View source for The Exorcist

{{Short description|1973 film by William Friedkin}}
{{About|the film}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use American English|date=September 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = The Exorcist
| image          = Exorcist ver2.jpg
| alt            = At night, a man wearing a hat and holding a suitcase arrives in front of a house. One of the windows bathes him in light.
| caption        = Theatrical release poster by [[Bill Gold]]
| director       = [[William Friedkin]]
| screenplay     = [[William Peter Blatty]]
| based_on       = {{Based on|''[[The Exorcist (novel)|The Exorcist]]''|William Peter Blatty}}
| producer       = William Peter Blatty
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Ellen Burstyn]]
* [[Max von Sydow]]
* [[Lee J. Cobb]]
* [[Kitty Winn]]
* [[Jack MacGowran]]
* [[Jason Miller (playwright)|Jason Miller]]
* [[Linda Blair]]
}}
| cinematography = [[Owen Roizman]]
| editing        = {{Plainlist|
* [[Evan A. Lottman]]<ref name="AFI" />
* Norman Gay<ref name="AFI" />
* [[Bud S. Smith]]<ref name="AFI" />
* {{nowrap|[[Jordan Leondopoulos]] (sup.)<ref name="AFI" />}}
}}
| music          = [[Jack Nitzsche]] <!-- Only for main composer, not additional one. -->
| studio         = Hoya Productions<ref name="AFI">{{Cite web |title=The Exorcist (1973) |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/54970 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190217142741/https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/54970 |archive-date=February 17, 2019 |access-date=October 27, 2019 |website=[[AFI Catalog of Feature Films]]}}</ref>
| distributor    = [[Warner Bros. Pictures|Warner Bros.]]<ref name="AFI" />
| released       = {{Film date|1973|12|26}}
| runtime        = 122 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = {{Plainlist|
* English<!-- Primary language only. -->
}}
| budget         = $12&nbsp;million<ref name="Numbers">{{Cite web |title=The Exorcist |url=https://the-numbers.com/movie/Exorcist-The#tab=summary |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140509064830/http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Exorcist-The#tab=summary |archive-date=May 9, 2014 |access-date=December 28, 2011 |website=[[The Numbers (website)|The Numbers]]}}</ref>
| gross          = $441.3&nbsp;million<ref name="Numbers" />
}}
'''''The Exorcist''''' is a 1973 American [[supernatural horror film]] directed by [[William Friedkin]] from a screenplay by [[William Peter Blatty]], based on [[The Exorcist (novel)|his 1971 novel]]. The film stars [[Ellen Burstyn]], [[Max von Sydow]], [[Jason Miller (playwright)|Jason Miller]], and [[Linda Blair]], and follows the [[Spirit possession|demonic possession]] of a young girl and the attempt to rescue her through an [[exorcism]] by two [[Catholic]] priests.

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. Pictures|Warner Bros.]] [[Principal photography]] was also difficult. Many cast and crew were injured, some died, and unusual accidents delayed shooting. Production took twice as long as scheduled and cost almost three times the initial budget; the many mishaps have led to a belief that the film was cursed.

''The Exorcist'' was theatrically released in the United States on December 26, 1973, by Warner Bros. Reviews were mixed, but audiences waited in long lines during cold weather; the sold-out shows were even more profitable for Warner Bros., who had booked it into those theaters under [[four-wall distribution]] rental agreements, a first for any major studio. Some viewers suffered adverse physical reactions, fainting or vomiting to shocking scenes such as a realistic [[cerebral angiography]]. Many children were allowed to see it, leading to charges that the [[Motion Picture Association|Motion Picture Association of America]] (MPAA) had accommodated the studio by giving the film an [[Motion Picture Association film rating system|R rating]] instead of an [[X rating]] to ensure the troubled production its commercial success. Several cities attempted to ban it outright or prevent children from attending. At the end of its original theatrical run, the film grossed $193&nbsp;million, and has a lifetime gross of $441&nbsp;million with subsequent re-releases.

The cultural conversation around the film helped it become the [[List of Academy Award records#Academy Award firsts|first horror film]] to [[46th Academy Awards|be nominated]] for the [[Academy Award for Best Picture]], as well as nine others. Blatty won [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Adapted Screenplay]], while the sound engineers took [[Academy Award for Best Sound|Best Sound]]. It has had [[The Exorcist (film series)|several sequels]] and was the [[List of highest-grossing R-rated films|highest-grossing R-rated horror film]] (unadjusted for inflation) until 2017's ''[[It (2017 film)|It]]''. ''The Exorcist'' significantly influenced pop culture,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Layton |first=Julia |date=September 8, 2005 |title=How Exorcism Works |url=http://science.howstuffworks.com/exorcism.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100608024229/http://science.howstuffworks.com/exorcism.htm |archive-date=June 8, 2010 |access-date=August 19, 2018 |website=[[HowStuffWorks]]}}</ref><ref name="2005 pop culture mention">{{Cite web |date=September 9, 2005 |title=The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) |url=https://allmovie.com/work/the-exorcism-of-emily-rose-316830/review |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428033809/https://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-exorcism-of-emily-rose-v316830/review |archive-date=April 28, 2021 |access-date=September 26, 2022 |publisher=[[Allmovie]]}}</ref> and it has been included on [[List of films voted the best|lists of the greatest films ever made]].<ref name="Empire best list">{{Cite web |date=December 5, 2006 |title=Empireonline.com |url=https://empireonline.com/500/58.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017201914/http://www.empireonline.com/500/58.asp |archive-date=October 17, 2012 |access-date=September 28, 2022 |publisher=Empireonline.com}}</ref><ref name="Times best list">{{Cite news |date=April 29, 2003 |title=The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/ref/movies/1000best.html |url-status=dead |access-date=May 25, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050329013532/http://www.nytimes.com/ref/movies/1000best.html |archive-date=March 29, 2005}}</ref> In 2010, the [[Library of Congress]] selected the film for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref name="Library of Congress">{{Cite web|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=May 18, 2020|archive-date=October 31, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161031213743/https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|url-status=live}}</ref> {{TOC limit|3}}

==Plot==
In northern Iraq, priest [[Lankester Merrin]] takes part in an archaeological dig in the ancient ruins of [[Hatra]]. During the dig, he finds a stone talisman of a winged being that evokes a concerned look on his face. He then visits an ancient statue of the same being, silently confronting it.

In [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|Georgetown, Washington, D.C.]], actress Chris MacNeil is starring in a film directed by her friend Burke Dennings. Chris, along with her 12-year-old daughter [[Regan MacNeil]], rents a luxurious house with hired help. Meanwhile, Father [[Damien Karras]], a psychiatrist who counsels [[Georgetown University]] priests, visits his ailing mother in New York City. He later confides to a colleague that he is having a crisis of faith.

Chris hosts a party with Karras's friend, Father Joseph Dyer, who explains Karras's role as counselor and notes his mother's recent death. Regan, seemingly unwell, appears and urinates before Chris comforts her. Regan's bed shakes violently after Chris returns her to it. Later, Dyer consoles Karras, guilty at not having been with his mother when she died.

Regan's personality becomes violent, and medical tests find no physical cause. During a house call, Regan exhibits abnormal strength and adult behavior, and speaks in an otherworldly voice. One night, Chris finds the house empty except for a sleeping Regan; Dennings had been left with her but is found dead at the bottom of [[Exorcist steps|a set of public stairs]] that begin beneath Regan's window. Detective William Kinderman questions Karras, confiding that Dennings's head was turned backward. Kinderman tells Chris that the only plausible explanation for Dennings's death is that he was pushed from Regan's window. As Kinderman leaves, a scarred and bloody Regan has another violent fit, furiously masturbating with a [[crucifix]], turning her head backward and speaking in the voice of Dennings. She is confined to her bedroom and strapped to the bed. Now convinced that her daughter is possessed, Chris seeks out Karras, who visits Regan. The possessed Regan claims to be [[Satan|the Devil]], and vomits into Karras's face while [[speaking in tongues]]. The demon says it will remain in Regan until she is dead. At night, Chris's assistant Sharon Spencer calls Karras to the house, where the words 'help me' appear on Regan's stomach; he concludes that an exorcism is warranted. His superior grants permission on the condition that an experienced priest lead the ritual. Merrin, having performed an exorcism before, is summoned.

Merrin arrives at the house. As the two priests read from the [[Roman Ritual]], the demon curses them. The priests rest and Merrin, shaking, takes [[nitroglycerin]]. Karras enters the bedroom where the demon appears as his mother, perturbing Karras despite his denials. Merrin excuses Karras and continues the exorcism by himself. Chris approaches Karras and asks if Regan will die. He assures her that she will not and re-enters the room, finding Merrin dead from a heart attack while Regan watches and laughs. Enraged, Karras beats the possessed Regan and demands that the demon take him instead. The demon rips the medallion of Saint Joseph from Karras's neck and does so, freeing Regan in the process. Unwilling to let the demon harm Regan, Karras [[Autodefenestration|sacrifices himself by jumping out the window]], tumbling down the stone stairs outside to his death. Chris and Kinderman enter the room. Chris embraces the freed Regan, and Kinderman surveys the scene. Outside, Dyer administers the dying Karras his [[last rites]].

The MacNeils prepare to leave, and Father Dyer says goodbye. Despite having no memory of her ordeal, Regan, moved by the sight of Dyer's [[clerical collar]], kisses him on the cheek. As the MacNeils leave, Chris gives Dyer the medallion found in Regan's room. Dyer briefly examines the steps where Karras died before walking away.

==Cast==
{{cast list|
* [[Ellen Burstyn]] as Chris MacNeil
* [[Max von Sydow]] as Father [[Lankester Merrin]]
* [[Jason Miller (playwright)|Jason Miller]] as Father / Dr. [[Damien Karras]], [[Society of Jesus|SJ]]
* [[Lee J. Cobb]] as Lieutenant William F. Kinderman
* [[Kitty Winn]] as Sharon Spencer
* [[Jack MacGowran]] as Burke Dennings
* [[Linda Blair]] as [[Regan MacNeil]]
* [[William O'Malley (Jesuit)|Father William O'Malley]] as Father Joseph Dyer
* [[Barton Heyman]] as Dr. Samuel Klein
* [[Peter Masterson]] as Dr. Barringer
* [[Rudolf Schündler]] as Karl
* Gina Petrushka as Willi Engstrom
* [[Robert Symonds]] as Dr. Taney
* [[Arthur Storch]] as the Psychiatrist
* [[Thomas Bermingham (priest)|Father Thomas Bermingham]] as Father Tom Kanavan, [[List of presidents of Georgetown University|President of Georgetown University]]
* Vasiliki Maliaros as Mrs. Karras, Damien's mother
* [[Titos Vandis]] as John, Damien's uncle
* [[John Mahon (actor)|John Mahon]] as Language Lab Director
* Wallace Rooney as Bishop Michael
* [[Ron Faber]] as Chuck
* [[Donna Mitchell]] as Mary Jo Perrin
* Roy Cooper as Jesuit Dean
* Robert Gerringer as Senator at Party}}

The demon [[Pazuzu (The Exorcist)|Pazuzu]] is portrayed by [[Mercedes McCambridge]] (voice), Ron Faber (vocal effects<ref>{{Cite web |last=Evans |first=Greg |date=2023-04-26 |title=Ron Faber Dies: Actor Who Delivered Bad News In 'The Exorcist' Was 90 |url=https://deadline.com/2023/04/ron-faber-dead-the-exorcist-actor-obituary-1235338703/ |access-date=2025-05-26 |website=Deadline |language=en-US}}</ref>), and [[Eileen Dietz]] (face). The demonic "spider walk" was performed by [[stunt double]] Ann Miles.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-10-08 |title=Arkansas native reflects on a storied career as a stuntwoman, model, actress, wig stylist and Playboy Bunny {{!}} Arkansas Democrat Gazette |url=https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2018/oct/08/miles-of-talent-20181008/ |access-date=2025-05-26 |website=www.arkansasonline.com |language=en}}</ref>

Uncredited members of the cast include writer-producer [[William Peter Blatty]] as Fromme, [[Paul Bateson]] as a Radiologist's assistant, Elinore Blair (Linda Blair's mother) as a nurse, Dick Callinan as [[The Ninth Configuration|Captain Billy Cutshaw]], Barton Lane as an [[Angiography|angiographer]], and Vincent Russell<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-09-18 |title=The Exorcist |url=https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/50th%20anniversary/2023/09/18/exorcist/ |access-date=2025-05-26 |website=BFI Southbank Programme Notes |language=en}}</ref> as the subway vagrant.

==Production==
<!---{{Main|Production of ''The Exorcist''}}--->

===Development===
{{see also|Exorcism of Roland Doe}}
Aspects of [[The Exorcist (novel)|Blatty's novel]] were inspired by the 1949 exorcism performed by [[Jesuit]] priest [[William S. Bowdern]]. It sold poorly until Blatty captivated ''[[The Dick Cavett Show]]''{{'}}s audience with a discussion of whether the devil existed.<ref name="America article">{{Cite magazine |last=McDermott |first=Jim |date=October 25, 2019 |title=The Making of 'The Exorcist' |url=https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2019/10/25/making-exorcist |magazine=[[America (magazine)|America]] |access-date=September 13, 2022}}</ref> Soon afterwards the novel topped the [[The New York Times Best Seller list|''New York Times'' best seller list]].<ref name="Daily Telegraph article">{{Cite news |last=Larman |first=Alexander |date=September 1, 2021 |title=The man of God behind The Exorcist: why William Peter Blatty couldn't outrun the Devil |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/man-god-behind-exorcist-william-peter-blatty-couldnt-outrun/ |access-date=September 12, 2022}}</ref>

Despite Blatty's previous screenwriting experience on [[Blake Edwards]]' films, studios had been uninterested in adapting ''The Exorcist'' before publication.<ref name="Daily Telegraph article" /> [[Lew Grade]] made a modest offer for the rights that Blatty said later he would have accepted due to his difficult financial circumstances, but for his requirement that he produce.{{sfn|Blatty|2015|p=29}} [[Shirley MacLaine]], a friend of Blatty's,{{sfn|McCabe|1999|p=23}}{{efn|He may have based the Chris MacNeil character on her.{{sfn|Laycock|2009|p=13}}{{sfn|McCabe|1999|p=23}}}} had been interested, but wanted someone other than Blatty to produce.<ref name="America article" /> A later agreement to co-produce with [[Paul Monash]], producer of ''[[Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid]]'',<ref name="CF Curse story">{{Cite magazine |last=Fort |first=Benjamin |year=1974 |title=''The Exorcist'' |url=https://archive.org/details/Castle_of_Frankenstein_022_whole_Vol6n2_1974c2cChersUsedRazor-DREGS |magazine=[[Castle of Frankenstein]] |volume=6 |issue=22 |pages=34 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> collapsed over script differences and Blatty's discovery that Monash was trying to wrest control of the film.{{sfn|Blatty|2015|pp=32–33}}

===Writing===
Blatty's screenplay follows the plot of his novel closely, but narrows the story's focus. Subplots like the desecration of the churches and the subsequent relationship that develops between Karras and Kinderman, Karras's efforts to convince the Church bureaucracy to approve the exorcism, and the ongoing medical investigations of Regan's condition are less prominent in the film, as are supporting characters including Chris's household staff, Dennings, and Regan's father. The overall time frame is condensed.<ref name="Looper story">{{Cite web |last=Kench |first=Sam |date=April 29, 2022 |title=How ''The Exorcist'' Differs From The Book |url=https://www.looper.com/847611/how-the-exorcist-differs-from-the-book/ |access-date=September 13, 2022 |website=Looper |publisher=[[Static Media]]}}</ref><ref name="ScreenRant story">{{Cite web |last=Hurych |first=Amanda |date=September 22, 2019 |title=10 Things In The Exorcist That Only Make Sense If You Read The Books |url=https://screenrant.com/10-things-in-the-exorcist-that-only-make-sense-if-you-read-the-books/ |access-date=September 13, 2022 |website=[[Screen Rant]]}}</ref>

Some scenes, particularly those with sexual content, were toned down for the film adaptation since an actress of approximately Regan's age was expected to be cast. The scene where Regan masturbates with a crucifix was, in the book, more prolonged and explicit, with Regan seriously injuring herself yet attaining orgasm.<ref name="Looper story" /><ref name="ScreenRant story" /> The film also excludes the possessed Regan's constant diarrhea, giving her room a strong, foul odor.<ref name="Tor story">{{Cite web |last=Schnelbach |first=Leah |date=October 24, 2017 |title=''The Exorcist'' TV Series Subverts Its Own Troubled Franchise |url=https://www.tor.com/2017/10/24/the-exorcist-tv-series-subverts-the-franchise-through-diversity-queerness-and-feminism/ |access-date=September 13, 2022 |website=[[Tor.com]]}}</ref>

Blatty also made the screenplay unambiguous about Regan's condition. In his novel, every symptom and behavior she exhibits that might indicate possession is counterbalanced with a reference to an actual case where the same phenomena were found to have natural, scientific causes. Aside from Karras' initial professional skepticism, that perspective is absent from the film.<ref name="Looper story" /><ref name="ScreenRant story" />

===Casting===
[[File:Linda Blair and Ellen Burstyn in The Exorcist.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1|Blair and Burstyn as Regan and Chris MacNeil]]
The lead roles, particularly Regan, were not easily cast. Although many major stars of the era were considered for them, Blatty and Friedkin ultimately went with lesser-known actors, to the studio's consternation.<ref name="adams" />

====Chris and Father Karras====
[[Jack Nicholson]] was considered for Karras, and [[Paul Newman]] was interested, before Blatty hired [[Stacy Keach]].<ref name=yt/> Three [[A-list]] actresses of the time—[[Audrey Hepburn]], [[Anne Bancroft]] and [[Jane Fonda]]—were considered for Chris, but rejected the part.<ref name="adams" /><ref name="THR podcast 7:30">{{Cite podcast |url=https://simplecast.com/s/1aa3ff6f?t=7m30s |title=William Friedkin: The Exorcist |website=It Happened in Hollywood |publisher=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |host=Seth Abramovitch and Chip Pope |date=October 1, 2018 |time=7:30–9:20 |access-date=February 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329025151/https://simplecast.com/s/1aa3ff6f?t=7m30s |archive-date=March 29, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> Friedkin also rejected Blatty's friend Shirley MacLaine since she had starred in ''[[The Possession of Joel Delaney (film)|The Possession of Joel Delaney]]'', a similar film.<ref name="adams" /> After meeting [[Carol Burnett]], Friedkin believed she had the range beyond her comic television persona. Blatty agreed, but the studio turned her down.<ref name="Friedkin THR memoir excerpt" /> [[Ellen Burstyn]] received the part after she told Friedkin she was "destined" to play Chris, discussing the Catholic upbringing she had later rejected. Studio head [[Ted Ashley]] vigorously opposed casting her, but relented after no other alternatives emerged.<ref name="adams" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Emery |first=Robert J. |url=https://archive.org/details/directorsintheir00emer/page/258 |title=The directors: in their own words |publisher=TV Books |year=2000 |isbn=1575001292 |volume=2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/directorsintheir00emer/page/258 258] |url-access=registration}}</ref>

Friedkin had first spoken to stage actor and playwright [[Jason Miller (playwright)|Jason Miller]] after a performance of his play ''[[That Championship Season]]'', and given him a copy of the novel. Miller had received a Catholic education and studied to be a Jesuit priest for three years at [[Catholic University of America]] until experiencing a spiritual crisis similar to Karras's. Upon reading the novel, he told Friedkin "[Karras] is me". Friedkin responded that Keach had already been signed, but granted his request for a screen test. During the test, Miller and Burstyn performed the scene where Chris informs Karras that she suspects Regan might be possessed. He then filmed Burstyn interviewing Miller about his life and asked him to recite [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] as if for the first time. After viewing the footage the next morning, Friedkin realized that Miller's "dark good looks, haunted eyes, quiet intensity, and low, compassionate voice" were exactly what the part needed. The studio then bought out Keach's contract.<ref name="adams">{{Cite web |last=Ryan Adams |date=April 29, 2013 |title=William Friedkin on casting The Exorcist |url=http://www.awardsdaily.com/2013/04/29/william-friedkin-on-casting-the-exorcist/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604131538/http://www.awardsdaily.com/2013/04/29/william-friedkin-on-casting-the-exorcist/ |archive-date=June 4, 2016 |access-date=May 6, 2016 |website=Awards Daily}}</ref>

====Regan====
Directors considered for ''The Exorcist'' doubted a young actress could carry the film;<ref name="Susman">{{Cite news |last=Susman |first=Gary |date=December 26, 2013 |title='The Exorcist': 25 Things You Didn't Know About the Terrifying Horror Classic |work=[[Moviefone]].com |url=http://news.moviefone.com/2013/12/26/the-exorcist-facts/ |url-status=dead |access-date=August 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227173317/http://news.moviefone.com/2013/12/26/the-exorcist-facts/ |archive-date=December 27, 2013}}</ref> [[Mike Nichols]] had turned it down for that reason, but would later regret it.<ref name="adams" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Watkins |first=Gwynne |date=September 11, 2015 |title=Mike Nichols Regretted Not Directing 'The Exorcist' |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/mike-nichols-regretted-not-directing-the-128848002007.html |access-date=March 23, 2024 |website=[[Yahoo!|Yahoo Entertainment]] |language=en-US}}</ref> The first actresses considered had been in other successful films and television series. [[Pamelyn Ferdin]] was turned down as too familiar.<ref name="nastasi">{{Cite web |last=Nastasi, Alison |date=February 21, 2015 |title=The Actors Who Turned Down Controversial Movie Roles |url=http://flavorwire.com/505946/the-actors-who-turned-down-controversial-movie-roles |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610135648/http://flavorwire.com/505946/the-actors-who-turned-down-controversial-movie-roles |archive-date=June 10, 2016 |access-date=September 9, 2022 |website=Flavorwire}}</ref> [[Denise Nickerson]], who had played [[Violet Beauregarde]] in ''[[Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory]]'', said in later interviews her family found the script too dark.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Wiseman |first1=Andreas |last2=Evans |first2=Greg |date=July 11, 2019 |title=Denise Nickerson Dies: 'Willy Wonka', 'Dark Shadows' Actress Was 62 |work=[[Deadline Hollywood]] |url=https://deadline.com/2019/07/denise-nickerson-dies-willy-wonka-the-chocolate-factory-actress-was-62-1202644767/ |access-date=September 9, 2022}}</ref> [[Janet Leigh]] would not let her daughter, [[Jamie Lee Curtis]], audition.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Clark Collis |title=Jamie Lee Curtis was asked to audition for 'The Exorcist' |url=https://ew.com/movies/2018/09/27/jamie-lee-curtis-the-exorcist/ |access-date=January 23, 2022 |website=Ew.com}}</ref> Friedkin was considering older actresses<ref name="adams" /> until Elinore Blair{{efn|Eventually cast herself as a nurse.<ref name="AFI" />}} came in unannounced with her daughter [[Linda Blair|Linda]],<ref name=fear>{{Cite AV media |title=The Fear of God: 25 Years of 'The Exorcist'|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p07r5pwq/the-fear-of-god-twentyfive-years-of-the-exorcist |type=Documentary |publisher=[[BBC]] |year=1998 |people=Mark Kermode, William Friedkin, William Peter Blatty, Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Max von Sydow|time=9:07–9:22|via=YouTube}}</ref> whose credits were primarily in modeling and a single soap opera role. Friedkin later recalled her as "[S]mart but not precocious ... cute but not beautiful. A normal, happy 12-year-old girl".<ref name="adams" /> He asked if she knew what ''The Exorcist'' was about; she told him she had read the book.{{efn|Blair confirmed this but said in 2021 she had not fully understood it. While she found it "odd" that she was doing the things she was doing with a crucifix and saying the lines later dubbed over by [[Mercedes McCambridge]], she did not appreciate the significance of what she was doing or why as she had been raised a [[Congregationalism in the United States|Congregationalist]].<ref name="2021 Telegraph Blair article">{{Cite news |last=Power |first=Ed |date=July 28, 2021 |title='It pushed me over the edge': why The Exorcist made Linda Blair's head spin |work=[[Daily Telegraph]] |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/pushed-edge-exorcist-made-linda-blairs-head-spin/ |access-date=September 26, 2022}}</ref>}} "[I]t's about a little girl who gets possessed by the devil and does a whole bunch of bad things." Friedkin then asked her what she meant. "[S]he pushes a man out of her bedroom window and she hits her mother across the face and she masturbates with a crucifix." Friedkin then asked Linda if she knew what masturbation meant. "It's like jerking off, isn't it?", and she giggled a little bit. "Have you ever done that?" he asked. "Sure; haven't you?" she responded.<ref name="adams" />

