THE EXORCIST (1973) MOVIE REACTION! FIRST TIME WATCHING! 

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When this movie came out people were freaking out, throwing up in the theater, passing out, crying. No one had seen anything like this before. I had taken a date, expecting a standard horror movie. My date made us leave at the point the bed was jumping around. I had to go back by myself a week later to see the rest of the movie.

Out of ALL the reactors I've seen on the Tube of You reacting to this movie, you're only the second to catch that the man Regan told he was "going to die up there" was an astronaut, and the only one to catch that it was Burke's voice in the first head-spinning scene. I only caught that myself after repeated viewings. Very astute of you, well done. I wish I could like this reaction twice.

Fun Fact: Actress Linda Blair was actually 13 years old when she filmed The Exorcist. She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in 1974 for the role. Actress Ellen Burstyn was nominated for Best Actress, actor Jason Miller was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, The Exorcist author William Peter Blatty won Best Adapted Screenplay, William Friedkin was nominated for Best Director, and the film was nominated for Best Picture. It also won Best Sound.

Max Von Sydow was 43/44 in 1973. He passed away last year in March at the age of 90. RIP. He had quite a career. 166 credits spanning all the way back to 1949.

Watched this at the drive-in when it was re-released years later. Fortunately a couple of friends went with me, but then after I dropped them off in town and went home to a big empty house out in the country with nobody home that weekend. Did not sleep a wink until the sun came up. Funny, I did not realize how ominous our furnace sounded before that night.

"Okay, was this based on... a book, or anything like that?" Yes, Jen. The Exorcist is based on a book called The Exorcist, written by William Peter Blatty. The book was inspired by the 1949 exorcism performed on an anonymous young boy known as "Roland Doe" or "Robbie Mannheim" (which were pseudonyms) by the Jesuit priest Fr. William S. Bowdern, who formerly taught at both St. Louis University and St. Louis University High School.

Yes, the priest in The Exorcist is named "Damien Karras," Jen. lol I know, but remember that The Exorcist came out three years before The Omen, and the name "Damien" hadn't become synonymous with the Antichrist yet. 😆

"That's the demon's true form.." It IS the demon, showing itself without shrouding itself, but that isn't what it looks like...it is what the priest's mind can interpret, and, more importantly, FILTER FROM SIGHT, of its unshrouded self. A good deal of the priest's power is, that he denies to see the worst of it.

In case it hasn't already been mentioned. The actress who played Reagan (Linda Blair) was 14 when this was filmed. And she actually did get injured during the scene when she was being flung up and down. There is actually behind the scenes footage when the injury took place. I felt so bad for her when I saw that.

You kept saying "Cheese n Rice" and I'm like "No, it was pea soup"

Fun Fact: The special makeup effects for The Exorcist were done by special effects master Dick Smith, who worked on The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Taxi Driver, Scanners, Starman, Death Becomes Her, and won an Academy Award for his work on Amadeus.

Pazuzu's flashing face was played by Eileen Dietz, who also stood in for Linda Blair's more difficult stunts. She still acts to this day.

Linda Blair was 13 when she acted in Exorcist.

The statue that Father Merrin was looking at in the beginning of the movie was a likeness of an ancient Mesopotamian god known as Pazuzu, from Assyrian and Babylonian mythology, Jen. Pazuzu was considered the king of the demons of the wind.

You're absolutely right, Jen! The actress who plays Reagan's mother, Chris MacNeil, is Ellen Burstyn, who would later appear in Requiem For A Dream. Good call! lol

"Oh my God, they're gonna break this kid's back!" Unfortunately, they did break the kid's back, Jen. As I said earlier, Linda Blair suffered a fractured vertebrae during that scene where she was strapped to the board that kept bending her back and forth.

The name Damien didn't have any significant meaning until 3 years later when "The Omen" came out. The kid in The Omen was named Damien. After that it was about 20 years before people started naming their kid Damien again.

Check out the documentary news coverage of this movie's release. It was pandemonium. People were having break downs, getting dragged out of the theater unconscious. They had to stockpile smelling salts. There were reports that ambulances were being swamped. And that's the theatrical release where they cut the crabwalk down the stairs out because it was too much for people.

