30 THEATRICAL TERRORS: The Exorcist (Day 28)

Let’s talk a little about the movie that scared America shitless.

Based on William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel

of the same name, The Exorcist hit theatres

in late 1973 and portrayed the battle

between good and evil

for one girl’s soul.

Friedkin’s film is so faithful to the book due to the fact that Blatty wrote the adaptation himself and produced the film. He chose the director having seen The French Connection and wanting that sense of energy for his picture.

The Exorcist garnered ten Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and became one of the highest grossing films of all time and has since been preserved by the Library of Congress as part of the National Film Registry.

It’s on every Top Ten or Greatest list when it comes to horror films, not simply because it was well made and well regarded, but because it took an audience that didn’t go to horror films and it turned the knob up to eleven and ripped it off.

It was a film so powerful it was putting people

in the hospital and converting others.

When it comes to the possession film,

there is no greater example,

not even close.

Here’s the trailer…