Blair was cast after tests with Burstyn.<ref name="adams" /> "After all these difficult scenes she'd tiptoe around and giggle, after every bit", Blatty recalled. Friedkin said "there wasn't one other [actress] I would have considered".<ref name="CF Friedkin interview">{{Cite magazine |last=Myers |first=Steve |year=1974 |title=William Friedkin interview |url=https://archive.org/details/Castle_of_Frankenstein_022_whole_Vol6n2_1974c2cChersUsedRazor-DREGS |magazine=[[Castle of Frankenstein]] |volume=6 |issue=22 |pages=56–57 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> He had planned to use Blair's electronically treated voice for Pazuzu's dialogue, but decided that a more [[androgynous]] voice was better, and cast experienced voice actress [[Mercedes McCambridge]].<ref name="fear" /> McCambridge ate raw eggs, drank whiskey and chainsmoked cigarettes to make Pazuzu's voice sound as intimidating as possible. After filming, the studio did not credit her, until [[Screen Actors Guild]] [[arbitration in the United States|arbitration]].<ref name="usa">{{Cite news |date=March 17, 2004 |title=''The Exorcist'' actress Mercedes McCambridge dies at 85 |work=[[USA Today]] |url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2004-03-17-mercedes-mccambridge_x.htm |url-status=live |access-date=October 24, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314042005/http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2004-03-17-mercedes-mccambridge_x.htm |archive-date=March 14, 2012}}</ref> McCambridge's name was included in the credits on all but the first 30 prints, but the dispute prevented the release of a soundtrack album with excerpts of dialogue.{{sfn|Kermode|2003|p=75}} Warner Bros. reportedly forced Friedkin to use [[Eileen Dietz]], then Blair's senior of 15 years, as Blair's stunt double.<ref name="2021 Telegraph Blair article" /> She stood in for Blair in the crucifix scene, the fistfight with Father Karras, and others too violent or disturbing for Blair to perform. She recalled that Friedkin gave her no notes and said, "I wasn't playing a little girl, I was playing the demon that possessed a little girl." Dietz appears on camera as the face of Pazuzu.<ref name="New Statesman Dietz article">{{Cite magazine |last=Hobbs |first=Thomas |date=February 5, 2020 |title='We argued over the crucifix scene': what it was like being the demon in The Exorcist |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/film/2020/02/we-argued-over-crucifix-scene-what-it-was-being-demon-exorcist |url-access=registration |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201102194352/https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/film/2020/02/we-argued-over-crucifix-scene-what-it-was-being-demon-exorcist |archive-date=November 2, 2020 |access-date=October 28, 2020 |magazine=[[New Statesman]]}}</ref> Blair, who recalls Friedkin telling her the film would not succeed if she was not in as many shots as possible, estimates that Dietz is in 17 seconds of the film. Dietz, angry that her contribution to the film had been minimized, claimed in the media to have performed ''all'' the possession scenes. The studio ultimately measured her screen presence at 28.25 seconds, but denied that her contribution was dramatically significant.{{sfn|Kermode|2003|p=75}}

====Supporting roles====
[[File:TeilhardP 1955a.jpg|right|thumb|The image of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin that inspired Friedkin to cast von Sydow]]
[[File:Jason Miller and Max von Sydow in The Exorcist.jpg|thumb|right|Miller and von Sydow as Karras and Merrin]]

Warner Bros. wanted [[Marlon Brando]] for the role of [[Lankester Merrin]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Coffin |first=Patrick |date=December 1, 2013 |title=The Unbearable Frightness of Being |url=http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/2753/the_unbearable_frightness_of_being.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617082158/http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/2753/the_unbearable_frightness_of_being.aspx |archive-date=June 17, 2015 |access-date=June 16, 2015}}</ref> but Friedkin refused.<ref name="yt" /> A [[Philippe Halsman]] photograph of [[Pierre Teilhard de Chardin]], one of Blatty's inspirations for Father Merrin, inspired Friedkin to cast [[Max von Sydow]] instead of [[Paul Scofield]], whom Blatty had wanted.<ref name="Friedkin THR memoir excerpt" />

The film's supporting roles were cast more quickly. At a play, Blatty and Friedkin ran into [[Lee J. Cobb]], who was cast as Lt. Kinderman.<ref name="adams" /> Two priests were cast. Father William O'Malley, who had become acquainted with Blatty through his criticism of the novel, was cast as Father Dyer, whom he had considered clichéd in the novel.<ref name="adams" /> The Rev. Thomas Bermingham, a Georgetown professor who had assigned Blatty research on demonic possession as a student, took the role of the university president.{{sfn|Travers|Rieff|1974|p=16}}

[[Jack MacGowran]] got the role of Dennings, which, earlier in the production, seemed to be going to [[J. Lee Thompson]].{{sfn|Kermode|2003|p=28}} A later cast listing adds Mary Boylan and The Rev. John Nicola, one of the film's technical advisors, in small roles.<ref name="AFI" /> Greek actor [[Titos Vandis]], cast as Karras's uncle, covered his face with a hat to avoid associations with his role in the recent [[Woody Allen]] film ''[[Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (film)|Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clagett |first=Thomas |title=William Friedkin: Films of Aberration, Obsession, and Reality |date=1990 |publisher=McFarland & Company |isbn=0-89950-262-8 |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |pages=113–114}}</ref> Friedkin cast Vasiliki Maliaros as Karras's mother after reportedly encountering her in a [[Greek restaurant]].{{sfn|Travers|Rieff|1974|pp=137–139}}

===Direction===
In addition to Nichols, many directors were considered, including [[Arthur Penn]], [[Stanley Kubrick]],{{sfn|Kermode|2003|p=23}} [[John Boorman]]{{efn|He later directed the sequel, ''[[Exorcist II: The Heretic]]'',<ref name="Exorcist II AFI">{{Cite web |title=Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55889-EXORCIST-IITHEHERETIC?sid=5ef62dbf-4bf5-4bf5-9474-a81fb51a5265&sr=0.4241317&cp=1&pos=0 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221003110938/https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55889-EXORCIST-IITHEHERETIC?sid=5ef62dbf-4bf5-4bf5-9474-a81fb51a5265&sr=0.4241317&cp=1&pos=0 |archive-date=October 3, 2022 |access-date=October 1, 2022 |website=[[AFI Catalog of Feature Films]]}}</ref> after not only turning the original down but advised the studio against making it, calling it "negative and destructive".{{sfn|Kermode|2003|p=23}}}} and [[Peter Bogdanovich]].{{sfn|Zinoman|2011|p=94}} The studio finally hired [[Mark Rydell]],{{efn|In 1991 Rydell said "that was never going to happen."{{sfn|Kermode|2003|p=23}}}} but Blatty insisted on Friedkin, with whom he was acquainted, as he had been impressed by his film ''[[The French Connection (film)|The French Connection]]''.<ref name="Bloody Disgusting">{{Cite news |last=Thurman |first=Trace |date=December 26, 2016 |title='The Exorcist' Was Released 43 Years Ago Today! |work=[[Bloody Disgusting]] |url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3419056/exorcist-released-43-years-ago/ |access-date=September 9, 2022}}</ref><ref name="2000 Austin Chronicle interview">{{Cite interview |last=Blatty |first=William Peter |subject-link=William Peter Blatty |interviewer=Marc Savlov |title=The Horror, the Horror |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/screens/2000-03-24/76550/ |access-date=September 14, 2022 |work=[[The Austin Chronicle]] |place=[[Austin, Texas]] |date=March 24, 2000}}</ref> Blatty saw Friedkin, an acquaintance, as "a director who can bring the look of documentary realism to this incredible story, and&nbsp;... is never going to lie to me." The studio demurred, until ''Connection'' was released to commercial success and a [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture Academy Award]].<ref name="Friedkin THR memoir excerpt">{{Cite news |last=Friedkin |first=William |author-link=William Friedkin |date=April 26, 2013 |title='Exorcist' Director William Friedkin Reveals the Struggle to Make the Classic Film |work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/exorcist-director-william-friedkin-reveals-444127/ |access-date=October 13, 2022}}</ref><ref name="2000 Austin Chronicle interview" />

During his press tour for ''Connection'', Friedkin began reading a copy of the novel Blatty sent him. After the first 20 pages he canceled his dinner plans and finished the book, finding the story so gripping that he did not consider any problems adapting it to film.<ref name="Friedkin THR memoir excerpt" /> Friedkin felt that the film should unfold slowly, with audiences seeing everything that happened to Regan and the unsuccessful attempts at treating her condition.<ref name="Friedkin Vice interview">{{Cite interview |last=Friedkin |first=William |subject-link=William Friedkin |interviewer=Adrian Van Young |title='Exorcist' Director William Friedkin Told Us Why the Film Is Such a Classic |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/revisiting-the-exorcist-with-director-william-friedkin-1030/ |access-date=October 14, 2022 |work=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]] |date=October 30, 2015}}</ref> An early clash during production led to Warner Bros. telling Blatty he could not take any action against Friedkin. Afterwards, Blatty informed the studio he could no longer have any responsibility for controlling the budget; while he and Friedkin reconciled, production costs soon exceeded the initial $4.2&nbsp;million (${{formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|4200000|1972|r=-3}}}} in {{inflation-year|US-GDP}}{{inflation-fn|US-GDP}}) budget.{{sfn|Biskind|1999|pp=216–17}}

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.{{sfn|Biskind|1999|pp=216–17}} He also fired [[Blank (cartridge)|blanks]]<ref name="yt">{{Cite web |last=DallasFilmSociety |date=April 19, 2013 |title=William Friedkin, director of THE EXORCIST at the 2013 Dallas International Film Festival |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd0dWzj2KmY |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107223512/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd0dWzj2KmY |archive-date=January 7, 2016 |access-date=June 16, 2015 |via=YouTube}}</ref> without warning to elicit shock from Miller for a take;<ref name="America article" /> Dietz recalls him also doing this during the scene where Regan assaults the doctors at the house.<ref name="New Statesman Dietz article" /> Friedkin also told Miller that the vomit, porridge colored to resemble [[pea soup]] and pumped through a hidden tube, would hit him in the chest during the projectile vomiting scene, and rehearsed it that way. But when filmed, the soup hit his face, resulting in his disgusted reaction.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Meyer |first=Joshua |date=December 6, 2021 |title=The Exorcist's Bizarre On-Set Accident You Can Actually See In The Movie |work=[[/Film]]|url=https://www.slashfilm.com/678388/the-exorcists-bizarre-on-set-accident-you-can-actually-see-in-the-movie/ |access-date=September 9, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-exorcist-how-pea-soup-became-a-recipe-for-the-scariest-movie-of-all-time/|title=The Exorcist: how pea soup became a recipe for The Scariest Movie Of All Time|first=Den of Geek|last=Staff|date=October 17, 2018|website=Den of Geek}}</ref>

Crewmembers found Friedkin difficult to work with. On the first day of shooting, he had a wall removed to create space for the [[Camera dolly|dolly]] to back up from a shot of bacon frying, then sent the prop master to look for preservative-free bacon, difficult to find at the time, since he did not like the way it curled. Another crewmember recalled returning after three days of sick leave to find Friedkin still shooting the same scene.{{sfn|Biskind|1999|p=217}} Dietz recalls the main delay being reshoots, even of scenes that had been difficult to stage and film the first time, such as Regan's bed shaking. "People were literally placing bets on what he would reshoot next."<ref name="New Statesman Dietz article" /> He also fired and rehired crew regularly. One crewmember recalls seeing Friedkin shake hands warmly with someone, and then seconds later tell a second person to "get this guy outta here", earning him the nickname "Wacky Willy".{{sfn|Biskind|1999|p=217}}

===Cinematography===
[[Owen Roizman]], director of photography on ''The French Connection'', worked in this position again on ''The Exorcist''. He was in charge of filming every scene except for the Iraqi prologue, shot by [[Billy Williams (cinematographer)|Billy Williams]]. Roizman and Friedkin wanted ''The Exorcist'', like their previous film, to appear to have been shot in available light. The MacNeil house was, unlike house interiors in horror films such as ''[[Psycho (1960 film)|Psycho]]'', designed to look normal and inviting, but lit to suggest an ominous presence. Otherwise, Roizman said, Friedkin "demanded complete realism" and "wanted to see pictures with glass in them, mirrors on the walls and all of the other highly reflective surfaces you would naturally find in a house[;] we never tried to cover anything up, as we would normally do for expedience in shooting." This meant that the kitchen set, with much stainless steel and glass, was "virtually impossible" to light beyond the practical ceiling fixtures and whatever other lights they could manage to sneak in and hide. "[W]e'd walk in, hit the switch and shoot—through not much choice."<ref name="Roizman interview">{{Cite interview |last=Roizman |first=Owen |subject-link=Owen Roizman |interviewer=Herb A. Lightman |title=Owen Roizman on Filming ''The Exorcist'' |url=https://ascmag.com/articles/owen-roizman-on-filming-the-exorcist |access-date=September 18, 2022 |work=[[American Cinematographer]] |publisher=[[American Society of Cinematographers]] |place=Los Angeles |date=February 1974}}</ref>

===Filming and locations===
[[File:Exorcist steps.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Exorcist steps|"''Exorcist'' steps"]], looking north, Georgetown, Washington, D.C.]]
[[Principal photography]] began August 14, 1972.{{sfn|Biskind|1999|p=216}} Although the film is set in Washington, D.C., many interior scenes were shot in New York City. The MacNeil residence interiors were filmed at CECO Studios in [[Manhattan]],{{Sfn|Kermode|2003|p=76}} with Karras's confrontation with his uncle, shot at [[Goldwater Memorial Hospital]], now the site of [[Cornell Tech]], on [[Roosevelt Island]] in the [[East River]] between [[Manhattan]] and [[Queens, New York|Queens]]; the scenes with Karras's mother in the hospital were filmed at [[Bellevue Hospital|Bellevue]].{{sfn|Kermode|2003|p=42}} The scene where Father Karras listens to the tapes of Regan was filmed in the basement of [[Fordham University]]'s [[Keating Hall]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hayes |first=Cathy |date=July 2, 2012 |title='Exorcist' priest gets the ax from Fordham school for his old school ways |work=Irish Central |url=http://www.irishcentral.com/news/exorcist-priest-gets-the-ax-from-fordham-school-for-his-old-school-ways-161058735-237514061.html# |url-status=live |access-date=April 29, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141115212602/http://www.irishcentral.com/news/exorcist-priest-gets-the-ax-from-fordham-school-for-his-old-school-ways-161058735-237514061.html |archive-date=November 15, 2014}}</ref> where O'Malley was an assistant professor of theology.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Larnick |first=Eric |date=October 6, 2010 |title=20 Things You Didn't Know About 'The Exorcist' |url=http://www.moviefone.com/2010/10/06/20-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-exorcist/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513010727/http://www.moviefone.com/2010/10/06/20-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-exorcist/ |archive-date=May 13, 2016 |access-date=May 6, 2016 |website=[[Moviefone]]}}</ref>

The film's opening sequences were filmed in and near [[Mosul]], [[Ba'athist Iraq|Iraq]], at a time when [[United States–Iraq relations#Kurdish intervention, 1972–1975|the U.S. and Iraq did not have diplomatic relations]]; Warner Bros. feared that Friedkin and his crew might not be able to return. He negotiated filming arrangements directly with local officials of the ruling [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region|Ba'ath Party]], who required that he hire local workers as crew<ref name="AFI" /> and teach filmmaking to interested residents.<ref name="Perri article">{{Cite web |last=West |first=Alexandra |date=August 31, 2019 |title=The Exorcist (1973) |url=https://www.artofthetitle.com/title/the-exorcist/ |access-date=September 23, 2022 |website=[[Art of the Title]]}}</ref> The archaeological dig site shown is [[Hatra]], south-west of Mosul.<ref>{{Cite AV media |title=The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen; director's commentary (audio track) |type=Motion picture |publisher=Warner Bros. |year=2000 |place=Iraq, Washington, D.C. |people=Friedkin, William (director)}}</ref> Temperatures during the days reached {{convert|130|°F}}, limiting shooting to dawn and dusk.<ref name="CNN 40th anniversary story">{{Cite news |last=McLaughlin |first=Katie |date=October 31, 2013 |title='The Exorcist' still turns heads at 40 |work=[[CNN]] |url=http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/31/showbiz/exorcist-40th-anniversary/ |url-status=live |access-date=September 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190411204848/https://www.cnn.com/2013/10/31/showbiz/exorcist-40th-anniversary/ |archive-date=April 11, 2019}}</ref>

The exterior of the MacNeil house was a family home on 36th and Prospect streets in Washington.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 30, 2015 |title=Why Do the Exorcist Steps Exist in the First Place? |url=https://georgetownmetropolitan.com/2015/10/30/in-celebration-of-the-exorcist-steps/ |access-date=June 19, 2021|website=The Georgetown Metropolitan}}</ref> A [[mansard roof]] was added to account for the attic scene.{{Sfn|Andrews|Hockenhull|Pheasant-Kelly|2015|p=165}} The [[Exorcist steps|neighboring stairs]] were padded with a half-inch ({{convert|0.5|in|mm|disp=output only}}) of rubber for Karras's death. The house was set back slightly from the steps, so the crew built an eastward extension with a false front to allow the stunt double playing Karras to fall directly down.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Truitt |first=Brian |date=October 7, 2013 |title='Exorcist' creators haunt Georgetown thirty years later |work=USA Today |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2013/10/07/exorcist-40th-anniversary/2764565/ |url-status=live |access-date=June 24, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140214020451/http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2013/10/07/exorcist-40th-anniversary/2764565/ |archive-date=February 14, 2014}}</ref>

[[File:Fordham University 01.JPG|thumb|left|Several scenes were shot in the basement of [[Fordham University]]'s [[Keating Hall]].]]
Many Georgetown locations, on and off-campus, were used. Burstyn's first scene, where she lectures the protesters, was shot on the steps of [[Healy Hall]]; she is also seen walking down the steps of [[Lauinger Library]]. Other scenes used the interiors of [[Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart|Dahlgren Chapel]] and the university president's office, used as the archbishop's office.<ref name="Georgetown Library collection">{{cite web|title=The Filming of 'The Exorcist|url=https://library.georgetown.edu/exhibition/filming-exorcist|publisher=[[Georgetown University Library]]|access-date=July 19, 2023}}</ref> One scene was filmed in [[The Tombs (bar)|The Tombs]], a popular local pub.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Zak|first=Dan |date=October 30, 2013 |title=William Peter Blatty, writer of 'The Exorcist', slips back into the light for its 40th anniversary |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/william-peter-blatty-writer-of-the-exorcist-slips-back-into-the-light-for-its-40th-anniversary/2013/10/30/e8c85900-3fda-11e3-a624-41d661b0bb78_story.html |url-status=live |access-date=July 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418160421/https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/william-peter-blatty-writer-of-the-exorcist-slips-back-into-the-light-for-its-40th-anniversary/2013/10/30/e8c85900-3fda-11e3-a624-41d661b0bb78_story.html |archive-date=April 18, 2016}}</ref><ref name="Curbed page">{{cite web|last=Paschall|first=Valerie|title=Mapping the Filming Locations of The Exorcist|url=https://dc.curbed.com/maps/mapping-the-filming-locations-of-the-exorcist|website=[[Curbed]]|date=October 31, 2013|access-date=July 19, 2013}}</ref>

====Exorcism scenes====
The exorcism scenes were challenging to film. Friedkin wanted the bedroom set to be cold enough to see the actors' breath, as described in the novel. A $50,000 (${{formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|50000|1972|r=-3}}}} in {{inflation-year|US-GDP}}{{inflation-fn|US-GDP}})<ref name="AFI" /> refrigeration system was installed to cool the set to {{cvt|-20|F}}.<ref name="America article" /><ref name="Roizman interview" /><ref name="fleshfarm">{{Cite web |title=Friedkin's – The Exorcist |url=http://www.thefleshfarm.com/exorcist/exorcist1.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120620121320/http://www.thefleshfarm.com/exorcist/exorcist1.htm |archive-date=June 20, 2012 |access-date=August 2, 2012 |publisher=The Flesh Farm}}</ref> Since the set lighting warmed the air, it remained cold enough to film for only three minutes at a time.<ref name="1996 Washington Post article">{{Cite news |last=Slovick |first=Matt |date=1996 |title=The Exorcist |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/features/dcmovies/exorcist.htm |url-status=live |access-date=March 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930073703/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/features/dcmovies/exorcist.htm |archive-date=September 30, 2018}}</ref> Due to frequent breakdowns,<ref name="AFI" /> only five shots could be finished each day; the complete scene, filmed in script order, took a month to complete.<ref name="Friedkin DGA interview">{{Cite interview |last=Friedkin |first=William |subject-link=William |interviewer=Jeffrey Ressner |title=Devil's Playground |url=https://www.dga.org/Craft/DGAQ/All-Articles/0803-Fall-2008/Shot-to-Remember-The-Exorcist.aspx |access-date=September 20, 2022 |work=DGA Quarterly |publisher=[[Directors Guild of America]] |place=Los Angeles |date=Fall 2008}}</ref>

[[File:The Exorcist levitation scene.webm|thumb|right|The scene where Regan levitates, with the actors' breath visible in the chilled air as the priests chant "The power of Christ compels you!"]]
It was easier to film some of the other supernatural manifestations, such as the bed rocking and the curtains blowing since the walls and ceiling of the set were capable of being moved to accommodate a camera. After the scene where the ceiling cracks it was replaced with one attached to the walls, requiring a hole be cut in it for the rig to go through when Regan [[Levitation (paranormal)|levitates]], the most challenging shot in the sequence.<ref name="Roizman interview" /> The {{convert|80|lb|kg|adj=on}} Blair wore a [[bodysuit]] under her nightgown with attached hooks for monofilament wires.<ref name="Friedkin DGA interview" />

Roizman had filmed similar scenes before, painting the wires to match the background so they would not show. This was difficult on ''The Exorcist'' because of the changes in background. "We had to practically paint them frame by frame", he said. While most directors would have been satisfied to smooth out the scene in post-production, Friedkin wanted it done in longer takes.<ref name="Roizman interview" />

Friedkin did not want any scenes in the movie to have "any kind of spooky lights that you typically saw in horror films", so all the light in the bedroom comes from a visible source.<ref name="Friedkin DGA interview" /> The room's color scheme also suggested black and white film, with [[Taupe#Taupe gray|gray taupe]] walls, Regan's bedding a neutral beige, and the priests in black. According to Roizman, white would have been too dominant. "In toning everything down like this, the only real color in the room became the skin tones", he said.<ref name="Roizman interview" />

====Father Merrin's arrival scene====
[[File:Visual comparison between Empire of Light by René Magritte and The Exorcist by William Friedkin.png|thumb|right|Magritte painting (top, heavily cropped) and a still from the arrival scene inspired by the painting. Both depict a nighttime scene where two rectangular lighted second-story windows shine out onto a street below where an ornate streetlight stands.]]