This movie, released a year before I was born, is the reason that my father would never bring or allow horror films into our home, while I was growing up. I was forced to seek them out on my own.

Fun Fact: The special effect that caused Reagan's bed to move was simple hydraulics, Jen. However, to get the effect of everyone's breath freezing, the entire set was refrigerated to 20 degrees below freezing.

No, this wasn't Linda Blair's first role. She had previously worked on television, and had small roles in a couple of films before she was cast in The Exorcist.

After the crucifx scene, they had to tie her down. Imagine having had to do that with that thing talking to you. Check out a short doc on RU-vid called The Cultural Impact of The Exorcist. It has footage from 1973 of people leaving the auditorium shaking, overwhelmed and some even faint.

I was THREE when my grandma showed this to me and I definitely was traumatized. I believed in Hell and Satan and was simply terrified. Now, as a grown-up atheist, I find this movie amazing for its script, the acting, the art and camera direction, etc. It's definitely one of my favorite movies. I highly recommend watching "The Exorcist III." Such a great film in and of itself.

I saw the 1st viewing of this movie when it came out in '73. you wouldn't believe the response by the audience. a lot of people were climbing over the seats to get out of there ...no joke. it scared the crap out of a lot of people and the theater was half empty when the pic ended . all the screaming during all the scenes added to the suspense but I stayed in my seat even though I was ready to make tracks myself .

Why can't real "demonic possession" cases be like this? If I saw a woman's head turn around 360 degrees and levitate off a bed I'd be in church tomorrow.

27:04 I'm truly impressed with most of the practical effects used in this movie; one of them is this moment when the priest shifts from his demon form to normal form. It's so subtle yet so seamless you realize that CGI still didn't exist at the time, and that's already an incredible feat.

Jen, you have to see Exorcist 3: Legion to find out the reason why Damien was "chosen" by Pazuzu. I would normally say skip Exorcist 2: The Heretic, because it is widely regarded as trash, but since you react to "bad movies" it might be worth a watch. DEFINITELY watch part 3. Do the theatrical version because the "director's cut" floating around is fan made and leaves out all of the terrifying parts that make it a great "direct" sequel to the first film. And for the record, Linda Blair was only 14 when The Exorcist was made.

FYI, Linda Blair parodied herself in a comedy spoof of this movie call “Repossessed “ starring Leslie Neilson.

Linda Blair was 13 when she filmed this movie.

Coming out the year i was born, this movie is the grandaddy of horror movies, and can still school modern movies. It was filmed like a documentary, to be as real as possible. It was said, that when it was played in theaters, people had strong reactions, and became ill. You will never forget the exorcist. You nailed it, if you believe in evil, demons, and the devil, you will be disturbed at the very least. Even though I love this movie, I try not to watch it to often, partly because it is disturbing, and partly so I don't become numb to the horror, and I can experience it like the first time. This movie lives, and breathes.

'Digitally' didn't really start after the mid-80's. That's what makes some of the old movies so incredible, the ways they had to come up with these effects. The funny thing is, often the solutions they came up on how to achieve the effects were sometimes laughingly simple. Though with some effects like lowering the room temperature so far that you can see their breaths must have been hard on the actors. Together with loosing or gaining weight, working out I sometimes wonder how far today's actors would go for a role.

"Close the gate! Do you want to robbers as well as demons?" 🤣

All of the effects were practical effects, they didn't have digital technology in that early of the 70, for instance her being whipped back and forth on the bed was done with a special harness so when she was screaming on camera she was actually screaming in pain from the effect. I always recommend watching the documentary about the movie "The Fear of God" which also goes into the supposed "curse" around the movie, and the infamous missing scene "the spider walk" which is one the creepiest things you'll ever see in your life, they did add the scene back in the more recent director cut.

