I wonder if the parents and camp administrators knew what the camp counsellors were doing with their money.

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Christ, people are pussies. There was nothing terrifying about this film. I saw it when I was dead. It scared me, like any horror movie, but I got through it. By the time that I was an adult and rewatched it, it did nothing for me. I don't understand the responses in the 1970's. I was pretty innocent upon my first viewing and it was only freaky, not traumatizing.

[quote] I saw it when I was dead.

Damn, R195, your situation sounds scarier than the Exorcist! :-O

shocking

I was utterly traumatized as a child by this movie. I was raised Catholic and believed in God and the devil and angels and demons.

I had panic attacks whenever I'd try to watch any of the "possession" scenes, starting with the bulging throat/eyes-rolled-back after flailing on the bed in front of the doctors scene.

This thread is so old; I may have already told that story. Anyway, I finally saw the whole movie unedited beginning to end when I ordered the VHS in 1991 from the Columbia House Video Club, and although it wasn't as terrifying as it has been in the years leading up to this milestone of my adolescence, I actually thought the movie was so gruesome and over the top that I briefly considered trying to return it to Columbia House.

What a little pussy turd I was.

Let Jesus fuck you!

....

Sachi Macclaine is Regan!

Mary Beth McDounough as Regan!

....

No one til this day knows who played possessed Regan in Exorcist II.

I just find this movie too grueling to get through. There's no happiness at all. I feel the same way about Requiem For A Dream-they are more a chore than a pleasure.

The most shocking scene? Probably the one where Pazuzu nailed Karras between the eyes with pea soup vomit. I think it probably made audiences jump. Incidentally, that didn't happen in the book. Karras caught some vomit on his hand and arms and right before he jumps out the window he gets splattered with vomit, but to what extent is not made clear. But nowhere in the book does he get a face full of puke.

The most disgusting scene? The one where she stabs herself in the crotch with the crucifix and shoves her mother's face in it. That scene was very different from the one in the book. In the book, she really DOES fuck herself with the cross, which was described as "bone white", not that sharp metal one in the movie. She shoves it in and out and grabs her mother's face and presses it "hard" against her vagina. The bed is shaking but it's not like the movie where the whole room is full of flying objects and heavy furniture is moving around. The movie really exaggerated a lot.

[quote]The movie really exaggerated a lot.

Don't you hate that when a perfectly normal exorcism has to get sensationalized? Ugh!

YES, OP, IT'S DISGUSTING

I have fainted in doctors' offices after my own blood draws that I DIDN'T watch.

I always cover my eyes when needles come out in movies and TV -- I can't take it.

I don't even remember this scene from THE EXORCIST. I must have covered my eyes!

R208, I'm the same way. I can watch a beheading (well, a staged one for a movie), but I cannot stand to see a needle pierce someone's vein. ACK!

If ONLY religion had ever taken a back seat in America, r12.

r19's clip is just so LAUGH-OUT-LOUD hilarious!

Only very old-fashioned, sheltered and devout people could find that shit scary or true in this day and age.

Today is Linda Blair's 58th birthday. Linda was born on January 22, 1959.

Linda Blair DID need an exorcism. After achieving fame as the little girl who spat vomit in priest's faces and fucked a crucifix, she went pretty nuts. Basically she became a coked out groupie, fucking rock stars at the age of 15 (24 year old Rick Springfield deflowered her) and partying with the likes of Ozzie Osbourne, Keith Moon and Linda Lovelace. Her film career ended pretty quickly for the simple reason that she had no talent. But she did get lucky by winning the role of little Regan., and will be forever immortalized as the little dickens who utters the unforgettable line "Your mother sucks cocks in hell!"

I saw the original as a child on HBO or somewhere. No parental permission of course, I'd sneak up after everyone was asleep and watch quietly in the dark. Don't recall being frightened but I certainly was nauseated by the OP' s medical scene. I'd not seen anything like that before.

In college I saw the extended cut in a theatre and thought the additions were a mistake: some scenes elongated and some extraneous material. It dissipated the tension that was built up in the original editing.

Seeing it in a full theatre with a mostly HS- and college-aged audience was bizarre. People roared with laughter, especially at the most obscene and blasphemous lines. When Merrin mentioned the Virgin Mary, Regan said, "Stick your cock up her ass, you motherfucking, worthless cocksucker." The audience was rolling in the aisles.

In the novel Pazuzu is not nearly as foul mouthed as in the movie. In fact, he has several lively conversations with Karras before the exorcism; he was quite a chatty demon. And a very intelligent one; he would never have been caught death spewing the mindless obscenities in the movie. He NEVER said "your mother sucks cocks in hell." He did say that Damien's mother was busy with Burke Dennings: "sucking his cock to the bristles, to the ROOT!" He goes on to say "marvelous tongue, your mother. Good mouth." Yes, Pazuzu's obscenities had style.

When I read The Exorcist at 14, it scared the shit out of me. I had nightmares. It prevented me from seeing the movie until years and years later, when I was an adult. I thought the movie was great, but not frightening at all. I was raised Catholic, and once you see they're following Catholic doctrine to a "tee" it becomes almost like a western where you know the rules, and the good guys will prevail. I don't think the movie violated any pre-Vatican II ideas. I think even the Catholic movie ratings system gave it a good rating for that reason. Supernatural stuff not tied to things that I "understand" is scary , if done well. In The Exorcist, I understood the rules at work, so it felt safe to me, not mysterious. Even if I don't' believe the "rules", the movie didn't create tension because I understood the structure.

This film is an obsession of gay men who were rejected by their parents while sibling was glorified. Why is that?

[quote] This film is an obsession of gay men who were rejected by their parents while sibling was glorified.

Yes, Mr. Terrible English R218 - the film is a gay camp classic.

You should love it, too, since your mom got pregnant with you by letting Jesus fuck her!

R216 I did read the novel, at say 12, before I saw the movie but that vivid film almost erased the novel. I've never reread it.

[quote]In the novel Pazuzu is not nearly as foul mouthed as in the movie. In fact, he has several lively conversations with Karras

I remember things in the novel like "la plume de ma tante" which were already far outdated in French but made it into the film. The housekeepers' daughter was either dead or a heroin addict and , in the novel, Regan tortured them with that knowledge. I remember a line in the novel about her loving to dance the demon said.

I should reread the novel, but it was a childhood thing. I'm not sure I'd enjoy the novel again. (For those of you who speak French, the DVD is a treasure of hilarity: both directions.

The top horror film but weirdly obsessed on by gay males.

We're more obsessed with Rosemary's Baby.

For me it was when that demon monster first made his apprearance. Pazoozie. Scared the shit out of me.

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The entire film was shocking.. especially for 1973.

The unsettling Iraq opening... the eerie attic scene... Burke ... Ellen Burstyn's "frantic desperation"... the Ouija incident... pissing at the party... OP's scene... and, THEN, all the shit actually hits the fan.

"The devil has come home," as DL fav Margaret White would later say.

Indeed.

A masterpiece.

It pales in comparison to the scene where she shoves her mother's face into her bloody crotch and then punches her!!

Lines longer than Studio 54

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Somewhat up thread some the movie was joyless? WTF would you expect from a movie about demonic possession?

A masterpiece.

Something about the grainy 70s-ness of this film makes it much more raw and frightening than anything from nowadays.

Here is a compilation of some of the more frightening scenes... for the intrepid.

I’ve never seen it butt loved the recent TV show with Ben Daniels. I assume it has been cancelled?