Father Merrin's arrival scene was filmed on [[Max von Sydow]]'s first day on set. The scene where he steps out of a cab and stands in front of the MacNeil residence, silhouetted in a misty streetlamp's glow and staring up at a beam of light from a bedroom window, is one of the most famous scenes in the movie, used for [[onesheet|film posters]] and home media release covers. It was inspired by [[René Magritte]]'s 1954 painting ''[[The Empire of Light|Empire of Light]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Faherty, Allanah |date=January 14, 2015 |title=I Never Knew That These Artworks Inspired Some of the Scariest Horror Movies of All Time! |url=http://moviepilot.com/posts/2583497 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604035619/http://moviepilot.com/posts/2583497 |archive-date=June 4, 2016 |access-date=May 6, 2016 |website=Movie Pilot}}</ref> Friedkin wanted to evoke visually the language Blatty used in the novel for this scene, likening Merrin to "a melancholy traveler frozen in time", standing next to a streetlight in the fog when he gets out of the cab.<ref name="Friedkin DGA interview" />

He gave the crew a full day to light the scene, using mainly arc lights and tripod-mounted [[Super Trouper (spotlight)|Troupers]], and boosting the brightness of the existing streetlamps.<ref name="Friedkin DGA interview" /> Roizman said this was the most difficult of all the film's nighttime exterior shots.<ref name="Roizman interview" /> To get the beam of light the way Friedkin wanted it, the crew had to take the window frame out of the facade they had attached to the house for filming, put it behind the window and then put the spotlight in between the window and frame.{{sfn|Kermode|2003|p=130}} As they were shooting, Roizman said, the wind picked up, making it hard to hold the fog effect. By working quickly, he and the camera crew were able to get the shot,<ref name="Roizman interview" /> with Friedkin finding the first take satisfactory.{{sfn|Kermode|2003|p=130}}

====Head spinning====
[[File:ExcorcistPuppet.jpg|thumb|right|The Regan dummy]]
The scenes where the possessed Regan's head rotates so she appears to be looking directly backward drew notice from audiences and critics. "All I can tell you is that the way you think I did it is not the way we did it", Friedkin told ''Castle of Frankenstein'' at the time.<ref name="CF Friedkin interview" /> Like the film's other special effects, it was performed live. A life-size animated dummy of Regan was built.

Critic [[Mark Kermode]] says the scene's impact results from the audience not expecting it so soon after the crucifix scene. He believes its recurrence during the exorcism was added on set since it is in neither the novel nor the screenplay. Blatty had argued against it, telling Friedkin "supernatural doesn't mean impossible". Friedkin inserted a shot of Karras, suggesting the scene might just be a hallucination. When audiences reacted strongly, Blatty said Friedkin "prov[ed] me an idiot once again".{{sfn|Kermode|2003|p=68}}

Special effects supervisor Marcel Vercoutere built the [[latex]] dummy with help from makeup artist [[Dick Smith (make-up artist)|Dick Smith]]. They tested its realism by putting it in the front seat of a taxicab and, when enough people were looking, turning the head.<ref name="Vercoutere obit">{{Cite news |last=Trounson |first=Rebecca |date=April 21, 2013 |title=Marcel Vercoutere dies at 87; special effects wizard on 'The Exorcist' |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/la-me-marcel-vercoutere-20130421-story.html |access-date=September 26, 2022 |via=[[Orlando Sentinel]]}}</ref> It was so realistic that Blair felt uncomfortable in its presence.<ref name="2021 Telegraph Blair article" /> They had given the dummy's face the capability to move and appear to speak, adding a condom so its throat would bulge. A tube was added for simulated breathing, which produced the requisite clouds of vapor.<ref name="Roizman interview" />

====Crucifix scene====
[[File:Exorcist head-spin crucifix scene.webm|thumb|right|Scene where
possessed Regan masturbates with a crucifix, her head rotates, and Burstyn suffers her broken tailbone]]

While filming the scene where the possessed Regan masturbates with a crucifix, Dietz and Friedkin had "this long discussion about the right way to jerk off and I showed him why a woman has to churn her wrist [more than a man does]."<ref name="New Statesman Dietz article" /> At the time Friedkin said that the scene's power over audiences came from its unusual combination of sex and religion. To many viewers it lasted much longer than its 50 seconds. He had filmed much more, but ultimately decided that it was about "how much [he] could take".<ref name="CF Friedkin interview" />

The scene's power, Kermode writes, comes from Friedkin's head-on approach, centering it on a brightly lit screen, punctuating the thrusts with a stabbing sound. Blatty pleaded with Friedkin to stop "destroying the film"; Friedkin responded that the scene would be one of the film's biggest draws. When it turned out that it was, Blatty found it "terribly depressing".{{sfn|Kermode|2003|p=67}}

====Angiography scene====
[[File:Exorcist angiogram scene.webm|thumb|right|The angiography scene]]
The [[angiography]] scene, in which a needle spurts blood from Regan's neck,<ref name="Film School rejects">{{Cite news |date=August 30, 2012 |title=34 Things We Learned from 'The Exorcist' Commentary |work=[[Film School Rejects]] |url=https://filmschoolrejects.com/34-things-we-learned-from-the-exorcist-commentary-1f95006de42a/ |url-status=live |access-date=March 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306045223/https://filmschoolrejects.com/34-things-we-learned-from-the-exorcist-commentary-1f95006de42a/ |archive-date=March 6, 2019 |quote=Friedkin used actual doctors from the NYU Medical Center to depict the actual step-by-step procedure of an arteriogram, which is extremely painful and requires the patient to be sedated but conscious. Friedkin claims that for many years this footage was used as training for radiologists who would be performing arteriograms.}}</ref> caused audiences the most discomfort, according to Blatty, who himself never watched it.<ref name="2000 Austin Chronicle interview" /> Friedkin, too, has found its depiction of "[m]edical science impinging upon the innocence of this little girl" disturbs audiences the most, more than any of the film's possession scenes.<ref name="Friedkin Vice interview" /> It has been criticized as "unappetizing",<ref name="Crist review" /> the film's "most needless scene",<ref name="Danny Peary">{{Cite book |last=Peary |first=Danny |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GqEqAAAAYAAJ|title=Guide for the Film Fanatic |date=1986 |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |isbn=9780671610814 |page=143 |quote=The most needless scene – the one that really made viewers sick – has Regan undergoing a bloody arteriography |author-link=Danny Peary |access-date=February 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428033820/https://books.google.com/books?id=GqEqAAAAYAAJ|archive-date=April 28, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> and "revolting".<ref name="Film Quarterly">{{Cite journal |last=Dempsey |first=Michael |date=Summer 1974 |title=The Exorcist |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/e54afaf2d0b0c6ce74467657b600117a |journal=[[Film Quarterly]] |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=61–62 |doi=10.2307/1211397 |jstor=1211397 |access-date=September 12, 2022|url-access=subscription <!--|id={{ProQuest| Insert ProQuest data here }}-->}}</ref> British comedian [[Graeme Garden]], who has a medical degree,<ref name="WINKLER-2005">{{Cite news |last=Winkler |first=Michael |date=March 5, 2005 |title=Still Goodies ... but oldies |work=[[The Age]] |location=[[Melbourne]] |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/TV--Radio/Still-Goodies----but-oldies/2005/03/03/1109700605326.html |url-status=dead |access-date=September 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070910195549/http://www.theage.com.au/news/TV--Radio/Still-Goodies----but-oldies/2005/03/03/1109700605326.html |archive-date=September 10, 2007 }}</ref> agreed the scene was "genuinely disturbing"; in his review for the ''[[New Scientist]]'', he called it "irresponsible".<ref name="New Scientist review">{{Cite journal |last=Garden |first=Graeme |author-link=Graeme Garden |date=April 4, 1974 |title=Film: The Exorcist |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oEjNaFiTyqUC&pg=PA37 |url-status=live |journal=[[New Scientist]] |publisher=[[Reed Business Information]] |volume=62 |issue=892 |pages=37–38 |issn=0262-4079 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428033810/https://books.google.com/books?id=oEjNaFiTyqUC&pg=PA37 |archive-date=April 28, 2021 |access-date=February 27, 2019}}</ref>

Critic [[John Kenneth Muir]] wrote in ''Horror Films of the 1970s'' that the scene draws its power by merely recording what occurs and not adding anything. "It looks, sounds and feels totally real ... For a time, it is medicine that possesses Regan, not the Devil".<ref name="Horror Films of the 1970s">{{Cite book |last=Muir |first=John Kenneth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ghmYvJReqIIC&pg=PA267 |title=Horror Films of the 1970s |date=2012 |publisher=McFrarland |isbn=9780786491568 |page=267 |author-link=John Kenneth Muir |access-date=October 4, 2022}}</ref> In a 2021 article in ''[[History of the Human Sciences]]'', Amy C. Chambers of [[Manchester Metropolitan University]] makes a similar observation.<ref name="Religious response article">{{Cite journal |last=Chambers |first=Amy |date=May 10, 2021 |title='Somewhere between science and superstition': Religious outrage, horrific science, and The Exorcist (1973) |journal=[[History of the Human Sciences]]|volume=34 |issue=5 |pages=32–52 |doi=10.1177/09526951211004465 |pmid=34776653 |pmc=8575976 |s2cid=236599381}}</ref>{{efn|"The medical space is made spectacular and horrific in ''The Exorcist'' not through the presentation of Regan's behavior or the demon, but through the clinical nature of her treatment and how this is communicated through shots and sound."<ref name="Religious response article" />}}
Finnish media professor Frans Ilkka Mäyrä notes how the scientific suggests the spiritual here as "the violent movements and noises of arteriographic machinery reach diabolical dimensions"{{sfn|Ilkka Mäyrä|1999|p=159}} Kermode likens it to torture, "horribly sexual in its execution".{{sfn|Kermode|2003|p=54}}

Medical professionals have described the scene, which was not in the novel but was added to the film to reflect changes in technology,{{sfn|Kermode|2003|p=54}} as a realistic depiction of the procedure. It is also of historical interest, as radiologists were increasingly using a more distant artery instead of the [[carotid artery|carotid]] for the puncture.<ref name="Springer handbook">{{Cite book |last1=Harrigan |first1=Mark R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QrPkX8eCHEIC&pg=PA88 |title=Handbook of Cerebrovascular Disease and Neurointerventional Technique |last2=Deveikis |first2=John P. |date=April 20, 2009 |publisher=[[Springer Science & Business Media]] |isbn=9781603271257 |page=88 |access-date=February 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428033756/https://books.google.com/books?id=QrPkX8eCHEIC&pg=PA88 |archive-date=April 28, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Springer handbook 2">{{Cite book |last=Harrigan |first=Mark R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QqdzWT71DL8C&pg=PA304 |title=Catheter-Based Cardiovascular Interventions: A Knowledge-Based Approach |date=August 1, 2012 |publisher=[[Springer Science & Business Media]] |isbn=9783642276767 |page=304 |access-date=February 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228150201/https://books.google.com/books?id=QqdzWT71DL8C&pg=PA304 |archive-date=February 28, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> It has also been described as the most realistic depiction of a medical procedure in a popular film.<ref name="Esquire Bateson story">{{Cite news |last=Miller |first=Matt |date=October 25, 2018 |title=Searching For the Truth About the Actual Murderer in ''The Exorcist'' |work=[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]] |url=https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a23724262/paul-bateson-the-exorcist-murderer-true-story/ |url-status=live |access-date=February 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228222538/https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a23724262/paul-bateson-the-exorcist-murderer-true-story/ |archive-date=December 28, 2018}}</ref> In his 2012 commentary on the DVD release of the 2000 cut, Friedkin claimed that the scene was used in radiological training film for years afterward.<ref name="Film School rejects" />

===="Spider-walk" scene====
[[Stuntwoman]] Ann Miles performed the spider-walk scene after two weeks' practice.<ref name="2018 ADG story">{{Cite news |last=Horn |first=Deborah |date=October 8, 2018 |title=Arkansas native reflects on a storied career as a stuntwoman, model, actress, wig stylist and Playboy Bunny |work=[[Arkansas Democrat-Gazette]] |url=https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2018/oct/08/miles-of-talent-20181008/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=October 8, 2022}}</ref> Special effects supervisor Marcel Vercoutere had designed a special harness, but Miles did not need it due to her college gymnastic experience.<ref name="ADG story">{{Cite news |last=Martin |first=Philip |date=September 11, 2015 |title=Miles from famous |work=[[Arkansas Democrat-Gazette]] |location=[[Little Rock, Arkansas]] |url=https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2015/sep/11/miles-from-famous-20150911/ |access-date=October 8, 2022}}</ref> Over Blatty's objection, Friedkin cut the scene just prior to the premiere, believing it came too early in the film. Whether the scene had been shot at all was debated by fans for years afterwards. Friedkin denied having done so until Kermode found the footage in the Warner Bros. archives in the mid-1990s while researching his book on the film. It was restored in the 2000 director's cut,<ref name="ADG story" /> albeit with a "muddy, grainy" look that one critic said made the scene seem superfluous,<ref name="2000 Courant review">{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Malcolm |date=September 29, 2000 |title=To Hell and Back With 'Exorcist' |work=[[Hartford Courant]] |url=https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2000-09-29-0009290619-story.html |access-date=October 8, 2022}}</ref> using an added shot showing Regan with blood flowing from her mouth.{{sfn|Kermode|2003|pp=108–110}}

Miles was not credited. Websites devoted to the film in the early 21st century gave credit to Sylvia Hager after the 2000 re-release. This confusion may have arisen from Vercourtere's website, where he credited her and described the harness he had designed. He said the scene was cut because the harness could not be erased in post-production. According to Miles, Hager, her [[Double (filmmaking)|lighting double]],<ref name="2018 ADG story" /> could not do the scene even with the harness, which Vercourtere had hoped to market afterwards. Since Miles was able to do the spider walk without it, she believes he left her out of his account for commercial reasons.<ref name="ADG story" />{{efn|Vercoutere died in 2013, two years before Miles' story was reported.<ref name="ADG story" />}} The misidentification, Miles said in 2018, cost her jobs afterwards since some producers believed she was falsely taking credit for Hager's work. Since then, with the intercession of SAG, she has been properly credited.<ref name="2018 ADG story" />

====Special effects====
Smith, the makeup artist, created some key special effects, particularly to make von Sydow look 30 years older in facial close-ups.<ref name="CF Friedkin interview" /> Many viewers did not realize he was made up at all; critic [[Pauline Kael]], in her generally unfavorable ''[[The New Yorker]]'' review, called it "one of the most convincing aging jobs I've ever seen".<ref name="New Yorker review">{{Cite magazine |last=Kael |first=Pauline |author-link=Pauline Kael |date=January 7, 1974 |title=Back at the Ouija Board |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1974/01/07/1974-01-07-059-tny-cards-000304797 |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |volume=49 |pages=59–60 |access-date=October 10, 2022 |url-access=subscription |number=46}}</ref> It took four hours to apply the makeup every morning. Friedkin speculated that if there was a regular Academy Award for makeup, Smith would have received it.<ref name="CF Friedkin interview" />

For the look of the possessed Regan, Friedkin and Smith drew inspiration from the crucifix scene. If she had injured herself masturbating with it, they reasoned, it was likely that under Pazuzu's control she might also have [[self-harm|deliberately scourged]] her face. "[So we] decided to have the makeup grow out of self-inflicted wounds to the face that become gangrenous so that there was an organic reason for the change in her facial features, which might certainly be demonic possession, or self-immolation", Friedkin later explained.<ref name="Friedkin Vice interview" /> Blair wore green contact lenses meant to give her eyes a bestial appearance.<ref name="Friedkin DGA interview" /> A [[latex]] stomach was built for the scene where the words "HELP ME" appear on the possessed Regan's body. The letters were scratched in, and then heated to make them disappear. This was reversed in post-production so the letters seemed to appear.<ref name="CF Friedkin interview" />

===Production difficulties and purported curse===
Due to production problems and accidents on set, ''The Exorcist'', originally scheduled for 85 days of principal photography,<ref name="NYT shooting article">{{cite news|last=Phillips|first=McCandlish|title=City Becomes a Back Lot for 2 Films|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/08/15/archives/city-becomes-a-back-lot-for-2-films.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=August 15, 1972|access-date=September 27, 2023}}</ref> took over 200 days to wrap. The film went $2.5&nbsp;million (${{formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|2500000|1972|r=-3}}}} in {{inflation-year|US-GDP}}{{inflation-fn|US-GDP}}) over budget,<ref name="CF Curse story" /> ultimately costing the studio $12&nbsp;million (${{formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|12000000|1972|r=-3}}}} in {{inflation-year|US-GDP}}).<ref name="Numbers" /> Early on, shooting was delayed six weeks after a bird flew into a [[circuit breaker]] on the house sets, starting a fire that destroyed all of them<ref name="iNews curse story">{{Cite news |last=Draba-Mann |first=Joel |date=October 11, 2018 |title=The Exorcist's deadly 'curse' explored, 45 years on |work=[[i (British newspaper)|inews.com]] |url=https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/exorcist-curse-horror-movie-95516 |access-date=September 13, 2022}}</ref> except for Regan's room. Later, another set was severely damaged by the sprinkler system. The {{convert|10|ft|m|adj=on}} statue of Pazuzu was shipped to Hong Kong instead of Iraq, causing a two-week delay.<ref name="CF Curse story" />

Injuries to cast and crew also affected production. Burstyn and Blair have lasting consequences from back injuries. Burstyn's occurred during the scene where the possessed Regan throws Chris backward; the [[take]] used in the film left her unable to film for two weeks and on crutches for the rest of the shoot,<ref name="Guardian Burstyn story">{{Cite news |last=Lee |first=Benjamin |date=April 26, 2018 |title=Ellen Burstyn: 'Women on screen were prostitutes or victims—I wanted to embody a hero' |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/apr/26/ellen-burstyn-women-on-screen-were-prostitutes-or-victims-i-wanted-to-embody-a-hero |access-date=September 13, 2022}}</ref> with a fractured [[coccyx]].{{efn|Burstyn said Friedkin never apologized to her for the incident,<ref name="Guardian Burstyn story" /> but they remain on good terms.<ref name="Yahoo back injury story">{{Cite news |last=Alter |first=Ethan |date=October 24, 2018 |title=MVPs of Horror: Ellen Burstyn and William Friedkin reveal the most painful scene in 'The Exorcist' |work=[[Yahoo! Entertainment]] |url=https://www.yahoo.com/now/mvps-horror-ellen-burstyn-william-friedkin-reveal-painful-scene-exorcist-190018644.html |access-date=October 8, 2022}}</ref> He said in 2018 that she did not make an insurance claim, was not injured and did not miss any shooting.<ref name="Guardian Friedkin story">{{Cite news |last=Bramesco |first=Charles |date=April 24, 2018 |title=William Friedkin: 'You don't know a damn thing, and neither do I' |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/apr/24/william-friedkin-interview-exorcist-director-you-dont-know-a-damn-thing-and-neither-do-i |access-date=September 13, 2022}}</ref> He also says doing it that way made it unnecessary to do repeated takes with less force. "I would rather have had one [take] that risked hurting her a little, not injuring her."<ref name="Yahoo back injury story" /> Burstyn believes there should have been padding on her back and/or the floor.<ref name="Guardian Burstyn story" />}} It has caused her chronic problems due to inadequate early treatment.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Singh |first=Ishita |date=September 5, 2014 |title=Ellen Burstyn Recalls The Physically Grueling Filming Of 'The Exorcist' |work=[[The Huffington Post]] |publisher=[[BuzzFeed]] |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ellen-burstyn-recalls-the_n_5773414/amp |access-date=September 14, 2022}}</ref> Blair fractured her lower spine after being too loosely strapped to the rocking bed, a take also used in the finished film.<ref name="Blair /Film story">{{Cite news |last=Thomas |first=DeShawn |date=February 4, 2022 |title=How ''The Exorcist'' Transformed Linda Blair Forever |work=[[/Film]] |url=https://www.slashfilm.com/758106/how-the-exorcist-transformed-linda-blair-forever/ |access-date=September 14, 2022}}</ref> She developed [[scoliosis]],<ref name="2023 Independent story">{{cite news|last=Nugent|first=Annabel|title=Satan, scandal and S Club 7: The remarkable story of The Exorcist child star Linda Blair|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/linda-blair-exorcist-believer-b2424636.html|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|date=October 6, 2023|access-date=October 25, 2023}}</ref> with long-term health effects,<ref name="2021 Telegraph Blair article" /> as well as a lifelong aversion to cold from all her time in the refrigerated bedroom set wearing only a nightgown and long underwear. A carpenter cut his thumb off and a lighting technician lost a toe in different accidents.<ref name="CF Curse story" /><ref name="America article" />

Other people connected with the film, or their family members, died—MacGowran a week after completing his scenes as Dennings.<ref name="CF Curse story" /> Maliaros (Mrs.{{spaces}}Karras) also died, like her character, before the film was finished.<ref name="iNews curse story" /> Deaths among the crew or those close to them included the night watchman, the operator of the refrigeration system for Regan's room, and an assistant cameraman's newborn.<ref name="CF Curse story" /><ref name="America article" /> Blair's grandfather died during the first week of production, and von Sydow had to return to Sweden after his first day shooting when his brother died, further delaying shooting. One of Miller's sons nearly died when a motorcycle struck him.<ref name="CF Curse story" /><ref name="America article" /> Several years after the film's release, [[Paul Bateson]], the technician in the angiography scene, was convicted of murdering journalist Addison Verrill.<ref name="Esquire Bateson story" />

Friedkin believed there might have been some supernatural interference. "I'm not a convert to the occult", he told the horror-film magazine, ''[[Castle of Frankenstein]]'', "but after all I've seen on this film, I definitely believe in demonic possession{{spaces}}... We were plagued by strange and sinister things from the beginning."<ref name="CF Curse story" /> Vercourtere said he "felt I was playing around with something I shouldn't be playing around with." To mollify the crew, Friedkin asked [[Thomas Bermingham (priest)|Father Bermingham]], the film's technical advisor, to perform an exorcism on the set. Bermingham instead blessed the cast and crew, believing that an actual exorcism would only make the cast more anxious.<ref name="America article" />

British film historian Sarah Crowther believes stories of the curse were disseminated by the studio, likening it to horror producer [[William Castle]]'s elaborate marketing gimmicks.<ref name="iNews curse story" /> She believes most of the aspects of the curse are really just the result of Friedkin's driving, relentless production.<ref name="iNews curse story" /> Blatty agreed, telling Kermode that Friedkin had started the "curse" story with an interview during production in which he blamed "devils" for the film's many delays. Blatty said that "if you shoot something for a year, people are going to get hurt, people are going to die."{{sfn|Kermode|2003|p=79}} Blair told Kermode that stories of the supposed curse circulated because viewers "chose to see a scary film, and maybe they wanted to believe all those rumors because it helped the whole process", she said.{{sfn|Kermode|2003|p=75}} In 2000, Blatty joked that "There is no ''Exorcist'' curse. ''I'' am ''The Exorcist'' curse!" when asked if the death of Blair's pet mouse was related to it.<ref name="2000 Austin Chronicle interview" />

