For example, the question about whether the Ouija board Regan uses was the cause of her possession is never answered. Presented as the ultimate battle between good and evil, it asks its audience: are you right with God? The director’s use of realism, underpinned by the premise that what happens to the 12-year-old Regan could happen to anyone, is what makes the movie truly unsettling. The Exorcist is more than a horror movie, it’s a morality tale. The result was a movie that was fresh and new and did not rely on predictable horror movie tropes. Because neither Blatty nor Friedkin had tackled the horror genre before making The Exorcist - Friedkin had previously made documentaries - they opted for a realistic approach. There's a reason why it's there.įriedkin contrasted the mundanity of everyday American life with the life-altering, fantastical demonic possession of a young girl, and her mother and priests that try to save her: this only serves to increase The Exorcist’s ability to terrify. In 2020, Rotten Tomatoes put it in the top spot, too. Indeed, out of a list of 101 movies, in 2013 IMDb rated it the number one scariest movie ever.
Now almost 50 years old, The Exorcist continues to terrify audiences. Nominated for 10 Academy Awards, in 1974 it received Oscars for Best Screenplay and Best Sound. RELATED: 10 Horror TV Show that Made the Movies They Were Based On Even BetterĪudience reactions to The Exorcist upon its release - including running from the theater and fainting - are well-documented. The movie version of Blatty’s book, released in 1973 and directed by William Friedkin had the same effect and changed horror movie-making forever. Given his start writing for laughs, it is somewhat surprising that his novel - based on a true story about the exorcism of a demonically possessed 13-year-old boy - would continue to shock and scare people decades later. Not many people know that William Peter Blatty, the author of the novel The Exorcist (1971) started out writing comedy, including writing the script for Blake Edwards' 1964 Pink Panther film A Shot In the Dark, starring comic genius Peter Sellers.
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