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Select media
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Stills must not be reproduced, copied or downloaded in any way.
Film details
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Featuring
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Director
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Country
USA
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Year
1973
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Genre
Horror
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Type
Film
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Category
Fiction
Introduction
“If movies are, among other things, opportunities for escapism, then The Exorcist is one of the most powerful ever made. Rarely do movies affect us so deeply.”
Roger Ebert, Chicago-Sun Times, 1973
Bringing the ancient rite of exorcism into 1970s Washington, D.C., The Exorcist depicts a 12-year-old girl’s possession by evil spirits, and the heroic attempt of two Jesuit priests to save her, harrowingly witnessed by mother Chris (Ellen Burstyn). Writer/producer William Peter Blatty’s tale – inspired by the documented 1949 exorcism of a Maryland boy – combines elements of spiritual treatise, murder mystery and carnival sideshow.
Director Friedkin treated medical operation scenes and supernatural shocks with hair-raising realism, leaving audiences fainting and vomiting as wholesome Regan (Linda Blair) gradually becomes an obscene, putrefying beast-child given to graphic blasphemies.
A runaway box-office success, The Exorcist garnered ten Oscar nominations. The American Film Institute voted it among America’s three “most thrilling” films ever.
Blatty’s ‘mystery of goodness’ trilogy continued with The Ninth Configuration (1979) and The Exorcist III (1990). Paranormal Activity (2009) offers a similarly unwanted supernatural visitor.
Cast & Credits
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Cast
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Mrs Chris MacNeil
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Father Lankester Merrin, S.J.
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Lt William Kinderman
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Sharon Spencer
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Burke Dennings
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Father Damien Karras, S.J.
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Regan Theresa MacNeil
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Father Dyer, S.J.
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Dr Klein
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clinic director
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Karl
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Willie
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Dr Tanney
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psychiatrist
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president of university
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Karras's mother
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Karras's uncle
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Bishop Michael
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assistant director
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Mary Jo Perrin
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Jesuit deacon
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senator at party
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voice of the demon
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[Bellevue nurse]
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[subway vagrant]
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[movie producer]
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[voice of language expert]
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Credits
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Direction:
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Directed by
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Assistant Director (1st)
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Assistant Director (2nd)
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Script Supervisor
Production:
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©/Production Company
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©/Production Company
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Executive Producer
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Produced by
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Associate Producer
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Production Manager (Iraq Sequence)
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Production Office Co-ordinator
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Administrative Assistant
Casting:
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Casting
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Casting
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Casting
Writing:
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Written for the Screen by
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Based on his novel
Photography:
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Director of Photography
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Iraq Sequence Director of Photography
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Colour Consultant
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[Assistant Camera]
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Gaffer
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Key Grip
Stills:
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Still Photographer
Special Effects:
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Optical Effects
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[Optical Effects Supervisor]
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Special Effects
Editing:
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Supervising Film Editor
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Film Editor
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Film Editor
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Film Editor (Iraq Sequence)
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Assistant Film Editor
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Assistant Film Editor
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Assistant Film Editor
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Assistant Film Editor (Iraq Sequence)
Design:
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Production Design
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Assistant Art Director
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Set Decorator
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Master Scenic Artist
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Property Master
Costumes:
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Costume Designer
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Jewellery Design for Cartier
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Furs
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Ladies' Wardrobe
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Men's Wardrobe
Make-up:
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Make-up Artist
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Hairstylist
Titles:
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Title Design
Music:
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Music
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Music
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Music
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Music
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Music
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Music
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Additional Music Composed by
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Music Editor
Sound:
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Sound Designer [2000 re-release]
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Sound
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Sound (Iraq Sequence)
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Sound Consultant
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Dubbing Mixer
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Re-recording Mixer [2000 re-release]
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Re-recording Mixer [2000 re-release]
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Special Sound Effects
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Special Sound Effects
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Special Sound Effects
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Special Sound Effects
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Sound Effects Editor
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Sound Effects Editor
Stunts:
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Photographic Equipment
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[Double for Linda Blair]
Consultant:
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Technical Adviser
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Technical Adviser
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Technical Adviser
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Technical Adviser
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Technical Adviser
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Technical Adviser
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The Greatest Films of All Time 2012
Voted for by 2 critics and 1 director.