==Post-production==
===Editing===
During principal photography, the editor then hired had no prior movie experience and was not allowed to cut the raw footage.<ref name="C&B article">{{Cite web |last=Pelan |first=Tim |date=December 26, 2020 |title=Rats in the Attic: William Friedkin's 'The Exorcist' |url=https://cinephiliabeyond.org/rats-in-the-attic-william-friedkins-the-exorcist/ |access-date=September 21, 2022 |website=Cinephilia & Beyond}}</ref> Friedkin hired three editors—[[Jordan Leondopoulos]], credited as "supervising editor"; Norman Gay, and [[Evan Lottman]]. A fourth, [[Bud S. Smith|Bud Smith]], recalls Friedkin asking him to work on ''The Exorcist'' after shooting wrapped, telling Smith he would be the lead. Smith asked Friedkin to let him edit one large rack of footage from the Iraq sequence and worked through a weekend to recut it to a rhythm based on the sound of a [[blacksmith]] hammering an [[anvil]] near Merrin.<ref name="Smith podcast">{{Cite podcast |url=https://library.nashville.org/podcasts/legends-film-podcast/legends-film-bud-smith |title=Legends of Film: Bud Smith |publisher=[[Nashville Public Library]] |host=William Chamberlain |date=August 29, 2014 |time=10:40–12:40 |access-date=September 25, 2022}}</ref> He also created the "flash face" [[trailer (promotion)|trailer]] for the film, with a montage of faces making a [[strobe]]-like effect, under tense string music, ending after almost 90 seconds with the title. In 2018, Friedkin said that Warner Bros. feared it would scare audiences too much. He considers it the film's best trailer.<ref name="2018 Friedkin trailer tweet">{{Cite web |last=Friedkin |first=William |date=March 24, 2018 |title=Replying to @scottderrickson |url=https://twitter.com/williamfriedkin/status/977747488709926913 |access-date=September 26, 2022 |website=Twitter |quote=This was created by Bud Smith, the film's editor. It's the best trailer ever made about ''The Exorcist''. Warners was scared that it would be too disturbing.}}</ref>{{efn|In that 2018 [[Tweet (social media)|tweet]] discussing this, Friedkin referred to Smith as "the film's editor", although the other three were credited.<ref name="2018 Friedkin trailer tweet" />}} Smith and the other three shared the film's Academy Award nomination for editing.<ref name="C&B article"/>

Friedkin felt the 140-minute-long cut was perfect, but the studio insisted he trim it to two hours to allow for more daily screenings. Blatty was willing to fight for the whole film as it was, but over his objections Friedkin cut roughly 10–12 minutes. Some of the excluded scenes (restored in some later screenings) were Blatty's favorites, including the original ending, with Dyer and Kinderman connecting and agreeing to go to the movies in the future,{{efn|"It worked very well in the novel as a sort of nostalgic and upbeat ending, but I didn't like it in the film, so I cut it", Friedkin told Kermode.{{sfn|Kermode|2003|p=86}}}} and a scene where Karras and Merrin take a break from the exorcism and discuss the demon's motivation for possessing Regan.{{efn|Friedkin and Blatty had argued about this scene throughout production. For Blatty the scene explains "why you've been subjected to all this horror for so long". But Friedkin felt that the audience would understand that implicitly by then.{{sfn|Kermode|2003|p=81}}}} These scenes had been in the novel, and he believed that in the movie they made it clearer at the end that good had triumphed.<ref name="Den of Geek">{{Cite web |last=Kaye |first=Don |date=February 3, 2022 |title=The Exorcist: How One Deleted Scene Can Change A Movie's Meaning |url=https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-exorcist-deleted-scene-change-movies-meaning/ |access-date=September 28, 2022 |website=[[Den of Geek]]}}</ref>

===Sound effects===
[[Ron Nagle]], Doc Siegel, [[Gonzalo Gavira]], and Bob Fine created the sound effects,{{sfn|Kermode|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=jLiUKCPQWj8C&pg=PA125 125]}} mixing bees, dogs, hamsters, and pigs into the demon's voice.<ref name="Marriott">{{Cite book |last=Marriott |first=James |title=Horror Films |publisher=[[Virgin Books]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0753509418 |series=Virgin Film |author-link=James Marriott (author)}}</ref> The sound of Regan's head rotating was made by twisting a leather wallet.<ref name="Marriott" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=January 12, 2005 |title=Exorcist effects man Gavira dies |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4167805.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160923202428/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4167805.stm |archive-date=September 23, 2016 |access-date=August 16, 2020 |website=[[BBC News]]}}</ref>

Friedkin was personally involved in the four-month sound process, the last aspect of the film completed, finished just before release. Jim Nelson, whom Friedkin had hired to supervise the mixing, recalls the director being particularly demanding, treating his then-girlfriend, who was among those assisting in the process, "like a dog".{{sfn|Biskind|1999|p=222}}

===Alleged subliminal imagery===
[[Wilson Bryan Key]] devoted a chapter to the film in his book ''Media Sexploitation'', alleging repeated use of subliminal and semi-subliminal imagery and sound effects. In addition to the [[Pazuzu (The Exorcist)|Pazuzu]] face, he claimed that the safety padding on the bedposts was shaped to cast phallic shadows on the wall and that a skull face is superimposed into one of Father Merrin's breath clouds.<ref name="Key book">{{cite book |last1=Key |first1=Wilson Bryan |author1-link=Wilson Bryan Key |title=Media Sexploitation |date=1977 |publisher=[[New American Library]] |isbn=9780451140692 |pages=98–115}}</ref>

A 1991 ''[[Video Watchdog]]'' article examined the claim, with stills of several uses of subliminal "flashing". "I saw subliminal cuts in a number of films before I ever put them in ''The Exorcist''", Friedkin told the authors, "and I thought it was a very effective storytelling device&nbsp;... The subliminal editing in ''The Exorcist'' was done for ''dramatic'' effect—to create, achieve, and sustain a kind of dreamlike state."<ref name="Lucas">{{Cite magazine |last1=Lucas |first1=Tim |author-link=Tim Lucas |last2=Kermode |first2=Mark |author-link2=Mark Kermode |date=July 1991 |title=The Exorcist: From the Subliminal to the Ridiculous |magazine=[[Video Watchdog]] |issue=6 |pages=20–31}}</ref> In a 1999 interview, Blatty said "[t]here are no subliminal images. If you can see it, it's not subliminal."{{Sfn|McCabe|1999|p=138}}

===Title sequence===
The [[title sequence]] was the first major project for [[Dan Perri]], the [[film title design]]er, whom Friedkin sought out after seeing his work on ''[[Electra Glide in Blue]]''. His plan for the titles evolved as the film progressed. For the words themselves Perri chose to keep the [[Weiss (typeface)|Weiss Initials]] typeface used on the cover of Blatty's novel. The filmmakers wanted them in red, but it was hard to choose an exact shade since red tends to spill on a black background.<ref name="Perri article" />

Perri's input into the film's opening extended beyond the credits. Friedkin told him he wanted the film to begin with a sunrise, which he had not filmed while there. The closest shot he had was one at midday, of the sun in an orange sky, with rising heat visible. Perri suggested an "implied sunrise", fading in on the sun and going from black and white to color over 30 seconds, giving the film a sense of beginning it had lacked, he said.<ref name="Perri article" />{{efn|Film scholar Kendall R. Phillips writes that that shot gives the film a subtly apocalyptic mood. "The sun appears first in an equally bright sky, but the sky soon changes, becoming darker", he writes. "The state of the cosmos has changed in these opening moments. Something dark has entered the world; a shadow has encompassed humanity."<ref name="Projected Fears">{{Cite book |last=Phillips |first=Kendall |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=axFSjNH1oRkC&pg=PP113 |title=Projected Fears: Horror Films and American Culture |date=2005 |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |isbn=9780313017964 |page=113 |access-date=October 7, 2022}}</ref><p>Colleen McDannell, in ''Catholics in the Movies'', notes that the Arabic vocalization on the soundtrack is the ''[[adhan]]'', the Muslim call to prayer, proclaiming God's greatness. As many of the film's viewers were unaware of this, she reads this as a quiet statement from Blatty that faith and spirituality are central to the narrative.{{sfn|McDannell|2007|p=197}}</p>}}

===Music===
[[Mike Oldfield]]'s ''[[Tubular Bells]]'' became very popular after its use in the film.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sisco King |first=Claire |title=Music in the Horror Film: Listening to Fear |publisher=Routledge |year=2010 |isbn=9780203860311 |location=New York |pages=114–133 |chapter=Ramblin' Men and Piano Men; Crisis of Music and Masculinity in The Exorcist}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Lester |first=Paul |date=March 21, 2014 |title=Mike Oldfield: 'We wouldn't have had Tubular Bells without drugs' |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/mar/20/mike-oldfield-interview-tubular-bells-drugs |url-status=live |access-date=November 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125135329/http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/mar/20/mike-oldfield-interview-tubular-bells-drugs |archive-date=January 25, 2021}}</ref> Friedkin recalled in 2015 that he had wanted something like [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]]' "[[Wiegenlied (Brahms)|Lullaby]]" with "a kind of childhood feel". He had gone to see studio head John Calley, who directed him to the company's nearby music library. There he found Oldfield's record and persuaded the company to buy the rights.<ref name="Friedkin Vice interview" />

[[Lalo Schifrin]] said that after he had written six minutes of music for the "flash face" and a working score, trailer executives told Friedkin they wanted softer music but Friedkin never told him; Friedkin rejected the score. In 2005 Schifrin said this was in retaliation for an earlier "incident" between the two.<ref name="Schifrin interview">{{Cite interview |last=Schifrin |first=Lalo |subject-link=Lalo Schifrin |interviewer=Miguel Ángel Ordóñez |title=Interview with Lalo Schifrin |url=http://www.scoremagacine.com/Entrevistas_eng_det.php?Codigo=12 |access-date=September 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112005455/http://www.scoremagacine.com/Entrevistas_eng_det.php?Codigo=12 |archive-date=November 12, 2020 |url-status=dead |work=Score Magacine<!--sic--> |date=May 20, 2005}}</ref> Schifrin denies claims he used his original ''Exorcist'' music several years later for ''[[The Amityville Horror (1979 film)|The Amityville Horror]]''.{{Sfn|Konow|2012|p=153}} Friedkin threw away the tapes of Schifrin's score in the studio parking lot.<ref name=fear />{{rp|1:00:50–1:01:35}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Leinberger |first=Charles |date=2011 |title=Music in the Horror Film: Listening to Fear |journal=Music, Sound and the Moving Image |volume=5 |pages=101–105 <!--|id={{ProQuest| Insert ProQuest data here }}-->}}</ref> In an interview shortly after the film's release, Friedkin said he had hired an unnamed composer "and he did a score all right, and I thought it was terrible, just overstated and dreadful." He decided instead to use the music he had given the composer as inspiration.<ref name="CF Friedkin interview" /> [[Bernard Herrmann]] turned down the job after viewing a [[rough cut]].<ref name="CF general story" /> In 1975, Herrmann said that Friedkin objected to his intention to use an organ and insisted on sharing composing credit.<ref>{{Cite interview |last=Herrmann |first=Bernard |subject-link=Bernard Herrmann |interviewer=Royal S. Brown |title=An Interview with Bernard Herrmann |url=http://www.bernardherrmann.org/articles/an-interview-with-bernard-herrmann/ |access-date=September 23, 2022 |work=[[High Fidelity (magazine)|High Fidelity]] |publisher=ABC Consumer Magazines |place=[[Great Barrington, Massachusetts]] |date=August 1976 |via=The Bernard Herrmann Society}}</ref>{{efn|In the soundtrack liner notes for 1977's ''[[Sorcerer (film)|Sorcerer]]'', Friedkin said that if he had heard the music of [[Tangerine Dream]] earlier, he would have had them score ''The Exorcist''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pessaro |first=Fred |date=February 6, 2015 |title=William Friedkin on Edgar Froese of Tangerine Dream, the 'Sorcerer' Score, and Why Tool Is 'Un-f*ckin'-believable' |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/william-friedkin-edgar-froese-interview/ |access-date=April 24, 2022 |website=Vice}}</ref>}}

Friedkin ultimately used modern classical compositions, including portions of the 1972 [[Cello Concerto No. 1 (Penderecki)|Cello Concerto No. 1]] and ''[[Polymorphia]]'', among other pieces by Polish composer [[Krzysztof Penderecki]]; ''Five Pieces for Orchestra'' by Austrian composer [[Anton Webern]], and original music by [[Jack Nitzsche]], all heard only during scene transitions.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Morrow |first=Pamela |title=Horror Soundtracks and the Unseen Demonic The Exorcist (1973) |url=https://carleton.ca/aah/wp-content/uploads/Morrow-.pdf |access-date=April 22, 2022 |website=carleton.ca |archive-date=April 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220424223501/https://carleton.ca/aah/wp-content/uploads/Morrow-.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> There are only 17 minutes of music in the two-hour film. Friedkin said, "What I ''wanted,'' what I think we have in the film, is understated music. The music is just a presence like a cold hand on the back of your neck, rather than assertive",<ref name="CF Friedkin interview" /> an aspect praised by [[Judith Crist]].<ref name="Crist review">{{Cite magazine |last=Crist |first=Judith |author-link=Judith Crist |date=January 21, 1974 |title=Bewitched, Bothered and Therefore Bewildered |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hOgCAAAAMBAJ&dq=1974+variety+magazine+exorcist&pg=PA56 |magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]] |volume=7 |issue=3 |access-date=September 11, 2022}}</ref> The Greek song on the radio as Father Karras leaves his mother's house is {{lang|el|"Παραμυθάκι μου"}} ({{lang|el-Latn|italic=no|"Paramythaki mou"}}, "My Tale"), sung by [[Giannis Kalatzis]]. Part of [[Hans Werner Henze]]'s 1966 composition ''[[Fantasia for Strings (Henze)|Fantasia for Strings]]'' is played over the closing credits.<ref>Brett Allen-Bayes (January 9, 2014), [http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/Review/369122,henze-complete-deutsche-grammophon-recordings.aspx "Henze: Complete Deutsche Grammophon Recordings"], ''[[Limelight (magazine)|Limelight]]''. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140426224352/http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/Review/369122,henze-complete-deutsche-grammophon-recordings.aspx |date=April 26, 2014}}.</ref>{{Sfn|Muir|2002|p=263}}

In 1998, a restored and remastered soundtrack was released (without ''Tubular Bells'') with three pieces from Schifrin's rejected score: "Music from the unused Trailer", an 11-minute "Suite from the Unused Score", and "Rock Ballad (Unused Theme)".<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Exorcist (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/3741067-Various-The-Exorcist-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack |access-date=April 24, 2022 |website=Discogs|year=1998 }}</ref> That same year, the Japanese version of the original soundtrack LP omitted the Schifrin pieces but restored the main theme, and the ''Night of the Electric Insects'' [[Movement (music)|movement]] from [[George Crumb]]'s string quartet ''[[Black Angels (Crumb)|Black Angels]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Exorcist Soundtrack |url=https://www.discogs.com/Various-The-Exorcist/release/2620323 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210221024745/https://www.discogs.com/Various-The-Exorcist/release/2620323 |archive-date=February 21, 2021 |access-date=October 29, 2020 |website=Discogs|year=1974 }}</ref> The 2000 cut features new music by [[Steve Boeddeker]],<ref name="Studio Sound article">{{cite magazine|last=Buskin|first=Richard|title=''The Exorcist'' unseen|url=http://filmsound.org/movielist/E/Excorsist/post_exorcist.html|magazine=Studio Sound|via=filmsound.org|date=January 2001|access-date=January 6, 2023}}</ref> as well as brief source music by [[Les Baxter]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The exorcist|url=https://catalog.libraries.wm.edu/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma991033214031303196&context=L&vid=01COWM_INST:01COWM_WM_NEWUI&lang=en&search_scope=WMCWF&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=Everything&query=creator,exact,Blair,%20Linda,AND&facet=creator,exact,Blair,%20Linda&mode=advanced|publisher=[[College of William and Mary]]|access-date=January 6, 2023}}</ref> [[Waxwork Records]] released the remastered score in 2017. They included Friedkin's liner notes with art by Justin Erickson of [[Phantom City Studios|Phantom City Creative]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Liston |first=Tyler |date=November 9, 2017 |title=Waxwork Records Releases THE EXORCIST soundtrack on vinyl |url=https://nofspodcast.com/waxwork-records-releases-exorcist-soundtrack-vinyl/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428033813/https://nofspodcast.com/waxwork-records-releases-exorcist-soundtrack-vinyl/ |archive-date=April 28, 2021 |access-date=August 7, 2020 |location=Nightmare on Film Street}}</ref>

==Releases==
===Theatrical===
Warner Bros. scheduled ''The Exorcist'' for release on December 26, 1973. It had been scheduled for an earlier release, but was postponed due to post-production delays.<ref name="2015 THR article">{{Cite news |last=Parker |first=Ryan |date=October 28, 2015 |title='The Exorcist' Director William Friedkin: 'I Didn't Set Out to Make a Horror Film' |work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/exorcist-director-william-friedkin-i-835016/ |access-date=September 25, 2022}}</ref> Friedkin was angry about this, believing that it hurt the film commercially. He had wanted a release ''before'' or on the holiday. It has been speculated that the studio wanted to avoid any controversy that might have come from releasing a film about demonic possession before a major religious holiday. Crowther, conversely, believes the studio chose Christmas to stoke controversy around the film.<ref name="iNews curse story" /> Friedkin supposedly had seen what [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]] had done to make ''[[The Godfather]]'' a runaway success after its own troubled production. He had wanted the studio to choose a more favorable release date, such as March, like ''Godfather''.<ref name="Indiewire piece">{{Cite news |last=Brueggemann |first=Tom |date=December 30, 2020 |title='The Exorcist': The Most Unlikely Christmas Smash |work=[[Indiewire]] |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2020/12/the-exorcist-unlikely-christmas-smash-1234607040/ |access-date=September 15, 2022}}</ref>

The post-holiday release served to help ''The Exorcist'' sell tickets, as most moviegoers had time off. It was the highest-grossing Christmas week release after 1997's ''[[Titanic (1997 film)|Titanic]]'', and is still in second place.<ref name="Indiewire piece" /> ''The Exorcist''{{'}}s first run lasted 105 weeks, or just over two years.<ref name="Mojo">{{Cite web |title=The Exorcist |url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=exorcist.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718203250/http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=exorcist.htm |archive-date=July 18, 2011 |access-date=May 19, 2011 |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] |publisher=[[Internet Movie Database]]}}</ref> In 1979, the film was re-released in [[70 mm film|70&nbsp;mm]], with its original 1.75:1 [[aspect ratio]]<ref name="BBFC Exorcist file">{{Cite web |title=The Exorcist |url=https://bbfc.co.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/Exorcist-Final.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024095445/http://www.bbfc.co.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/Exorcist-Final.pdf |archive-date=October 24, 2017 |access-date=January 6, 2023 |publisher=[[British Board of Film Classification]]}}</ref> expanded to 2.20:1.<ref name="2018 THR story">{{cite news|title='The Devil & Father Amorth': Film Review|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/devil-father-amorth-1104025/|newspaper=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|date=April 18, 2018|access-date=January 6, 2023}}</ref> A longer cut, subtitled "The Version You've Never Seen"<ref name="rottentomatoes.com">{{Cite web |title=Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/exorcist_the_version_youve_never_seen |access-date=September 27, 2022 |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |language=en}}</ref> (later re-labeled "Extended Director's Cut"), was released theatrically in 2000,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Exorcist (2000 Director's Cut) |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/releasegroup/gr3242545669/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220910194104/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/releasegroup/gr3242545669/ |archive-date=September 10, 2022 |access-date=September 8, 2022 |website=[[Box Office Mojo]]}}</ref> with additions and changes.<ref name="collins">{{Cite web |last=Collins |first=Brian |date=May 8, 2012 |title=Collins' Crypt: The Exorcist Director's Cut Vs. Theatrical Versions |url=https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2012/05/08/collins-crypt-the-exorcist-directors-cut-vs.-theatrical-versions |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716110801/https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2012/05/08/collins-crypt-the-exorcist-directors-cut-vs.-theatrical-versions |archive-date=July 16, 2020 |access-date=September 8, 2022 |website=[[Birth.Movies.Death.]]}}</ref>

===Home media===
A 25th anniversary special edition box set was released in 1998 on VHS and DVD,<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.abebooks.com/9786305256205/Exorcist-Special-Widescreen-Edition-Box-6305256209/plp |title=The Exorcist – Special Widescreen Edition Box Set (VHS) |date=1998 |type=Feature film |access-date=September 27, 2022 |format=VHS tapes |isbn=9786305256205 |people=William Friedkin, Ellen Burstyn, Jason Miller, Linda Blair}}</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://pitt.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma9941929013406236&context=L&vid=01PITT_INST:01PITT_INST&lang=en&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&isFrbr=true&tab=Everything&query=any,contains,9965112933406236&sortby=date_d&facet=frbrgroupid,include,9043757352572735902&offset=0 |title=The Exorcist, 25th anniversary special edition |date=1998 |type=Feature film |format=DVD |isbn=079073804X |oclc=40658210 |people=William Friedkin, Ellen Burstyn, Jason Miller, Linda Blair}}</ref> with the original ending as a special feature.<ref name="2000 Austin Chronicle interview" /> Blatty was pleased that the scene was restored, saying it was "the way it ought to be seen".<ref name="2000 Austin Chronicle interview" />

"The Version You've Never Seen" was released on VHS and DVD in 2000.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Exorcist DVD (Snap case) |url=https://www.blu-ray.com/dvd/The-Exorcist-DVD/1245/|website=Blu-ray.com |access-date=July 20, 2023}}</ref> It was re-released on DVD and [[Blu-ray]] with slight alterations as the "Extended Director's Cut" in 2010;<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Exorcist: Director's Cut (Extended Edition) |url=https://www.amazon.com/Exorcist-Directors-Cut-Extended/dp/B003UGLCIA |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170109184214/https://www.amazon.com/Exorcist-Directors-Cut-Extended/dp/B003UGLCIA |archive-date=January 9, 2017 |access-date=January 8, 2017 |website=Amazon.com|date=October 5, 2010 }}</ref> the Blu-Ray featured a [[Film preservation|restored version]] of both cuts.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 21, 2010 |title='The Exorcist Extended Director's Cut' Available October 5 From Warner Home Videa |url=https://warnerbros.com/studio/news/%E2%80%9D-exorcist-extended-director%E2%80%99s-cut%E2%80%9D-available-october-5-warner-home-video |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170109185426/http://www.warnerbros.com/studio/news/%E2%80%9D-exorcist-extended-director%E2%80%99s-cut%E2%80%9D-available-october-5-warner-home-video |archive-date=January 9, 2017 |access-date=January 8, 2017 |publisher=[[Warner Bros.]]}}</ref> A 40th-anniversary Blu-ray was released in 2013, with both cuts, many previously released bonus features and two featurettes about Blatty.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 20, 2013 |title=The Exorcist: 40th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray |url=http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=11469 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130626000019/http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=11469 |archive-date=June 26, 2013 |access-date=June 25, 2013 |publisher=Blu-ray.com}}</ref> ''The Exorcist: The Complete Anthology'', a [[box set]], was released on DVD in 2006, and on Blu-ray in 2014. It includes both cuts, the sequels ''[[Exorcist II: The Heretic]]'' and ''[[The Exorcist III]]'', and the prequels ''[[Exorcist: The Beginning]]'' and ''[[Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Exorcist: The Complete Anthology (The Exorcist / The Exorcist (Unrated) / Exorcist II: The Heretic / The Exorcist III / Exorcist: The Beginning/ Exorcist: Dominion) |url=https://www.amazon.com/Exorcist-Complete-Anthology-Beginning-Dominion/dp/B000HEWEGC |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170109185137/https://www.amazon.com/Exorcist-Complete-Anthology-Beginning-Dominion/dp/B000HEWEGC |archive-date=January 9, 2017 |access-date=October 7, 2022 |website=Amazon|date=October 10, 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Exorcist: The Complete Anthology (Blu-ray) |url=https://www.amazon.com/Exorcist-Complete-Anthology-Blu-ray/dp/B00L9K2EGS |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170109184930/https://www.amazon.com/Exorcist-Complete-Anthology-Blu-ray/dp/B00L9K2EGS |archive-date=January 9, 2017 |access-date=January 8, 2017 |website=Amazon|date=September 23, 2014 }}</ref> Both the theatrical and extended versions of the film were released on [[Ultra HD Blu-ray]] on September 19, 2023, to mark the film's 50th anniversary.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Exorcist 4K Blu-ray (Best Buy Exclusive SteelBook) |url=https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Exorcist-4K-Blu-ray/342292/ |access-date=October 20, 2023}}</ref>

==Reception==
===Box office===
Warner Bros. initially had low expectations for ''The Exorcist'', since it was a horror film without major stars that had gone well over budget. The film was not previewed for critics and initially booked for 30 screens in 24 theaters, mostly in large cities and metropolitan areas.<ref name="Opening">{{Cite magazine |date=January 9, 1974 |title=William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist – Warner Bros. Advert |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |pages=12–13}}</ref> The film grossed $1.9&nbsp;million (${{formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|1900000|1973|r=-3}}}} in {{inflation-year|US-GDP}}{{inflation-fn|US}}) in its first week, setting records for each theater it was booked in,<ref name=Opening/> with an average of $70,000, equivalent to ${{formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|70000|1973|r=-3}}}} in {{inflation-year|US-GDP}}.{{inflation-fn|US}} Within its first month, it had grossed $7.4&nbsp;million (${{formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|7400000|1974|r=-3}}}} in {{inflation-year|US-GDP}}{{inflation-fn|US-GDP}}) nationwide; studio executives expected it to surpass ''[[My Fair Lady (film)|My Fair Lady]]'' as the studio's most financially successful film.<ref name="Van Gelder NYT article">{{Cite news |last=Van Gelder |first=Lawrence |author-link=Lawrence Van Gelder |date=January 24, 1974 |title='Exorcist' Casts Spell on Full Houses |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/01/24/archives/exorcist-casts-spell-on-full-houses-record-take-expected-mostly.html |url-status=live |access-date=March 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190301141811/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/01/24/archives/exorcist-casts-spell-on-full-houses-record-take-expected-mostly.html |archive-date=March 1, 2019}}</ref> The huge crowds forced the studio to expand to a 366-screen [[wide release]] very quickly.<ref name="In Theaters Everywhere">{{Cite book |last=Hannan |first=Brian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_32CDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA181-IA91 |title=In Theaters Everywhere: A History of the Hollywood Wide Release, 1913–2017 |date=2018 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9781476674148 |page=188 |access-date=September 11, 2022}}</ref> At the time that releasing strategy had rarely been used for anything but [[exploitation film]]s.<ref name="Laughing Screaming">{{Cite book |last=Paul |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5zF23hJX9qgC&pg=PA288 |title=Laughing Screaming: Modern Hollywood Horror and Comedy |date=1994 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=9780231084642 |pages=288–92 |access-date=March 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308184146/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Laughing_Screaming/5zF23hJX9qgC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA288&printsec=frontcover |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> Many theaters in large cities were not located near [[business district|downtowns]], where Warner Bros. had booked the ''[[Dirty Harry]]'' sequel ''[[Magnum Force]]'' before planning the release of ''The Exorcist''.<ref name="Indiewire piece" /> By February, ''The Exorcist'' accounted for 15 percent of the distributor's grosses in key markets.{{sfn|Biskind|1999|p=224}}

None of the theaters booked for the initial release were in Black neighborhoods such as [[South Central Los Angeles]], since the studio did not expect that audience to be interested in the film, which had no Black characters. After the theater in predominantly White [[Westwood, Los Angeles|Westwood]] showing the film was overwhelmed with moviegoers from South Central, it was booked into theaters there.{{sfn|Zinoman|2011|p=103}}{{efn|Initially the only theater in the Los Angeles area that could be found for a second exhibitor was a small [[arthouse]] theater in [[Beverly Hills, California|Beverly Hills]]; as the audience for the film was at least one-third Black. Stephen Farber joked in ''[[Film Comment]]'' that the film "may have done more to integrate Beverly Hills than any civil rights action".<ref name="Film Comment piece">{{Cite journal |last=Farber |first=Stephen |date=May–June 1974 |title=The Exorcist: A Unique Freak Show ... |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/959c787a7af5dba15047fba7ddd0ae02 |journal=[[Film Comment]] |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=32–35 |access-date=September 12, 2022 <!--|id={{ProQuest| Insert ProQuest data here }}-->}}</ref>}} Black enthusiasm for ''The Exorcist'' has been credited with ending mainstream studio support for [[blaxploitation]] movies, since Hollywood realized that Black audiences did not show any preference for them.<ref name="Last Great American Picture Show">{{Cite book |last=McDonagh |first=Maitland |title=The Last Great American Picture Show: New Hollywood Cinema in the 1970s |date=2004 |publisher=[[Amsterdam University Press]] |isbn=9789053566312 |editor-last=Horwath |editor-first=Alexander |page=118 |chapter=Masters of Exploitation |access-date=March 3, 2019 |editor-last2=Elsaesser |editor-first2=Thomas |editor-last3=King |editor-first3=Noel |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p-xgdo_-5XEC&pg=PA118 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428033754/https://books.google.com/books?id=p-xgdo_-5XEC&pg=PA118 |archive-date=April 28, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Framing Blackness">{{Cite book |last=Guerrero |first=Ed |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kRqhY8xwtwkC&pg=PA105 |title=Framing Blackness: The African American Image in Film |date=2012 |publisher=[[Temple University Press]] |isbn=9781439904138 |location=[[Philadelphia]] |page=105 |author-link=Ed Guerrero |access-date=September 10, 2022}}</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that the audience lined up to see the film was between one-quarter and one-third Black at a theater on the mostly White [[Upper East Side]] of Manhattan showing the film. One Black patron said, when asked why that might be, that they "relate to voodoo and witchcraft and that kind of devil stuff&nbsp;... Many still believe in black magic, especially those from Haiti and the Deep South."<ref name="Klemesrud NYT article">{{Cite news |last=Klemesrud |first=Judy |author-link=Judy Lee Klemesrud |date=January 27, 1974 |title=They Wait Hours to Be Shocked |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/01/27/archives/they-wait-hoursto-be-shocked-the-exorcist-got-mixed-reviews-why-has.html |url-status=live |access-date=March 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190301140042/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/01/27/archives/they-wait-hoursto-be-shocked-the-exorcist-got-mixed-reviews-why-has.html |archive-date=March 1, 2019}}</ref>

''The Exorcist'' earned $66.3&nbsp;million (${{formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|66300000|1974|r=-3}}}} in {{inflation-year|US-GDP}}{{inflation-fn|US}}) in [[theatrical rental|distributors' rentals]] during its theatrical release in 1974 in the United States and Canada, becoming the second most popular film of that year (behind ''[[The Sting]]''{{'}}s $68.5&nbsp;million)<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=January 8, 1975 |title=Big Rental Films of 1974 |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |page=24}}</ref> and Warner Bros.' highest-grossing film of all time<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=January 8, 1975 |title=Updated All-Time Film Champs |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |page=26}}</ref> although it eventually became the highest-grossing 1973 release.<ref name=Finler>{{cite book |last=Finler |first=Joel Waldo |year=2003 |title=The Hollywood Story |publisher=Wallflower Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rvVhEJmbfrsC&pg=PA360|isbn=9781903364666 |pages=360–361]}}</ref> Warner Bros. retained more of that money than usual since it released the film under [[four wall distribution|four-wall distribution]], the first time a major studio had done that. Under that arrangement the studio rents the theater from the owner in the initial run and keeps all the ticket revenue. Warner Bros. also did some things that had made ''[[The Godfather]]'' successful for [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]], such as making theaters commit to showing the film for at least 24 weeks.<ref name="In Theaters Everywhere" />{{efn|In ''[[Easy Riders, Raging Bulls]]'', journalist and film historian [[Peter Biskind]] wrote that Warner Bros. executives were happy but also nervous about the film's success, since its huge earnings meant that the more free-wheeling and experimental work the studio had done would give way to finding profitable film ideas and projects.{{sfn|Biskind|1999|p=224}}}} Overseas, the film earned rentals of $46&nbsp;million<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Pollock |first=Dale |date=May 9, 1979 |title=WB Adds To Its Record Collection |magazine=Variety |page=1}}</ref> for a worldwide total of $112.3&nbsp;million (${{formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|112300000|1973|r=-3}}}} in {{inflation-year|US-GDP}}{{inflation-fn|US-GDP}}). It became the [[List of highest-grossing films in Japan|highest-grossing film in Japan]] with rentals of over $8.2&nbsp;million in its first 11 weeks.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=December 18, 1974 |title='Exorcist' Leads Japan |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |page=39}}</ref> After several reissues, the film has grossed $232.6&nbsp;million in the United States and Canada,<ref name="Mojo" /> which adjusted for inflation,{{efn|Based on 2009 average ticket prices.<ref name="mojo-inflation">{{Cite web |title=All Time Box Office Adjusted for Ticket Price Inflation |url=https://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090504000735/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm |archive-date=May 4, 2009 |access-date=May 19, 2011 |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] |publisher=[[IMDb]]}}</ref>}} makes it the ninth [[List of highest-grossing films in the United States and Canada#Adjusted for ticket-price inflation|highest-grossing film of all time in the U.S. and Canada]] and the top-grossing R-rated film of all time.<ref name="mojo-inflation" /> {{as of|2023}}, it has grossed $441&nbsp;million worldwide,<ref name="Mojo" /> (${{formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|1800000000|1973|r=-3}}}} in {{inflation-year|US-GDP}}{{inflation-fn|US-GDP}}{{efn|This inflation-adjusted amount assumes constant 1973 dollars}}).

===Initial critical response===
Upon release the film received mixed critical reviews. [[Stanley Kauffmann]], in ''[[The New Republic]]'', wrote, "This is the scariest film I've seen in years—the ''only'' scary film I've seen in years."{{Sfn|Travers|Rieff|1974|pages=152–154}}<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Kauffmann |first=Stanley |author-link=Stanley Kauffmann |date=February 8, 1974 |title=TNR Film Classics: 'The Exorcist' |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/103451/tnr-film-classics-the-exorcist-february-9-1974 |url-status=live |magazine=[[The New Republic]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331204445/https://newrepublic.com/article/103451/tnr-film-classics-the-exorcist-february-9-1974 |archive-date=March 31, 2019 |access-date=March 31, 2019}}</ref> Arthur D. Murphy of ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' noted that it was "an expert telling of a supernatural horror story".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Murphy |first=Arthur D. |date=December 26, 1973 |title=Film Reviews: The Exorcist |work=Variety |url=https://variety.com/1972/film/reviews/the-exorcist-2-1200422937/ |url-status=live |access-date=March 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331204510/https://variety.com/1972/film/reviews/the-exorcist-2-1200422937/ |archive-date=March 31, 2019}}</ref> In the horror-film magazine ''[[Castle of Frankenstein]]'', [[Joe Dante]], later director of ''[[Piranha (1978 film)|Piranha]]'' and ''[[The Howling (film)|The Howling]]'', called it "an amazing film, and one destined to become at the very least a horror classic&nbsp;... there has never been anything like this on the screen before".<ref name="Dante">{{Cite magazine |last=Dante |first=Joe |author-link=Joe Dante |year=1974 |title=''The Exorcist'' |url=https://archive.org/details/Castle_of_Frankenstein_022_whole_Vol6n2_1974c2cChersUsedRazor-DREGS |magazine=Castle of Frankenstein |volume=6 |issue=22 |pages=32–33 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>{{efn|Another positive review, after a fashion, came from the still-unidentified [[Zodiac Killer]]. In one of his last letters to the San Francisco police, he called the film "the best saterical comidy" {{sic}} he had ever seen.{{sfn|Zinoman|2011|p=138}}}} [[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' gave the film four stars, praising the actors (particularly Burstyn) and the special effects, but concluded: "I am not sure exactly what reasons people will have for seeing this movie; surely enjoyment won't be one&nbsp;... Are people so numb they need movies of this intensity in order to feel anything at all?"<ref name="EbertExorcist">{{Cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |date=December 26, 1973 |title=The Exorcist Movie Review & Film Summary (1973) |url=https://rogerebert.com/reviews/the-exorcist-1973 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331231708/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-exorcist-1973 |archive-date=March 31, 2019 |access-date=March 31, 2019 |website=RogerEbert.com}}</ref>

In the middle of the range was [[Judith Crist]]. Her ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' review called the film "half-successful". She praised Friedkin's direction, its "to-the-point performances" and the special effects and makeup. But she felt that Blatty had left out what made readers connect with characters in the novel; he was also perhaps limited since the film could not leave things to the imagination as his book had.<ref name="Crist review" /> Kael called the film "shallowness that asks to be taken seriously" saying its main problem was being too faithful to the novel as Blatty had intended it.<ref name="New Yorker review" /> [[Vincent Canby]], writing in ''[[The New York Times]]'', dismissed ''The Exorcist'' as "a chunk of elegant occultist claptrap&nbsp;... a practically impossible film to sit through&nbsp;... [e]stablish[ing] a new low for grotesque special effects."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Canby |first=Vincent |author-link=Vincent Canby |date=December 27, 1973 |title=Blatty's 'The Exorcist' Comes to the Screen |page=46 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/12/27/archives/blattys-the-exorcist-comes-to-the-screen.html |url-status=live |access-date=August 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428033821/https://www.nytimes.com/1973/12/27/archives/blattys-the-exorcist-comes-to-the-screen.html |archive-date=April 28, 2021}}</ref> [[Andrew Sarris]] of ''[[The Village Voice]]'' complained, "Friedkin's biggest weakness is his inability to provide enough visual information about his characters&nbsp;... ''The Exorcist'' succeeds on one level as an effectively excruciating entertainment, but on another, deeper level it is a thoroughly evil film."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sarris |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Sarris |date=January 3, 1974 |title=Out, out, damned demon! |page=51 |work=The Village Voice |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8NMQAAAAIBAJ&pg=6254%2C227318 |url-status=live |access-date=August 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428033755/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8NMQAAAAIBAJ&pg=6254%2C227318 |archive-date=April 28, 2021 |via=[[Google News Archive]]}}</ref> ''[[Rolling Stone]]''{{'}}s [[Jon Landau]] called ''The Exorcist'' "nothing more than a religious porn film, the gaudiest piece of shlock this side of [[Cecil B. DeMille]]".{{Sfn|Travers|Rieff|1974|pages=158–162}} ''[[Film Quarterly]]''{{'}}s Michael Dempsey called ''The Exorcist'' "the trash bombshell of 1973, the aesthetic equivalent of being run over by a truck&nbsp;... a gloating, ugly exploitation picture".<ref name="Film Quarterly" /> The ''[[San Francisco Bay Guardian]]''{{'}}s reviewer called it "quite simply the dumbest, most insultingly anti-intellectual movie I have ever come across".<ref name="Dante" />

===Audience reaction===
{{blockquote|On December 26 a movie called ''The Exorcist'' opened in theatres across the country and since then all Hell has broken loose.|author=''[[Newsweek]]'', February 2, 1974, quoted in ''[[Shock Value (book)|Shock Value]]'', by [[Jason Zinoman]]{{sfn|Zinoman|2011|p=100}}}}
[[File:Filmgoers waiting on line to see The Exorcist.jpg|thumb|right|A line to see ''The Exorcist'' in [[Omaha, Nebraska]], after its release there]]
Audience members screamed and fled the theater during the only [[sneak preview]].<ref name="America article" /> When it was over, studio head [[John Calley]] and the other executives were stunned, but they noticed that everyone who saw it was still outside the theater talking about it.<ref name=fear />{{rp|1:10:40–1:11:00}} They believed the film was brilliant, but did not know how to market it, and decided on the limited early release after Christmas.{{sfn|Biskind|1999|p=222}} Burstyn recalled watching a television news report showing moviegoers in [[Montreal]] lining up during the dead of winter at 4{{nbsp}}a.m. in frigid weather the morning the film opened.{{sfn|Biskind|1999|p=223}} Despite its mixed reviews and the controversies over its content and viewer reaction, ''The Exorcist'' was a runaway hit. In New York City, patrons endured {{convert|6|F}} cold, rain, and sleet<ref name="Van Gelder NYT article" /> in long lines during a [[dump months|normally slow time of year for the movies]] to buy tickets, even after having seen it once. Crowds outside theaters sometimes rioted.{{sfn|Zinoman|2011|p=100}}{{efn|According to Blatty, the Kansas City police brought [[tear gas]] in case of a riot. Reportedly a Chicago crowd broke into the theater with [[battering ram]]s.<ref name="2000 Austin Chronicle interview" />}} ''[[The New York Times]]'' asked some of those in line what drew them there. Those who had read the novel accounted for about a third; they wanted to see if the film could realistically depict some of the scenes in the book. Another "wanted to be part of the madness". A repeat viewer told the newspaper that the film was "better than ''[[Psycho (1960 film)|Psycho]]''", making him feel "contaminated". Many had never waited in line that long for a movie before, or not in a long time.<ref name="Klemesrud NYT article" />
[[File:The Exorcist crowd reaction - Newsday (1974).jpg|thumb|Newspaper clipping from February 1974]]

Reports of strong audience reactions were widespread. Many viewers fainted;<ref name="BBFC Exorcist file" /> a woman in New York was said to have [[miscarriage|miscarried]] during a showing.<ref name="Klemesrud NYT article" /> One man was carried out on a stretcher after 20 minutes.<ref name="CF general story">{{Cite magazine |last=Fox |first=Marion |year=1974 |title=''The Exorcist'' |url=https://archive.org/details/Castle_of_Frankenstein_022_whole_Vol6n2_1974c2cChersUsedRazor-DREGS |magazine=[[Castle of Frankenstein]] |volume=6 |issue=22 |pages=28–31 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> [[Nausea]] was frequent; a ''[[Cinefantastique]]'' reviewer recalled how the vomit in the bathroom blocked access to the sinks.<ref name="Laughing Screaming" /> The manager of [[Toronto]]'s University Theater, which sold out its four daily showings, said "We have a plumber practically living here now". Viewers seemed particularly disturbed by the crucifix scenes.<ref name="Toronto Star article">{{Cite news |date=October 31, 2019 |title=From the crypt: How a Halloween film classic possessed Toronto |work=[[Toronto Star]] |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/10/31/2019/10/31/from-the-halloween-crypt--how-the-star-covered-the-toronto-premi.html |access-date=October 7, 2022}}</ref>{{efn|Some theaters were said to have provided "''Exorcist'' [[sickness bag|barf bags]]".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jacobs |first=Matthew |date=December 26, 2013 |title='The Exorcist' Celebrates Its 40th Anniversary As One Of The Most Terrifying Movies |work=[[HuffPost]] |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/26/the-exorcist-40th-anniversary_n_4504907.html |url-status=live |access-date=October 28, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230105112/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/26/the-exorcist-40th-anniversary_n_4504907.html |archive-date=December 30, 2013}}</ref> While there are no contemporary reports of providing such bags, ''[[Mad (magazine)|Mad]]'' magazine depicted one on the cover of its October 1974 issue that included its parody of the film.<ref name="Washingtonian Blatty article">{{Cite news |last=Dean |first=Eddie |date=October 19, 2015 |title=Think 'The Exorcist' Was Just a Horror Movie? The Author Says You're Wrong |work=[[Washingtonian (magazine)|Washingtonian]] |url=https://www.washingtonian.com/2015/10/19/think-the-exorcist-was-just-a-horror-movie-author-william-peter-blatty-says-youre-wrong/ |url-status=live |access-date=September 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306043820/https://www.washingtonian.com/2015/10/19/think-the-exorcist-was-just-a-horror-movie-author-william-peter-blatty-says-youre-wrong/ |archive-date=March 6, 2019}}</ref>}} Some theaters arranged for ambulances to be on call.<ref name="Toronto Star article" /> Many audience members found the [[angiography]] to be the film's most unsettling scene.<ref name="Danny Peary" /><ref name="New Scientist review" />{{efn|Friedkin speculated that it was easier to empathize with Regan in that scene, compared to what she suffers while possessed later in the film.<ref name="Friedkin Guardian video interview">{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OEgwYN_kiA |title=The Exorcist director William Friedkin talks to Jason Solomons |date=December 10, 2008 |type=Internet video |work=[[The Guardian]] |time=5:05–5:30 |access-date=February 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/7OEgwYN_kiA |archive-date=December 21, 2022 |url-status=live |quote=Most people say that the scariest scene in ''The Exorcist'' is the angiogram scene because it's the most realistic ... It's the one people most identify with, being in a hospital—a captive audience—while this weird equipment is circulating around you to determine what's inside of you.|people=[[Jason Solomons]], [[William Friedkin]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref>}} Some Catholic viewers, particularly those who had [[lapsed Catholic|lapsed in their faith]] but also including some priests, experienced spiritual crises. Many parishes reported callers inquiring about having an exorcism performed. The Rev. Richard Woods, a professor at [[Loyola University of Chicago|Loyola of Chicago]], said most of his calls were from lapsed Catholics for whom the film resurfaced their [[Catholic school|religious education]] prior to [[Second Vatican Council|Vatican II]].{{efn|McDannell notes that, during the two [[Mass (liturgy)|Masses]] Karras says in the film, he mixes old and new elements of the liturgy, which had been revised considerably during Vatican II. She speculates that the film's Jesuit advisors were behind the change from the black vestments he wears for his mother's funeral Mass in the novel to the white [[chasuble]] he dons for the scene in the film, reflecting the council's change in emphasis from the tragedy of death to the hope of eternal life.{{sfn|McDannell|2007|pp=218–19}}}} He said, "It stirs up memories of all those descriptions of hell that you got from nuns."<ref name="NYT Church story">{{Cite news |last=Fiske |first=Edward B. |date=January 28, 1974 |title='Exorcist' Adds Problems For Catholic Clergymen |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/01/28/archives/-exorcist-adds-problems-for-catholic-clergymen-hit-film-the.html |access-date=October 10, 2022}}</ref>

In 1975, ''[[The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease]]'' published a paper by a psychiatrist documenting four cases of "cinematic [[neurosis]]" triggered by the film. In all he believed scenes depicting Regan's possession had surfaced a latent condition. He recommended physicians view the movie with the patient to help identify the sources of their trauma.<ref name="JNMD article">{{Cite journal |last=Bozzuto |first=James C. |date=July 1, 1975 |title=Cinematic neurosis following 'The Exorcist': Report of four cases |url=https://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Abstract/1975/07000/CINEMATIC_NEUROSIS_FOLLOWING__THE_EXORCIST__Report.5.aspx |journal=[[The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease]] |volume=161 |issue=1 |pages=43–48 |doi=10.1097/00005053-197507000-00005 |issn=0022-3018 |pmid=1151359 |access-date=September 28, 2022 |s2cid=9570535|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Other external causes were suggested. One writer at ''Castle of Frankenstein'' took note of Friedkin's pride in the film's sound, which theaters played at maximum volume, and wondered if its low frequencies had induced or amplified patrons' anxiety.<ref name="CF general story" /> Another writer there blamed the reactions on the mainstream audience's general unfamiliarity with horror-movie conventions, speculating that "these people hadn't gone to see a monster movie since 1935."<ref name="CF Roen">{{Cite magazine |last=Roen |first=Paul |year=1974 |title=''The Exorcist'' |url=https://archive.org/details/Castle_of_Frankenstein_022_whole_Vol6n2_1974c2cChersUsedRazor-DREGS |magazine=[[Castle of Frankenstein]] |volume=6 |issue=22 |pages=32 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

[[Jason Zinoman|Zinoman]] wrote four decades later: "''The Exorcist''&nbsp;... was one of the rare horror movies that became part of the national conversation ... It was a movie you needed to have an opinion about."{{sfn|Zinoman|2011|p=100}} Journalists complained that coverage of the film was distracting the public from the ongoing [[Watergate scandal]]. Much of that coverage focused on the audience which, film historian William Paul wrote, "had become a spectacle equal to the film". He did not think any other film's audience received as much coverage as ''The Exorcist''{{'s}}.<ref name="Laughing Screaming" />

===Religious response===
"One of the best things that could happen is if the Pope denounces it", Friedkin said. The crucifix scene, and others, involved material sacrilegious to Catholics. Officially the Church, whose influence over film content had declined following the demise of the [[Hays Office]] and the associated [[Hays Code|Production Code]] a few years earlier,{{efn|Chambers notes that this often discouraged depictions of medical procedures, leading to the effect of the angiography scene: "[The film] provided a scientific realism that film-makers had rarely presented, or had been censored from presenting to audiences [before]".<ref name="Religious response article" />}} had bemoaned Warner Bros.' choice of release date. The [[National Legion of Decency#United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Office for Film and Broadcasting|United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office for Film and Broadcasting]]'s ''Catholic Film Newsletter'' rated the film A-IV{{sndash}}suitable for adults only{{sndash}}with reservations, and gave it a generally negative review that faulted the film for suggesting exorcisms were common and possibly encouraging belief in the occult and [[Satanism]].<ref name="Religious response article" />

Individual priests familiar with the theology were also critical. One who, like Karras, was a Jesuit and psychiatrist at Georgetown said that while he believed in the Devil, "there is no shred of evidence from the Bible that he can possess an individual". Woods, the Loyola of Chicago professor, who had written a book about the Devil, told ''[[The New York Times]]'' that Karras and Merrin were incompetent. "They departed from the ritual in the most stupid and reckless manner", he said. "They tried to fight the Demon {{sic}} hand to hand instead of relying on the power of God." [[Eugene Kennedy]], another Loyola priest and psychologist, described the film's view of the battle of good and evil as "immature&nbsp;... Being a Christian and a mature person means coming to terms with our own capacity for evil, not projecting it on an outside force that possesses us."<ref name="NYT Church story" />

Some non-Catholics were critical. Kael, incredulous that Georgetown and several priests facilitated the production, wrote:<ref name="New Yorker review" />

{{blockquote|Surely it is the religious people who should be most offended by this movie&nbsp;... Others can laugh it off as garbage, but are American Catholics willing to see their faith turned into a horror show? Are they willing to accept anything just as long as their Church comes out in a good light? Aren't those who accept this picture getting their heads screwed on backward?{{check quotation|date=August 2025}}}}

Kael nonetheless described ''The Exorcist'' as "the biggest recruiting poster the Catholic Church has had since the sunnier days of ''[[Going My Way]]'' and ''[[The Bells of St. Mary's]]''" since the film "says that [it] is the true faith, feared by the Devil, and that its rituals can exorcise demons".<ref name="New Yorker review" />{{efn|Kennedy as well had compared the film to ''Going My Way'', although derisively.<ref name="NYT Church story" />}} A later historian has found that the Church was not as critical of the film as reports suggested, privately considering it faith-affirming.<ref name="Religious response article" /> Authorities in predominantly Muslim Tunisia banned the film before its 1975 release there as "unjustified propaganda in favor of Christianity".{{sfn|Kermode|2003|p=89}} In 2008, Colleen McDannell, editor of ''Catholics in the Movies'', wrote that "''The Exorcist'' is a horror movie that believes in its villain and, even worse, recruits its villain as a witness to Catholic truth."{{sfn|McDannell|2007|p=208}}

In February 1974, the Jesuit magazine ''[[America (magazine)|America]]'' ran several commentaries and responses by priests to the film. The editors allowed Blatty to respond later that month. He praised some of the commentators' points, but was disappointed by some misconceptions of the film held by both critics and defenders.<ref name="Blatty America response">{{Cite magazine |last=Blatty |first=William Peter |author-link=William Peter Blatty |date=April 5, 2019 |title=William Peter Blatty on why there is good in 'The Exorcist' |url=https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2019/04/05/william-peter-blatty-why-there-good-exorcist |magazine=[[America (magazine)|America]] |volume=220 |access-date=October 11, 2022 |number=8}}</ref> The changes to the film's ending from the novel, Blatty agreed, might have made it harder to perceive that "the mystery of goodness" was the theme of the work. It appeared to him that for many viewers, including some of the ''America'' writers, the film ended with the demon triumphant through the deaths of the priests despite being exorcised from Regan. The ending of the novel made this clearer, but even in the film he saw Karras's suicide as a sacrificial act of love that reaffirmed his faith.<ref name="Blatty America response" />

[[Protestantism in the United States|American Protestant]] groups also took critical note of the ''Exorcist'' phenomenon and its religious implications. Evangelist [[Billy Graham]] told the ''[[National Enquirer]]'' that "the Devil is in every frame of that film",<ref name="Billy Graham interview">{{Cite interview |last=Graham |first=Billy |subject-link=Billy Graham |title=Billy Graham Tells Why He's Afraid to See ''The Exorcist'': An Exclusive Interview |work=[[National Enquirer]] |date=March 31, 1974 |page=3}}</ref> a remark later characterized as Graham believing the print itself was possessed.<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 13, 2017 |title=William Peter Blatty, Author Of 'The Exorcist', Dies At 89 |work=[[National Public Radio]] |url=https://www.npr.org/2017/01/13/509781767/william-peter-blatty-author-of-the-exorcist-dies-at-89 |access-date=October 12, 2022}}</ref>{{efn|Blatty said in 1998 that despite the respect he had for Graham, "that was one of the most foolish statements I've ever heard. I would have attributed it to senility but he was only 39 or 40 at the time."<ref name=fear />{{rp|1:12:55–1:13:15}}}} The Rev. [[Lester Kinsolving]], an [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal]] priest and syndicated newspaper columnist, argued the Church approved the film only because its heroes were priests.<ref name="Kinsolving column">{{Cite news |last=Kinsolving |first=Lester |author-link=Lester Kinsolving |date=February 11, 1974 |title='The Exorcist' a 'sick horror story' |work=Wheeling Herald |location=[[Wheeling, Illinois]] |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/wheeling-herald-feb-11-1974-p-12/ |access-date=October 12, 2022 |via=[[Newspaper Archive]]}}</ref> ''[[The Christian Century]]'', the leading voice of [[mainline Protestant]]ism, likewise denounced the film as "hardcore pornography [that to Protestants offers] a completely impossible solution" to evil. Protestant groups around the country picketed the film and offered support to those who might be disturbed by it.<ref name="Religious response article" />

===Rating controversy===
The [[Motion Picture Association of America]]'s (MPAA) [[Motion Picture Association of America film rating system|ratings board]] had been established several years before to replace the Production Code. It had already been criticized for its indirect [[Film censorship in the United States|censorship]]; reportedly almost a third of the films submitted had been recut to avoid an [[Motion Picture Association of America film rating system#MPAA film ratings|X rating]], which barred admission to minors. Since many theaters did not show those films and newspapers did not run advertisements for them, the X rating greatly limited a non-pornographic film's commercial prospects. While Friedkin wanted more blood and gore in ''The Exorcist'' than any Hollywood film before, he also needed the R rating. Before release, Aaron Stern, the head of the MPAA ratings board, watched the film himself. He told Friedkin that ''The Exorcist'' was "an important film" which would receive an R rating as submitted.{{sfn|Zinoman|2011|pp=106–07}}

Some critics, reacting to reports of the film's effect on children who had seen it, questioned the R rating. In February 1974, Roy Meacham, a television critic in Washington, D.C., who had praised the film, wrote that he had heard of a girl being taken from the theater in an ambulance, even though his station regularly warned against letting children see it.<ref name="Meacham NYT piece">{{Cite news |last=Meacham |first=Roy |date=February 3, 1974 |title=How Did 'The Exorcist' Escape an X Rating? |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/03/archives/how-did-theexorcist-escape-an-x-rating-movies.html |url-status=live |access-date=March 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190301140301/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/03/archives/how-did-theexorcist-escape-an-x-rating-movies.html |archive-date=March 1, 2019}}</ref> Meacham said that the children she saw leaving showings "were drained and drawn afterward; their eyes had a look I had never seen before." He suggested that the MPAA had yielded to pressure from Warner Bros., and doubted MPAA head [[Jack Valenti]]'s claims that the R rating was justified in the absence of sex or nudity. After a week in Washington's theaters, Meacham recalled, authorities cited the crucifix scene to invoke a local ordinance that forbade minors from seeing any scenes with sexual content, even where the actors were fully clothed. Police warned theaters that staff would be arrested if ''any'' minors were admitted to see ''The Exorcist''.<ref name="Meacham NYT piece" /> There were also reports of theaters not strictly enforcing the R rating.<ref name="Van Gelder NYT article" /> Meacham wrote that the board had lost its moral authority, and feared communities across the country would pass their own, perhaps more restrictive laws on what could be shown.<ref name="Meacham NYT piece" /> [[Pauline Kael|Kael]] echoed his insinuations that the board had yielded to studio pressure due to the film's cost.{{sfn|Zinoman|2011|pp=106–07}}<ref name="New Yorker review" /> [[Roger Ebert|Ebert]], who had favorably reviewed the film, found the special effects unusually graphic, making it "stupefying" that it had been rated R.<ref name="EbertExorcist"/> Stern's successor as ratings board chair, [[Richard Heffner]], said of ''The Exorcist'': "How could anything be worse than this? And it got an R?"{{sfn|Zinoman|2011|p=109}}

[[File:Hattiesburg Saenger Theatre.jpg|thumb|The Saenger Theater in Hattiesburg, Mississippi (pictured in 2011), was raided by police after its first showing of ''The Exorcist'' in 1974.]]

[[Boston]] and [[Hattiesburg, Mississippi]], attempted to prevent showings. A court in the former city blocked the ban, saying the film did not meet the [[U.S. Supreme Court]]'s standard of obscenity.<ref name="Today show piece">{{Cite news |last=Hartl |first=John |date=August 19, 2004 |title=Original 'Exorcist' was an event |work=[[Today (American TV program)|Today]] |publisher=[[NBC]] |url=http://www.today.com/id/5675185/ns/today-today_entertainment/t/original-exorcist-was-event/ |url-status=live |access-date=March 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306174912/http://www.today.com/id/5675185/ns/today-today_entertainment/t/original-exorcist-was-event/ |archive-date=March 6, 2019}}</ref> Authorities there still told theaters not to admit minors.{{sfn|Zinoman|2011|p=107}} In Mississippi, police arrested the projectionist and manager after the film's first showing;<ref>{{cite book|last=Geltzer|first=Jeremy|title=Film Censorship in America: A State-by-State History|page=99|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sNg5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA99|publisher=McFarland |date=2017|isbn=9781476630120 |access-date=September 17, 2023}}</ref> a jury convicted the theater of obscenity and fined it $100.<ref>{{cite news|last=Tarbutton|first=Dick|title=Jury decides ''Exorcist'' is obscene|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/36148522/saenger_exorcist_case/|newspaper=[[Hattiesburg American]]|date=May 2, 1974|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|access-date=September 17, 2023}}</ref> The [[Mississippi Supreme Court]] overturned the conviction in 1976, holding the state's obscenity statute [[Vagueness doctrine|too vague]] to be enforceable under the 1972 ''[[Miller v. California]]'' decision.<ref>{{cite court|litigants=ABC Interstate Theatres, Inc. v. State|vol=325|reporter=So.|opinion=123|court=[[Mississippi Supreme Court|Miss.]]|year= 1976|url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15333408926002096270}}</ref>

===Viewing restrictions in United Kingdom===
Upon its [[Cinema of the United Kingdom|United Kingdom]] release in March 1974,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Exorcist (1973) Release Info |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070047/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_dt_dt |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210315015531/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070047/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_dt_dt |archive-date=March 15, 2021 |access-date=November 13, 2018 |website=IMDB.com}}</ref> ''The Exorcist'' drew protests around Britain from the [[Nationwide Festival of Light]] (NFL), a Christian public action group. Local clergy and concerned citizens handed out leaflets offering spiritual support afterwards to those queuing for the film.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Clergy Help Those Distressed By 'The Exorcist' |url=http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/154081 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113165955/http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/154081 |archive-date=November 13, 2018 |access-date=November 13, 2018 |website=East Anglian Film Archive}}</ref> A letter-writing campaign to local councils by the NFL led many of them to screen ''The Exorcist'' before permitting showings.<ref>{{Cite web |title='The Exorcist' Will Be Shown In Norwich, Given The Go-Ahead By Health Committee |url=http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/154427 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181113165938/http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/154427 |archive-date=November 13, 2018 |access-date=November 13, 2018 |website=East Anglian Film Archive}}</ref> It was thus banned in some areas, such as [[Dinefwr Borough Council|Dinefwr Borough]] (now [[Carmarthenshire]]) and [[Ceredigion]] in Wales.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 15, 1974 |title='The Exorcist' Banned |page=1 |work=The Carmarthen Journal}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=September 20, 1974 |title='Exorcist' Film Banned |page=1 |work=Cambrian News}}</ref>

In 1981, ''The Exorcist'' was released on home video in the UK.<ref name="BBFC">{{Cite web |title=Case Studies – the Exorcist (1973) |url=https://www.bbfc.co.uk/education/case-studies/exorcist |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115071235/https://bbfc.co.uk/case-studies/exorcist |archive-date=November 15, 2019 |access-date=January 5, 2020 |publisher=British Board of Film Classification}}</ref> After the passage of the [[Video Recordings Act 1984]], it was submitted to the [[British Board of Film Classification]] for a home video certificate. A majority voted to grant it, but director [[James Ferman]] vetoed them. He believed that, even with a proposed [[18 (British Board of Film Classification)|18 certificate]], the film's notoriety would lead underage viewers to seek it out. As a result, all UK video copies of ''The Exorcist'' were withdrawn in 1988.<ref name="BBFC" /> Following a successful theatrical re-release in 1998, the film was submitted for home video release again in 1999.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 25, 1999 |title=The Exorcist |url=https://bbfc.co.uk/website/Classified.nsf/c2fb077ba3f9b33980256b4f002da32c/7842b3e12beb4c828025672400369b53?OpenDocument |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222020700/https://bbfc.co.uk/website/Classified.nsf/c2fb077ba3f9b33980256b4f002da32c/7842b3e12beb4c828025672400369b53?OpenDocument |archive-date=February 22, 2014 |access-date=August 2, 2012 |publisher=British Board of Film Classification}}</ref> It was passed uncut with an 18 certificate, signifying a relaxation of the censorship rules for home video in the UK. In 2001, [[Channel 4]] showed ''The Exorcist'' on [[Television in the United Kingdom|UK broadcast television]] for the first time.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 4, 2001 |title=TV premiere for The Exorcist |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1201445.stm |url-status=live |access-date=May 15, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060624182036/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1201445.stm |archive-date=June 24, 2006}}</ref>

===After release===
''The Exorcist''{{'}}s box office records stood for years. It was the top-grossing R-rated horror film for almost half a century.<ref name="BOM R-rated horror chart">{{Cite web |title=Horror – R-Rated |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=rratedhorror.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306043026/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=rratedhorror.htm |archive-date=March 6, 2019 |access-date=March 3, 2019 |website=[[Box Office Mojo]]}}</ref> In 1999, ''[[The Sixth Sense]]'' beat the film as the highest-grossing [[supernatural horror film]] until ''[[It (2017 film)|It]]'' took that honor in 2017.<ref name="BOM supernatural horror">{{Cite web |title=Horror – Supernatural |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=supernaturalhorror.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190626192616/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=supernaturalhorror.htm |archive-date=June 26, 2019 |access-date=March 3, 2019 |website=[[Box Office Mojo]]}}</ref>{{efn|Those rankings are based on numbers unadjusted for inflation. In 2019, ''[[Forbes (magazine)|Forbes]]'' writer Travis Bean recalculated the revenues of the top-grossing horror films of all time by adjusting all of them to that year's ticket prices. By that metric, ''The Exorcist'' had earned nearly a billion dollars, second only to ''[[Jaws (film)|Jaws]]'', restoring ''The Exorcist'' to the status of all-time top-grossing supernatural and R-rated horror film.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Bean|first=Travis|title=The Highest-Grossing Horror Movies Of All Time|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/travisbean/2019/10/03/the-highest-grossing-horror-movies-of-all-time/|magazine=[[Forbes (magazine)|Forbes]]|date=October 3, 2019|access-date=September 21, 2023}}</ref>}} On both charts, ''The Exorcist'', along with ''[[The Blair Witch Project]]'', are the only 20th-century releases in the top ten.<ref name="BOM R-rated horror chart" /><ref name="BOM supernatural horror" />

Since its release, ''The Exorcist''{{'}}s critical reputation has grown. {{Rotten Tomatoes prose|78|8.50|177|''The Exorcist'' rides its supernatural theme to magical effect, with remarkable special effects and an eerie atmosphere, resulting in one of the scariest films of all time.|access-date={{RT data|access date}}}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Exorcist (1973) |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/exorcist |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812150001/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/exorcist|archive-date=August 12, 2020 |access-date=August 21, 2024 |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |publisher=[[Fandango Media|Fandango]]}}</ref> The director's cut received an 88% rating from the same site, with a 7.30 rating, based on 82 reviews, while its consensus reading "''The Exorcist'' has withstood the test of time, and it still has that renegade feel and the power to shock."<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Exorcist (1973) |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/exorcist_the_version_youve_never_seen |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812150001/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/exorcist_the_version_youve_never_seen |archive-date=August 12, 2020 |access-date=September 29, 2023 |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |publisher=[[Fandango Media|Fandango]]}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], the film has a weighted average score of 83 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Exorcist Reviews |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-exorcist-1973 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190615202435/https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-exorcist-1973 |archive-date=June 15, 2019 |access-date=April 14, 2019 |website=[[Metacritic]] |publisher=[[CBS Interactive]]}}</ref> ''Chicago Tribune'' film critic [[Gene Siskel]] named it one of the top five films of 1973.<ref name="Siskel Official Web Page">{{Cite web |title=The Official Site of Gene Siskel |url=http://www.cmgww.com/stars/siskel/screening_room/gs_thumbs_up1.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402040159/http://www.cmgww.com/stars/siskel/screening_room/gs_thumbs_up1.htm |archive-date=April 2, 2012 |access-date=August 2, 2012 |publisher=CMG Worldwide}}</ref> The English film critic [[Mark Kermode]] believes ''The Exorcist'' to be the best film ever made.<ref name="BFI Blatty obit">{{Cite web |last=Kermode |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Kermode |date=January 20, 2017 |title=William Peter Blatty obituary: The Exorcist writer was on the side of the angels |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/comment/obituaries/william-peter-blatty-exorcist-writer-angels |access-date=September 15, 2022 |website=[[British Film Institute]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Nunziata |first=Nick |date=October 31, 2015 |title=5 films that frightened the life out of Mark Kermode: 'The Exorcist has never failed me' |work=[[digitalspy.com]] |url=http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/feature/a675634/5-films-that-frightened-the-life-out-of-mark-kermode-the-exorcist-has-never-failed-me/ |url-status=live |access-date=August 29, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828151202/http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/feature/a675634/5-films-that-frightened-the-life-out-of-mark-kermode-the-exorcist-has-never-failed-me/ |archive-date=August 28, 2017}}</ref>

Director [[Martin Scorsese]] put ''The Exorcist'' on his list of the 11 scariest horror films of all time.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Scorsese, Martin |author-link=Martin Scorsese |date=October 28, 2009 |title=11 Scariest Horror Movies of All Time |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/nov/12/martin-scorsese-scariest-films-the-haunting-shining |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180102084902/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/nov/12/martin-scorsese-scariest-films-the-haunting-shining |archive-date=January 2, 2018 |access-date=September 22, 2017 |website=The Guardian}}</ref> Other filmmakers, including [[Stanley Kubrick]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Far Out Staff |date=June 19, 2020 |title=From David Lynch to Quentin Tarantino: A list of Stanley Kubrick's 93 favourite films |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/stanley-kubrick-93-favourite-films-of-all-time-list/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023063008/https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/stanley-kubrick-93-favourite-films-of-all-time-list/ |archive-date=October 23, 2020 |access-date=October 18, 2020 |website=Far Out}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Wrigley |first=Nick |date=February 8, 2018 |title=Stanley Kubrick, cinephile |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/polls-surveys/stanley-kubrick-cinephile |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180811211311/http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/polls-surveys/stanley-kubrick-cinephile |archive-date=August 11, 2018 |access-date=August 8, 2018 |publisher=BFI}}</ref> [[Robert Eggers]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Damian Jones |date=October 30, 2019 |title='The Lighthouse' director Robert Eggers reveals his favourite horror films |url=https://www.nme.com/news/the-lighthouse-director-robert-eggers-reveals-his-favourite-horror-films-2562614 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023044621/https://www.nme.com/news/the-lighthouse-director-robert-eggers-reveals-his-favourite-horror-films-2562614 |archive-date=October 23, 2020 |access-date=October 18, 2020 |website=NME |publisher=BandLab Technologies |quote=It is unclear whether the list was in order but among the films he listed were the 1922 German horror Nosferatu, Ridley Scott's Alien, Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, The Exorcist and The Birds.}}</ref> [[Alex Proyas]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Yamato |first=Jen |date=March 16, 2009 |title=Five Favorite Films with Alex Proyas |url=https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/five-favorite-films-with-alex-proyas/ |access-date=August 30, 2021 |website=Rotten Tomatoes |publisher=Fandango}}</ref> and [[David Fincher]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=David Fincher's Favorite Movies: See 26 of His Top Picks |url=https://www.indiewire.com/gallery/david-fincher-favorite-movies/the-exorcist-1973-2/ |access-date=September 15, 2022 |website=[[IndieWire]]|date=June 20, 2017 }}</ref> have cited ''The Exorcist'' as a favorite. In 2008, it was named one of ''[[Empire (film magazine)|Empire]]''{{'}}s "500 Greatest Movies Ever Made".<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 5, 2006 |title=The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time |url=https://empireonline.com/500/58.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017201914/http://www.empireonline.com/500/58.asp |archive-date=October 17, 2012 |access-date=September 28, 2022 |publisher=Empire}}</ref> ''The Times'' put it on a similar list of a thousand films.<ref name="Times best list" /> [[John Carpenter]] listed ''The Exorcist'' as one of his top eight scariest horror classics,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Leah Mandel |date=October 19, 2017 |title=The 8 scariest horror classics, according to John Carpenter |url=https://www.thefader.com/2017/10/19/john-carpenter-horror-movies-night-of-the-living-dead-texas-chainsaw-massacre |access-date=October 15, 2022 |website=The Fader}}</ref> and said it influenced his 1980 film ''[[The Fog]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Swapnil Dhruv |last=Bose |date=October 14, 2022 |title=John Carpenter explains the magic of 'The Exorcist' |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/john-carpenter-horror-film-surprisingly-intense/ |access-date=October 15, 2022 |website=Far Out |quote=Carpenter was deeply influenced by The Exorcist when he was making his 1980 supernatural horror ''[[The Fog]]'', especially when it came to the film's soundtrack.}}</ref>

Some critics wondered, in advance of its 2000 re-release, whether ''The Exorcist'' would affect contemporary audiences, since it had been so widely imitated and emulated. The ''[[Hartford Courant]]''{{'}}s Malcolm Johnson described it as a "little old hat in 2000". Some scenes, such as [[Ritalin]] being proposed as a treatment for Regan, provoked unintended laughter. But the film's performances were still effective, and the longer version made the medical professionals seem like "witch doctors".<ref name="2000 Courant review" /> The ''Tribune'' found it "a deeper movie now". Friedkin, an odd choice to direct at the time, now proved the best for critic Michael Wilmington, as he knew "how to convey a convincing atmosphere of modern chaos and dread".<ref name="2000 Trib review">{{Cite news |last=Wilmington |first=Michael |date=September 22, 2000 |title='Exorcist' Still Leads The Field Of Screams |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2000-09-22-0009220175-story.html |access-date=October 14, 2022}}</ref> In 2022 [[Rolling Stone]] ranked the movie at #1 on a 101 Best Horror Movies of All Time.<ref>{{Cite web |title=101 Best Horror Movies of All Time |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-lists/best-horror-movies-of-all-time-1234597766/ |access-date=2025-08-21 |website=Rolling Stone (magazine) |date=October 28, 2022 }}</ref>

==Themes==
<!---{{Main|Themes in The Exorcist}}--->
[[File:Stephen King, Comicon.jpg|thumb|right|The horror novelist [[Stephen King]] describes ''The Exorcist'' as a social horror film.]]

Critics and scholars attributed ''The Exorcist''{{'}}s box office success to social anxiety following the [[1960s#Social and political movements|cultural, political and social upheavals of the late 1960s]].<ref name="America article" /><ref name="Religious response article" />{{sfn|Creed|1993|pp=136–38}}<ref name="Possessed Women, Haunted States">{{cite book |last1=Olson |first1=Christopher J. |last2=Reinhard |first2=CarrieLynn D. |title=Possessed Women, Haunted States: Cultural Tensions in Exorcism Cinema |date=2016 |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield|Lexington Books]] |location=[[Lanham, Maryland]] |isbn=9781498519090 |pages=80–81 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RpOHDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA80 |access-date=October 24, 2022}}</ref> Amy Chambers wrote: "''The Exorcist'' communicates an image of a United States in an unstable state of change that can no longer avoid its real and historical systemic evils".<ref name="Religious response article" /> Kermode writes that by stylistically distancing itself from the more Gothic horror films of the 1960s, the film "presented a credible portrait of the modern urban world ripped apart by an obscene, ancient evil".{{sfn|Kermode|2003|p=10}} [[Stephen King]] calls ''The Exorcist'' "a social horror film if there ever was one" in his 1983 treatise on the genre, ''[[Danse Macabre (King book)|Danse Macabre]]''. He sees the possessed Regan symbolizing for middle-aged viewers the outspoken youth protesting the [[Vietnam War]].{{sfn|King|1983|pp=196–97}} [[Danny Peary]] comments on the symbolic and real fragmentation throughout the film: "With the world in such disorder, the Devil can make a dramatic entrance."<ref name="Danny Peary" />

At the time of the film's release, the [[Watergate scandal]] was worsening, implicating President [[Richard Nixon]]. In 2019, ''[[The A.V. Club]]''{{'}}s Tom Breihan said that "the spectacle of ''The Exorcist'' might've mirrored" Watergate.<ref name="A.V. Club piece">{{cite news|last=Breihan|first=Tom|title=For all its blood, vomit, and obscenities, ''The Exorcist'' was a blockbuster of traditional values|url=https://www.avclub.com/for-all-its-blood-vomit-and-obscenities-the-exorcist-1838894063|work=The A.V. Club|date=October 18, 2019|access-date=October 24, 2022}}</ref> In a ''Christian Century'' article, theologian [[Carl Raschke]] connected the "psychodramas of the American soul" resulting from "the cynical mood of our age [arising] by default from the wreck of traditional religious as well as social values".<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Raschke |first=Carl |author-link=Carl Raschke |date=December 18, 1974 |title=Exorcising the Devils of Watergate: Why the Prince of Darkness Is Having His Day |magazine=[[The Christian Century]] |volume=91 |pages=1196–98}}, cited by Chambers</ref> Breihan reads the film itself as reactionary, "built on reverence of tradition" despite its surface transgressiveness. He wrote that "it almost sneers at the politics of the '60s", noting Chris dismissing her film's take on student protest as "the Walt Disney version of the [[Ho Chi Minh]] story". In the only scene she is shown shooting, her character, a faculty member at the fictional college, counsels a group of protesters that change can only come from the system.<ref name="A.V. Club piece" />

[[Second-wave feminism]] has figured in discussions of ''The Exorcist''. At the time, the U.S. [[women's liberation movement]] had enjoyed some early gains in legislatures and courts. Commentators{{Who|date=October 2025}} have seen the film's depiction of a single working mother and her uncontrollable daughter who are rescued by [[patriarchal]] authority as a reaction against feminism.<ref name="A.V. Club piece" /><ref name="America article" /><ref name="ReWire Marcotte piece">{{cite news|last=Marcotte|first=Amanda|author-link=Amanda Marcotte|title=History Has Not Been Kind To 'The Exorcist'|url=https://rewirenewsgroup.com/2012/05/21/history-has-not-been-kind-to-exorcist/|work=[[ReWire]]|date=May 21, 2012|access-date=October 24, 2022}}</ref> Former studio executive [[Peter Biskind]], in ''[[Easy Riders and Raging Bulls]]'', describes the film as "a male nightmare of female puberty. Emergent female sexuality is equated with demonic possession." For the male authority figures in ''The Exorcist'', whether priests or physicians, Regan must be restored to her innocence through abusive and violent means if necessary.{{sfn|Biskind|1999|p=223}} Many feminist critics, like Biskind, note the film's focus on the female body as the site of horror. "When her body changes, Regan becomes ''someone else''; someone sexual, whose desire is a dark visitor" writes [[Jude Ellison Doyle]] in ''[[Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers|Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers: Monstrosity, Patriarchy and the Fear of Female Power]]''. "To become a woman is to become the&nbsp;... enemy of all that is pure or holy."<ref name="Doyle book">{{cite book |last1=Doyle |first1=Jude Elliott |title=Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers: Monstrosity, Patriarchy and the Fear of Female Power |date=2019 |publisher=[[Melville House Publishing]] |location=Brooklyn, New York |isbn=9781612197920 |page=19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tPd8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA19 |access-date=October 24, 2022}}</ref> But Australian film studies professor [[Barbara Creed]], in ''[[The Monstrous-Feminine]]'', which inaugurated [[psychoanalytic]] [[feminist film theory]], counters the prevailing feminist take on ''The Exorcist'' by insisting that Pazuzu is female{{sfn|Creed|1993|p=132}} and thus the possession of Regan is itself a feminist act, exposing "the inability of the male order to control the woman whose perversity is expressed through her rebellious body",{{sfn|Creed|1993|p=139}} as she navigates an incestuous desire for her mother.{{sfn|Creed|1993|p=143}} [[University of Toronto]] professor S. Trimble writes that the film tapped into "white American fears of nightmare futures" that could result from the women's liberation, [[gay liberation]] and [[Black Power]] movements' challenge to the established 1970s social order. Trimble writes that, as a film about "a revolting girl revolting against the little-girl box in which she was stuck" and army of men trying to put her back, ''The Exorcist'' follows older horror movies that use gender-bending to create a monster.<ref>{{cite book |title=It Came From the Closet|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gxhaEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT15 |pages=9–19 |first=S. |last=Trimble |chapter=A Demon-Girl's Guide to Life |editor-first=Joe |editor-last=Vallese |publisher=The Feminist Press |location=New York City |year=2022 |isbn=9781952177798 |oclc=1325677846}}</ref>

[[Texas State University|Texas State]] religious studies professor Joseph Laycock<ref>{{cite web|title=Dr. Joseph Laycock: Associate Professor—Philosophy|url=https://faculty.txst.edu/profile/1922193|publisher=Texas State University|access-date=October 26, 2022}}</ref> wrote that the popular embrace of ''The Exorcist'' also pointed to reactionary popular trends in American religion. "''The Exorcist'' is a depiction not of ecclesiastical Catholicism but of ''folk piety''", which he also describes as extra-ecclesiastical religion, pursued by the lay masses, "incorporat[ing] beliefs about divine or supernatural intervention in the realm of everyday experience", as tolerant of [[Ouija board]]s and practices from other spiritual traditions as it was devout in its Catholic faith.{{sfn|Laycock|2009|p=3}} In the early 1970s, organized religion in America had increasingly turned towards the rational as the country became more secular: "The authentic folk piety depicted in ''The Exorcist'' likely appealed to audiences [at the time] because it was a welcome alternative to rationalized religion and a cultural myth of universal secularization."{{sfn|Laycock|2009|p=23}}

==Litigation==
Lawsuits among the creators of ''The Exorcist'' began before the film was released, and continued into the 21st century. In November 1973, Blatty sued the studio and Friedkin. He demanded equal billing with Friedkin, who he further claimed had barred him from the set. Friedkin said he had only barred him from post-production; Blatty settled for the "William Peter Blatty's ''The Exorcist''" line.<ref name="AFI" /> In February 1974, Dietz claimed Friedkin had made her sign a [[nondisclosure agreement]]. While Friedkin had, in earlier publicity for the film, denied any use of a double for Blair, by the end of the month Dietz was saying she neither claimed to have been the only double for the possession scenes nor talked about it to the media. The [[Screen Actors Guild]] ruled her contract was not binding, but then Dietz declined to [[Arbitration in the United States|arbitrate]] the matter.<ref name="AFI" />

In 2001, following the release of the extended version, Blatty and Friedkin sued Warner Bros., alleging that they had been cheated out of profits they would receive for helping promote the film.<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 24, 2001 |title=Friedkin, Blatty sue studio over Exorcist reissue |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/may/24/news |access-date=September 30, 2022}}</ref> Later that year, they sued again, alleging that the studio had further defrauded them over the last decade by failing to get full market value for various licensing deals for the film.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Shprintz |first=Janet |date=December 23, 2001 |title=Friedkin, Blatty sue WB over 'Exorcist' |url=https://variety.com/2001/biz/news/friedkin-blatty-sue-wb-over-exorcist-1117857722/ |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |access-date=September 30, 2022}}</ref>{{efn|Blatty and Friedkin were entitled to 39 and 10 percent of the film's [[net income|net profit]] respectively.<ref name="LA Times 2003 settlement story">{{cite news|last=Welkos|first=Robert|title=Warner Bros., Film Creators Settle Suit Over Profit From 'Exorcist'|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jul-15-fi-nuexorcist15-story.html|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=July 15, 2003|access-date=October 11, 2023}}</ref> Blatty alleged that when he compared expenses incurred for the film on data from the studio sent him with similar information sent to Friedkin, the numbers on his were higher when they should have been the same. He found some of the claimed promotional expenses to be unrealistically high, and some of the overseas grosses suspiciously low. He and Friedkin also noted that Warner Bros. had sold the film's television broadcast rights to [[Turner Network Television]] (TNT), with whom it shared a corporate parent, for a far lower price than it had obtained from other broadcasters for less successful recent movies (the studio responded that since TNT still owned the rights to the 1973 version, it could easily have undermined another network's premiere by airing that at the same time). Blatty found the studio's manipulations so egregious that he made a criminal complaint to the [[FBI]], which closed the case in 2002 after investigating it for a year.<ref>{{cite web|title=William Peter Blatty – Victim|author=[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]|url=https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/fbifiles/authors/williamblatty-fbi1.pdf|publisher=The Black Vault|date=2002|access-date=October 12, 2023}}</ref>}} It was settled confidentially two years later.<ref name="LA Times 2003 settlement story" /> In 2012, Blatty sued Warner Bros. again, asking for the opportunity to inspect the studio's records and accounts, to see whether he had been paid what he was owed.<ref name="2010 THR story">{{Cite news |last=Belloni |first=Matt |date=December 21, 2010 |title='Exorcist' writer sues for access to Warner Bros. records |work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/exorcist-writer-sues-access-warner-64236/ |access-date=September 30, 2022}}</ref>

==Legacy==
''The Exorcist'' has had a lasting effect on the horror film genre and become a cultural reference point.

===Effect on films and industry===
''[[Cinefantastique]]'' wrote, "''The Exorcist'' has done for the horror film what ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey|2001]]'' did for science fiction, legitimizing it in the eyes of thousands who previously considered horror movies nothing more than a giggle."<ref name="Laughing Screaming" /> Studios subsequently allotted large budgets to horror films with similar themes like ''[[The Omen]]'', ''[[The Sentinel (1977 film)|The Sentinel]]'', ''[[Burnt Offerings (film)|Burnt Offerings]]'', ''[[Audrey Rose (film)|Audrey Rose]]'', and ''[[The Amityville Horror (1979 film)|The Amityville Horror]]''.<ref name="Lost Illusions">{{Cite book |last=Cook |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HVygqYMVP2wC&pg=PA226 |title=Lost Illusions: American Cinema in the Shadow of Watergate and Vietnam, 1970–1979 |date=2002 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=9780520232655 |pages=226–228 |access-date=March 7, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428033821/https://books.google.com/books?id=HVygqYMVP2wC&pg=PA226 |archive-date=April 28, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> Horror films began to cast well-known actors, who until then had often avoided the genre in their career prime.{{sfn|Zinoman|2011|p=103}} Friedkin's use of works like ''Polymorphia'' in the score also led to the use of modern [[Avant-garde music|avant-garde]] composers like [[Krzysztof Penderecki]] in later horror films such as ''[[The Shining (film)|The Shining]]''. Composers of original music for those films adopted some avant-garde techniques, like [[Interval (music)#Consonant and dissonant|dissonant intervals]] such as [[tritone]]s, [[sound mass]]ing and [[tone cluster]]s, to create unease and tension.<ref>{{Cite episode |title=How ''The Exorcist'' Changed the Sound of Horror |url=https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/sound-field/episodes/how-exorcist-changed-sound-horror-kxssx2 |access-date=October 8, 2022 |series=Sound Field |last=Bruckner |first=Arthur |network=[[PBS]] |station=[[KOCE]] |season=1 |number=8 |time=4:20–5:30 |first2=Nahre |last2=Sol}}</ref>

The film's success led Warner Bros. to release the sequel ''[[Exorcist II: The Heretic]]'' in 1977, marking one of the first times a studio had done that with a major film not planned to have one, launching a [[The Exorcist (franchise)|franchise]]. While many classic horror films of the 1930s had spawned series of films, the practice had declined in the 1960s. Before the 1970s, most sequels had been secondary properties for the studios. The other big-budget horror films made in the wake of ''The Exorcist'' also led to sequels and franchises.{{sfn|Zinoman|2011|p=104}} Amy Chambers observes that Friedkin set a precedent not only by extensively consulting with technical experts in the subject matter, in his case physicians and priests, but foregrounding that reliance by including those experts' names and credentials in the film's credits and press kit, a practice now common.<ref name="Religious response article" />

===Cultural reference point===
''The Exorcist'' has become a cultural reference point.<ref name="Religious response article" /> Its imagery, particularly Regan in her bedroom, has been used by political cartoonists like [[Mike Luckovich]] and [[Mike Peters (cartoonist)|Mike Peters]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Exorcist Comics And Cartoons |url=https://www.cartoonistgroup.com/subject/The-Exorcist-Comics-and-Cartoons.php |access-date=October 15, 2022 |website=The Cartoonist Group}}</ref> In 1998, ''New York Times'' columnist [[Maureen Dowd]] wrote when criticizing the nation's apparent indulgence of President [[Bill Clinton]]'s sexual indiscretions: "[P]eople are saying things so bizarre they could have come out of Linda Blair in ''The Exorcist.''&nbsp;... You expect the feminists' heads to start rotating on their necks any moment now."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dowd |first=Maureen |author-link=Maureen Dowd |date=March 11, 1998 |title=Liberties; Sympathy for the Devil |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/11/opinion/liberties-sympathy-for-the-devil.html |access-date=October 15, 2022}}</ref> Father Merrin's arrival scene is another reference. In an episode of the CBS sitcom ''[[Square Pegs]]'', [[Don Novello]], as his ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' (''SNL'') character [[Father Guido Sarducci]], enters a classroom, similarly backlit amidst fog, in order to exorcise a character "possessed" by the ''[[Pac-Man]]'' video game.<ref>{{Cite episode|title=Pac Man Fever|url=https://www.crackle.com/watch/38ee5039-23ff-4d5d-a518-48d4012ee873/square-pegs/pac-man-fever|access-date=January 12, 2023|series=Square Pegs|series-link=Square Pegs|first=Marjorie|last=Gross|network=[[CBS]]|date=October 11, 1982|season=1|number=105|time=20:54}}</ref> In an episode set on Halloween 2019, an episode of ''[[Evil (TV series)|Evil]]'', another CBS series, paid homage to the scene.<ref name="Evil episode">{{cite episode|title=October 31|date=October 24, 2019|first=DeWayne Darian|last=Jones|series=[[Evil (TV series)|Evil]]|network=[[CBS]]|season=1|number=5|time=21:55}}</ref><ref name="EW Evil story">{{cite news|last=Rice|first=Lynette|title=''Evil'' recreates iconic moment from ''The Exorcist''|url=https://ew.com/tv/2019/10/24/evil-recreates-exorcist-scene-priest/|newspaper=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|date=October 24, 2019|access-date=January 12, 2023}}</ref> In 1992, the heavy metal band [[Pantera]] named its sixth studio album ''[[Vulgar Display of Power]]'', from the possessed Regan's riposte to Karras when he suggests she could make the straps disappear,<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Sciarretto |first=Amy |date=February 25, 2012 |title=Pantera's 'Vulgar Display of Power' Turns 20 |url=http://loudwire.com/panteras-vulgar-display-of-power-turns-20/ |magazine=[[Loudwire]] |access-date=October 17, 2022}}</ref> similarly titling a book about the band's adventures on tour.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Armold |first=Chris |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s_VDMQAACAAJ |title=A Vulgar Display of Power: Courage and Carnage at the Alrosa Villa |publisher=MJS Music & Entertainment |year=2007 |isbn=9780976291770}}</ref> In 2023 a protist that lives inside a South American termite's gut was named ''Daimonympha friedkini'' after the movie and its director.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sciencenews.org/article/watch-microbial-life-earth|title=Watch: Recent microbial discoveries are changing our view of life on Earth|work=Science News|date=October 6, 2023}}</ref>

Popular comedy took inspiration from the film. ''SNL'' parodied the film during its first season, with [[Richard Pryor]] in the Karras role and [[Laraine Newman]] as Regan.<ref>{{Cite episode |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8dKnFU5LUE |title=The Exorcist 2 |date=October 10, 2013 |type=Live television comedy sketch |publisher=[[NBC]] |orig-date=December 13, 1975 |series=[[Saturday Night Live]] |access-date=October 15, 2022 |via=YouTube |people=[[Laraine Newman]], [[Richard Pryor]] and [[Thalmus Rasulala]]}}</ref><ref name="Washingtonian Blatty article" /> In 2023, the show again parodied the film, with host [[Jenna Ortega]] in the Regan role.<ref>{{cite news|last=White|first=Peter|title=Scream Queen Jenna Ortega Takes On 'The Exorcist' In 'SNL' Parody|url=https://deadline.com/2023/03/scream-queen-jenna-ortega-takes-on-the-exorcist-in-snl-parody-1235286480/|newspaper=[[Deadline Hollywood]]|date=March 11, 2023|access-date=April 8, 2023}}</ref> ''[[Ghostbusters]]'', in 1984, included ''The Exorcist'' among the horror films it referenced.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Denby |first=David |author-link=David Denby |date=June 11, 1984 |title='Oh Zuul, You Nut!' |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YeUCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA66 |magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]] |volume=17 |pages=66–67 |issn=0028-7369 |access-date=October 15, 2022 |number=24}}</ref> In one scene, [[Sigourney Weaver]]'s character, possessed by an evil spirit, begins to speak with a deep, husky voice and levitates above her bed as [[Bill Murray]]'s character talks with her.<ref name="A.V. Club piece" /><ref>{{Cite episode |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSpUP9xuyHk |title=There Is No Dana Only ZUUL |date=June 8, 2014 |type=feature film clip |publisher=Ghostbusters.net |orig-date=1984 |series=[[Ghostbusters]] |access-date=October 15, 2022 |via=YouTube |people=[[Bill Murray]], [[Sigourney Weaver]]}}</ref> In 1990, Blair starred as a housewife needing exorcism in the parody ''[[Repossessed (film)|Repossessed]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Repossessed (1990) |website=Box Office Mojo |url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=repossessed.htm |access-date=October 16, 2022}}</ref>

Religious wariness toward the film abated as it became a classic. Jesuit Jim McDermott wrote in a 2019 issue of ''America'': "''The Exorcist'' exposed people around the world to the question of evil in a new and terrifying way&nbsp;... It is a film that takes on big questions and aspires to do much more than shock."{{check quotation|date=August 2025}}<ref name="America article" /> In the heavily [[Southern Baptist|Baptist]] [[Southeastern United States|American South]], ''The Exorcist'' was seen as acceptable viewing amid denunciations of many other horror films that supposedly promoted the occult, because, as a writer in ''[[Slate (website)|Slate]]'' recalls, it "didn't encourage people to dabble in the dark arts, they ''warned'' people. More to the point, they acknowledged the existence of God, the influence of Satan, and the truth of the Bible."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Murray |first=Noel |date=October 9, 2013 |title=The Power of Christ Compels You: Why the South loves ''The Exorcist'' |work=[[Slate (website)|Slate]] |url=https://slate.com/culture/2013/10/the-exorcist-40th-anniversary-blu-ray-why-the-devil-fearing-south-loves-william-friedkins-profane-horror-movie-classic.html |access-date=October 13, 2022}}</ref> British Baptist minister Peter Laws has credited the film with persuading him to abandon atheism and become a Christian, since "it suggested ... that God might be the only truly effective answer to evil, that [He] might be real and the church might sometimes be filed under 'solution', not 'problem{{'"}}.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Laws |first1=Peter |title=The Frighteners: A Journey Through Our Cultural Fascination with the Macabre |date=2018 |publisher=[[Skyhorse Publishing|Skyhorse]] |location=New York |isbn=9781510726772 |pages=248–252 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QmeCDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT251 |access-date=January 12, 2023}}</ref>

[[File:Exorcist steps plaque.jpg|thumb|right|Commemorative plaque on the "Exorcist steps"]]
In 2015, the District of Columbia posted a commemorative plaque on the Exorcist steps,<ref name="NYT plaque story">{{Cite news |last=Fabrikant |first=Geraldine |date=October 29, 2015 |title=The 75 Steps of 'The Exorcist': Celebrating a Cinematic Landmark |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/29/movies/the-75-steps-of-the-exorcist-celebrating-a-cinematic-landmark.html |access-date=October 14, 2022}}</ref> since they had become a tourist attraction.<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 30, 1982 |title=Tourists Follow Steps, Literally, Of 'The Exorcist' |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/28/us/tourists-follow-steps-literally-of-the-exorcist.html |access-date=October 14, 2022}}</ref> At a ceremony the day before [[Halloween]] that year, Blatty and Friedkin were present as the plaque, with Mayor [[Muriel Bowser]]'s signature, was unveiled.<ref name="NYT plaque story" /> Friedkin said that having his name on the plaque was a greater honor than another [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]], since "the Academy may come and go. Its importance has been diminished over the years anyway. But that plaque on those steps is going to be there for a very long time."<ref name="Friedkin Vice interview" />

===Accolades===
''The Exorcist'' was nominated for [[46th Academy Awards|ten Academy Awards]] and won two. It was the first horror film to be nominated for [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]].<ref name="Oscars1974">{{Cite web |url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1974 |title=The 46th Academy Awards (1974) Nominees and Winners |publisher=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] |access-date=August 28, 2011}}</ref> [[31st Golden Globe Awards|It won]] four of seven [[Golden Globe Awards|Golden Globe]] nominations, including [[Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama|Best Motion Picture – Drama]].<ref name="The Exorcist – Golden Globes">{{Cite web |url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/film/exorcist |title=The Exorcist |publisher=[[Golden Globe Awards]] |access-date=July 5, 2021}}</ref> [[Robert Knudson]] and [[Chris Newman (sound engineer)|Chris Newman]] won ''The Exorcist''{{'}}s first Oscar, for [[Academy Award for Best Sound|Best Sound]], thanking Friedkin, the studio and their crews, at [[46th Academy Awards|the ceremony]].<ref name="Sound acceptance speech">{{Cite web |last1=Knudson |first1=Robert |author-link=Robert Knudson |last2=Newman |first2=Chris |author-link2=Chris Newman (sound engineer) |date=April 2, 1974 |title=Robert Knudson and Chris Newman Acceptance Speech for Best Sound, 46th Annual Academy Awards |website=Academy Awards Acceptance Speech Database |publisher=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] |url=http://aaspeechesdb.oscars.org/results.aspx?AC=PREV_RECORD&XC=/results.aspx&BU=http%3A%2F%2Faaspeechesdb.oscars.org%2F&GI=&TN=aatrans&SN=AUTO15364&SE=531&RN=1&MR=0&TR=0&TX=1000&ES=0&XP=&RF=WebReportList&EF=&DF=WebReportOscars&RL=0&EL=0&DL=0&NP=255&ID=&MF=oscarsmsg.ini&DT=&ST=0&IR=0&NR=0&NB=0&SV=0&SS=0&BG=&FG=&QS= |access-date=September 27, 2022}}</ref> Blatty won for [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Adapted Screenplay]], accepting the award from [[Angie Dickinson]] and Miller, who applauded Blatty vigorously. In his short speech, Blatty posthumously thanked William Bloom, "who taught me the rudiments and the craft of screenwriting" and Friedkin. He also paid tribute to his parents, "whose love and whose courage have brought me to this moment and to this place".<ref name="Blatty Oscar speech">{{Cite web |last=Blatty |first=William Peter |author-link=William Peter Blatty |date=April 2, 1974 |title=William Peter Blatty Acceptance Speech for Writing (Screenplay—based on material from another medium), ''The Exorcist'', 46th Annual Academy Awards; (April 2, 1974) |url=http://aaspeechesdb.oscars.org/link/046-20/ |access-date=September 27, 2022 |website=Academy Awards Acceptance Speech Database |publisher=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]}}</ref> The next morning, Blatty complained in ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]'' (THR) that ''The Exorcist'' had not won all the awards it was nominated for, as it was "head and shoulders, the finest film made this year and in many other years". He accused veteran director [[George Cukor]] of having campaigned against the film.<ref name="Blatty THR post-Oscars rant">{{Cite news |last=Higgins |first=Bill |date=February 27, 2018 |title=Oscars Flashback: All Hell Broke Loose When 'Exorcist' Was Snubbed in 1974 |work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/oscars-flashback-all-hell-broke-loose-exorcist-was-snubbed-1974-1087238/ |access-date=September 27, 2022}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Nominees
! Result
! Ref.
|-
| rowspan="10"| [[46th Academy Awards|Academy Awards]]
| [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]]
| [[William Peter Blatty]]
| {{nom}}
| style="text-align:center" rowspan="10"| <ref name="Oscars1974" />
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| [[William Friedkin]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]]
| [[Ellen Burstyn]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]]
| [[Jason Miller (playwright)|Jason Miller]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]]
| [[Linda Blair]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Screenplay – Based on Material from Another Medium]]
| William Peter Blatty
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Production Design|Best Art Direction]]
| Art Direction: [[Bill Malley]]; <br> Set Decoration: [[Jerry Wunderlich]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]]
| [[Owen Roizman]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Film Editing|Best Film Editing]]
| [[Jordan Leondopoulos]], [[Bud S. Smith|Bud Smith]], [[Evan A. Lottman]], and Norman Gay
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Sound|Best Sound]]
| [[Robert Knudson]] and [[Chris Newman (sound engineer)|Chris Newman]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[28th British Academy Film Awards|British Academy Film Awards]]
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Sound|Best Soundtrack]]
| Chris Newman, [[Jean-Louis Ducarme]], Robert Knudson, [[Frederick Brown (sound editor)|Frederick Brown]], Bob Fine, Ross Taylor, Ron Nagle, Doc Siegel, [[Gonzalo Gavira]], and Hal Landaker
| {{nom}}
| style="text-align:center" | <ref>{{cite web |url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1975/film |title=BAFTA Awards: Film in 1975 |publisher=[[British Academy Film Awards]] |access-date=June 23, 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[26th Directors Guild of America Awards|Directors Guild of America Awards]]
| [[Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film|Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures]]
| William Friedkin
| {{nom}}
| style="text-align:center" | <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dga.org/Awards/History/1970s/1973.aspx?value=1973 |title=26th Annual DGA Awards |publisher=[[Directors Guild of America Awards]] |access-date=July 5, 2021 |archive-date=November 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211122100618/http://www.dga.org/Awards/History/1970s/1973.aspx?value=1973 |url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
| rowspan="7"| [[31st Golden Globe Awards|Golden Globe Awards]]
| colspan="2"| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama|Best Motion Picture – Drama]]
| {{won}}
| style="text-align:center" rowspan="7"| <ref name="The Exorcist – Golden Globes" />
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama|Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama]]
| Ellen Burstyn
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture|Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture]]
| [[Max von Sydow]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture|Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture]]
| Linda Blair
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Director|Best Director – Motion Picture]]
| William Friedkin
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay|Best Screenplay – Motion Picture]]
| William Peter Blatty
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress|Most Promising Newcomer – Female]]
| Linda Blair
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[National Film Preservation Board]]
| colspan="2"| [[National Film Registry]]
| {{won|Inducted}}
| style="text-align:center" | <ref name="Library of Congress"/>
|-
| rowspan="4"| [[2nd Saturn Awards|Saturn Awards]]
| colspan="2"| [[Saturn Award for Best Horror Film|Best Horror Film]]
| {{won}}
| style="text-align:center" rowspan="4"| <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.saturnawards.org/past.html|title=Past Award Winners |publisher=[[Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films]] |access-date=May 12, 2021 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060908170858/http://www.saturnawards.org/past.html |archive-date=September 8, 2006}}</ref>
|-
| [[Saturn Award for Best Writing|Best Writing]]
| William Peter Blatty
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Saturn Award for Best Make-up|Best Make-up]]
| [[Dick Smith (make-up artist)|Dick Smith]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Saturn Award for Best Special Effects|Best Special Effects]]
| Marcel Vercoutere
| {{won}}
|-
| [[26th Writers Guild of America Awards|Writers Guild of America Awards]]
| [[Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Drama – Adapted from Another Medium]]
| William Peter Blatty
| {{nom}}
| style="text-align:center"| <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wga.org/awards/awardssub.aspx?id=1551 |title=Awards Winners |publisher=[[Writers Guild of America Awards]] |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121205095022/http://www.wga.org/awards/awardssub.aspx?id=1551 |archive-date=December 5, 2012 |access-date=June 6, 2010}}</ref>
|}

====American Film Institute Lists====
* [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills]]&nbsp;– No. 3<ref>{{Cite web |title=AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills |url=https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-thrills/ |access-date=September 23, 2022 |publisher=[[American Film Institute]] |location=Los Angeles}}</ref>
* [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains]]:
** Regan MacNeil&nbsp;– No. 9 Villain<ref>{{Cite web |title=AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains |url=https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-heroes-villians/ |access-date=September 23, 2022 |publisher=[[American Film Institute]] |location=Los Angeles}}</ref>

==Related media==
{{Main |The Exorcist (franchise)}}

===Sequels and prequels===
[[File:Paul Schrader (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Paul Schrader in 2009]]

A year after ''The Exorcist''{{'}}s release, ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' reported that a sequel was planned, with Friedkin producing and Blatty uninvolved.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=December 23, 1974 |title=Another Exorcist—Screams and All |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WOkCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA69 |magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]] |volume=7 |issue=51 |access-date=September 30, 2022}}</ref> Friedkin backed out, and only Blair and von Sydow returned.{{efn|The owners of the Georgetown house whose exteriors had been used as the MacNeils' refused permission to reuse it as well as the adjacent steps; sets had to be built instead.{{sfn|McCabe|1999|pp=160–63}}}} [[John Boorman|Boorman]] directed and [[Richard Burton]] played the lead.<ref name="Exorcist II AFI" /> The film suffered production problems, particular cast and crew health issues, and was beset by regular script rewrites and personnel changes.{{sfn|McCabe|1999|pp=160–163}} Upon its release in 1977, ''[[Exorcist II: The Heretic]]'' had what was then Warner Bros.' largest opening-day gross, but was less successful than the original.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Box Office Information for ''Exorcist II: The Heretic'' |url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=exorcist2.htm |access-date=October 1, 2022 |website=[[Box Office Mojo]]}}</ref> Afterward, Blatty and Friedkin began planning a story and script for a sequel of their own. Blatty continued after Friedkin dropped out and developed the story into the novel ''[[Legion (Blatty novel)|Legion]]'' in 1983, after Hollywood showed little interest. He saw it as an exploration of the same themes within the same [[fictional universe]] by some of the original's minor characters. The media saw it as a sequel, and it sold well.<ref name="Den of Geek Exorcist III">{{Cite news |last=Knipfel |first=Jim |date=August 16, 2019 |title=''The Exorcist III'' is a Classic and Better Than You Remember |work=[[Den of Geek]] |url=https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-exorcist-iii-better-than-you-remember/ |access-date=October 2, 2022}}</ref> In 1990, Blatty adapted a more streamlined script from the novel for [[Morgan Creek Productions]] and [[20th Century Fox]], titled ''[[The Exorcist III]]''. He also directed, with [[George C. Scott]] replacing the deceased Cobb as Kinderman.{{efn|Blatty wrote a satirical novel about the experience called ''Demons Five, Exorcists Nothing''.<ref name="NYT Dominion story">{{Cite news |last=Kehr |first=Dave |date=May 2, 2005 |title=Double Your Pleasure? Early 'Exorcist', Take 2 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/02/movies/double-your-pleasure-early-exorcist-take-2.html |access-date=October 4, 2022}}</ref>}}

Morgan Creek and James G. Robinson, producer of ''Exorcist III'', had commissioned a prequel story about a young Father Merrin's first confrontation with Pazuzu. It was produced in 2002, with [[Paul Schrader]] directing and [[Stellan Skarsgård]] in the lead.<ref name="NYT prequel story">{{Cite news |last=Holson |first=Laura |date=February 22, 2004 |title=Film; Enough Trouble to Make Your Head Spin |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/22/movies/film-enough-trouble-to-make-your-head-spin.html |access-date=October 4, 2022}}</ref><ref name="LAT prequel story">{{Cite news |last=Lee |first=Chris |date=August 18, 2004 |title=A devil of a time |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-aug-18-et-lee18-story.html |access-date=October 4, 2022}}</ref> Robinson hired [[Renny Harlin]] to reshoot most of the film with Skarsgård and a new cast after disagreements with Schrader. Harlin's version, heavy on action and horror, was released in 2004 as ''[[Exorcist: The Beginning]]'', and was a critical and commercial failure. Schrader's version received a limited release in 2005 as ''[[Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist]]'', a version Blatty found much better.<ref name="NYT Dominion story" />

In 2020, Morgan Creek announced a [[Reboot (fiction)|reboot]] of the film;<ref>{{Cite web |last=August 2020 |first=Jordan Gerblick 19 |date=August 19, 2020 |title=The Exorcist reboot reportedly in development for 2021 theatrical release |url=https://www.gamesradar.com/the-exorcist-reboot-reportedly-in-development-for-2021-theatrical-release/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819172933/https://www.gamesradar.com/the-exorcist-reboot-reportedly-in-development-for-2021-theatrical-release/ |archive-date=August 19, 2020 |access-date=August 26, 2020 |website=Total Film |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=August 18, 2020 |title='The Exorcist' Reboot Is Coming in 2021 |url=https://movieweb.com/the-exorcist-reboot-2021-release-date/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200829175559/https://movieweb.com/the-exorcist-reboot-2021-release-date/ |archive-date=August 29, 2020 |access-date=August 26, 2020 |website=Movieweb |language=en-US}}</ref> fans petitioned to cancel it.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 20, 2020 |title=Horror Fans Launch Petition to Cast Out THE EXORCIST Reboot |url=https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/337077/horror-fans-launch-petition-to-cast-out-the-exorcist-reboot/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200823205923/https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/337077/horror-fans-launch-petition-to-cast-out-the-exorcist-reboot/ |archive-date=August 23, 2020 |access-date=August 26, 2020 |website=Dread Central |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dressler |first=Jacob |date=August 21, 2020 |title=A Petition Has Been Started To Stop 'The Exorcist' Reboot From Being Made |url=https://www.screengeek.net/2020/08/21/the-exorcist-reboot-petition/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201006043541/https://www.screengeek.net/2020/08/21/the-exorcist-reboot-petition/ |archive-date=October 6, 2020 |access-date=August 26, 2020 |website=ScreenGeek |language=en-US}}</ref> At the end of the year, [[Blumhouse Productions]] and Morgan Creek said that [[David Gordon Green]] would instead direct a direct sequel to the 1973 film,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Couch |first=Aaron |date=December 20, 2020 |title='Exorcist' Sequel in the Works with 'Halloween' Director David Gordon Green |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/exorcist-sequel-in-the-works-with-halloween-director-david-gordon-green |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201222162347/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/exorcist-sequel-in-the-works-with-halloween-director-david-gordon-green |archive-date=December 22, 2020 |access-date=December 24, 2020 |newspaper=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Katz |first=Brandon |date=December 20, 2020 |title=Exclusive: David Gordon Green in Talks to Direct 'Exorcist' Sequel for Blumhouse |url=https://observer.com/2020/12/david-gordon-green-exorcist-sequel-blumhouse-info-details/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224091525/https://observer.com/2020/12/david-gordon-green-exorcist-sequel-blumhouse-info-details/ |archive-date=December 24, 2020 |access-date=December 24, 2020 |website=[[The New York Observer|Observer]]}}</ref> and later a trilogy produced by [[Jason Blum]] alongside James and David Robinson.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sneider, Jeff |date=July 26, 2021 |title=The Exorcist: David Gordon Green to Direct New Blumhouse Trilogy Starring Leslie Odom Jr. |url=https://collider.com/exorcist-new-trilogy-blumhouse-david-gordon-green-leslie-odom-jr/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828041048/https://collider.com/exorcist-new-trilogy-blumhouse-david-gordon-green-leslie-odom-jr/ |archive-date=August 28, 2022 |access-date=September 28, 2022|newspaper=[[Collider (website)|Collider]]}}</ref> Burstyn reprised her role, with [[Leslie Odom Jr.]] co-starring. The films would be released by [[Universal Pictures]] and [[Peacock (streaming service)|Peacock]], with the second and third films optioned as Peacock exclusives. The first, ''[[The Exorcist: Believer]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |last=Salazar |first=Andrew J. |date=April 26, 2023 |title=CinemaCon 2023: All Universal Pictures Updates |url=https://discussingfilm.net/2023/04/26/cinemacon-2023-all-universal-pictures-updates-exclusive-footage-descriptions/ |access-date=April 27, 2023 |website=DiscussingFilm |language=en-US}}</ref> was released in October 2023.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Young |first=Liz |date=August 23, 2022 |title=The Exorcist: Believer – Plot, Cast, Everything Else We Know |work=[[MovieWeb]] |url=https://movieweb.com/the-exorcist-sequel-everything-we-know/ |access-date=August 11, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2023/08/the-exorcist-the-believer-release-date-change-taylor-swift-eras-tour-movie-1235533270/|title='The Exorcist: Believer' Now Going A Week Earlier As Taylor Swift Moves Onto October Schedule|work=[[Deadline Hollywood]]|last=D'Alessandro|first=Anthony|date=August 31, 2023|access-date=August 31, 2023}}</ref> However, following the film's very poor reception, plans for the trilogy were officially scrapped the following year and the franchise was rebooted again with a new installment from director [[Mike Flanagan (filmmaker)|Mike Flanagan]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/the-exorcist-trilogy-canceled-mike-flanagan-new-movie-1235608632/ |title=Next 'Exorcist' Movie Shifts Gears With Mike Flanagan Set to Direct a New Take |website=Hollywood Reporter |first=Aaron |last=Couch |date=May 29, 2024 |access-date=May 29, 2024}}</ref>

===Television series===
{{main|The Exorcist (TV series)}}
The [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] television series ''[[The Exorcist (TV series)|The Exorcist]]'' (2016–2017) followed two priests investigating possible cases of demonic possession and performing exorcisms. In the fifth episode, Angela Rance was revealed as the adult Regan, making the series a direct sequel to the original film.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jayson |first=Jay |date=October 22, 2016 |title=Exorcist TV Series Revealed as Direct Sequel to Original Movie |url=https://comicbook.com/popculturenow/2016/10/22/exorcist-tv-series-and-movie-connection-revealed/ |access-date=October 4, 2022 |website=[[List of assets owned by Paramount Global|ComicBook.com]]}}</ref> It was canceled after its second season.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Turchiano |first=Danielle |date=May 11, 2018 |title='The Exorcist' Canceled by Fox After Two Seasons |url=https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/the-exorcist-canceled-fox-1202800378/ |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |access-date=October 4, 2022}}</ref>

==Other related works==
Blatty's script for the film has been published in two versions. ''William Peter Blatty on The Exorcist: From Novel to Film'', in 1974, included the first draft of the screenplay.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Blatty |first=William Peter |title=William Peter Blatty on The Exorcist: From Novel to Film |publisher=Bantam Books |year=1974 |isbn=1929750021}}</ref> In 1998, the script was anthologized in ''The Exorcist/Legion – Two Classic Screenplays'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Blatty |first=William Peter |title=The Exorcist/Legion—Two Classic Screenplays |publisher=Faber & Faber |year=1998 |isbn=057120015X}}</ref> and again as a standalone text in 2000.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Blatty |first=William Peter |title=The Exorcist |publisher=Faber & Faber |year=2000 |isbn=057120239X}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|1970s|Catholicism|Film|New York City|United States|Speculative fiction/Horror}}
* [[1973 in film]]
* [[1973 in the United States]]
* [[List of 1970s films based on actual events]]
* [[List of American films of 1973]]
* [[List of cult films]]
* [[List of film and television accidents]]
* [[List of highest-grossing films in the United States and Canada]]
* [[List of horror films of 1973]]
* [[List of films considered the best]]
* [[List of films featuring fictional films]]
{{clear}}

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Works cited==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book |title=Spaces of the Cinematic Home: Behind the Screen Door |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2015 |isbn=9780815396383 |editor-last=Andrews |editor-first=Eleanor |editor-last2=Hockenhull |editor-first2=Stella |editor-last3=Pheasant-Kelly |editor-first3=Fran}}
* {{Cite book |last=Biskind |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J3ucTdpeE9YC&pg=PA216 |title=Easy Riders Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-And Rock 'N Roll Generation Saved Hollywood |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-68485-708-4 |access-date=October 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428033754/https://books.google.com/books?id=J3ucTdpeE9YC&pg=PA216 |archive-date=April 28, 2021 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Blatty |first=William Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CE3oBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA2 |title=William Peter Blatty on "The Exorcist": From Novel to Screen |date=2015 |publisher=[[Tom Doherty|Tom Doherty Associates]] |isbn=9781466834804 |author-link=William Peter Blatty |access-date=October 4, 2022}}
* {{Cite book|last=Creed|first=Barbara|author-link=Barbara Creed|title=The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism and Psychoanalysis|publisher=[[Routledge]]|location=London|date=1993|isbn=9781136750755 |chapter=Chapter 3: Woman as Possessed Monster: ''The Exorcist'' |url=http://ieas-szeged.hu/downtherabbithole/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Barbara-Creed-The-Monstrous-Feminine-2007.pdf|access-date=October 25, 2022}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kermode |first=Mark |title=The Exorcist |publisher=[[British Film Institute]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-85170-967-3 |edition=revised 2nd |series=BFI Modern Classics |author-link=Mark Kermode |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jLiUKCPQWj8C&pg=PA125 |access-date=August 16, 2020}}
* {{Cite book |last=King |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen King |date=1983 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rs1WbPRa3LoC |title=Danse Macabre |publisher=[[Pocket Books]] |isbn=9781439171165 |edition=2011 |access-date=October 21, 2022}}
* {{Cite book |last=Konow |first=David |title=Reel Terror: The Scary, Bloody, Gory, Hundred-Year History of Classic Horror Films |publisher=Macmillan |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-25001-359-0 |chapter=It's only a movie}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Laycock |first=Joseph |date=2009 |title=The Folk Piety of William Peter Blatty: ''The Exorcist'' in the Context of Secularization |url=https://www.religjournal.com/pdf/ijrr05006.pdf |journal=Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion |volume=5 |pages=3–25 |issn=1556-3723 |access-date=October 12, 2022}}
* {{Cite book |last=McCabe| first=Bob |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iK1VyIuJp4AC&pg=PA138 |title=The Exorcist |publisher=Omnibus |year=1999 |isbn=0-7119-7509-4 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428033826/https://books.google.com/books?id=iK1VyIuJp4AC&pg=PA138 |archive-date=April 28, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=October 5, 2020}}
* {{Cite book |last=McDannell |first=Colleen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5H48DwAAQBAJ |title=Catholics In The Movies |date=2007 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780195306569 |editor-last=Colleen McDannell |pages=197–226 |chapter=Chapter 9: Catholic Horror |access-date=October 10, 2022 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=329d609gs1wC&pg=PA197}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ilkka Mäyrä |first=Frans |date=1999 |title=Demonic Texts and Textual Demons: The Demonic Tradition, the Self and Popular Fiction |isbn=9514445082 |url=https://trepo.tuni.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/67307/Demon.pdf?sequence=1 |publisher=[[Tampere University]] Press |location=[[Tampere|Tampere, Finland]] |access-date=October 11, 2022}}
* {{Cite book |last=Muir |first=John Kenneth |title=Horror Films of the 1970s |publisher=McFarland |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-78649-156-8}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Travers |first1=Peter |last2=Rieff |first2=Stephanie |title=The Story Behind The Exorcist |publisher=Signet Books |year=1974 |isbn=9780451062079}}
* {{Cite book |last=Zinoman |first=Jason |title=Shock Value: How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror |date=2011 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=9781101516966 |chapter=Chapter Five: 'Shock or Awe' |author-link=Jason Zinoman |access-date=March 3, 2019 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xKMQiZOQc04C&pg=PT51 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308101507/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Shock_Value/xKMQiZOQc04C?hl=en&gbpv=1&d&pg=PT51&printsec=frontcover |archive-date=March 8, 2021 |url-status=live}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{Official website|https://www.warnerbros.com/exorcist}}
* {{IMDb title|0070047}}
* {{TCMDb title|id=36448}}
* {{AFI film|54970}}
* {{Mojo title|exorcist}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|exorcist}}
* [http://www.filmsite.org/exor.html ''The Exorcist'' at filmsite.org]
<!--Split film/book article intentional – Please do not remove this comment-->

{{The Exorcist}}
{{William Friedkin}}
{{William Peter Blatty}}
{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for ''The Exorcist''
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{{GoldenGlobeBestMotionPictureDrama 1961–1980}}
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