You should know that Max Van Synodow played: Father Lancaster (the archialigost), and older priest at the age of 43. He passed away last year. He's also responsible for movies such as "Shutter Island", "Needful Things", "Flash Gordon", "What Dreams May Come", "Ghostbusters 2" and "Extremely Loud, & Incredibly Close". He also reprised his role as " Vigo" in the "Ghostbusters" video game in 2010.

7:40 Of course, dogs cannot operate medical diagnostic equipment...but catscan.

Looks like she watched the original theatrical version. The lack of any musical score really made it seem that much more real, didn't it?

There is a urban legend about the book. A VP at a company was reading the book and said it was terrifying. He went on his lunch hour and threw the book in a river. His secretary bought a copy of the book, ran it under the faucet, and put it in the VP's desk drawer.

"It'll bring us together." "You and Reagan?" "You and us." Taking Karris was its plan from the start. It just didn't expect Karris to resist so much.

This isn't a fun fact. A real life murderer was seen in one shot at the hospital. Paul Bateson. Bateson worked at the hospital where Friedkin shot one important scene. Bateman worked as a radiographer. Friedkin said he didn't know Bateman, but it does boggle the mind how he was kept in the film.

Regan's bedroom was surrounded by refrigeration units so the steam coming from their breath was real.

Iconic horror movie of all time and it ranked at #3 in the 100 scariest movie moments on Bravo

Yes, you've seen Max Von Sydow in Flash Gordon, as Ming the Merciless, Jen. lol But again, in real life he was much younger than his character. Von Sydow was 43 years old at the time he filmed The Exorcist, but Dick Smith's makeup made him look like the 70 year old Father Lankester Merrin.

I was 8 when this came out. My friend 9, his older brother about 17 and I snuck into Exorcist. I didn't have many good nights sleep for years. I met Linda Blair (Regan) in 2018 and told her about my trouble sleeping because of her. She's really sweet and fully aware of affect on literally hundreds of millions of people. Oh, also got an autographed photo of her as the demon. I'm not a celebrity autograph type person but I had to get hers because of the impact on childhood.

Jen, I think you have seen enough horror movies now that it's not fair to say you are "branching out". Face it, you are now one of us. A veteran and a fan! Good job. Keep it up.

Yep. The room was kept at freezing temperatures to produce the steam-breaths and to make the actors as uncomfortable as possible, to make their performances more consistent with a feeling of misery.

The crucifix scene is the "Red Wedding" of the 1970s. Once you see it, you're never the same.

According to William Peter Blatty, the author of the book and screenplay, the whole point of the "crucifix" scene was not to be shocking or disturbing. It was, from the point of view of the story and writing, he said he came to the point in the story of what was the worst thing he could think of that would finally convince this atheist/agnostic mother that this is genuinely possession and she needs an exorcism. What's funny is you talked about the medical procedures. According to William Friedkin, the director, most people were actually more shocked by those scenes than the possession scenes. Mercedes Macambridge, an Oscar winning actress from the golden age of Hollywood, provided the voice of the demon. Dick Smith was the make up artist on the film.

Fun Fact: The voice of the demon, Pazuzu, was the voice of actress Mercedes McCambridge, who reportedly chain smoked right before her voice-overs to get the required sound. The face of Pazuzu seen by Damien Karras was actress Eileen Dietz, who was also Linda Blair's stunt double during the scene where Reagan vomits green liquid at Father Karras.

Nothing was added digitally in 1973. For the "cold breath" scenes, the bedroom set was constructed inside a large industrial freezer.

The demon that possessed Regan took on Burke's voice after it made Regan's head turn 180 degrees.

I'm 52, I saw this movie when I was about 10. I love horror movies, and to this day The Exorcist is the only movie that truly scares me. I was brought up Catholic so this movie terrified me, and still does even though I am not religious anymore. You should watch some documentaries on this movie. This movie was banned in many places. And where it did play some people thought it was real, much like the Blair Witch Project.

I saw this on video when I was 14, alone, in the middle of the night as my parents were sleeping = BIG MISTAKE. Interestingly if you skip the buildup and go straight to the exorcism it's not scary at all. BUT if you watch it again from the start with all the buildup, it's scary as hell., so ya it's all about the buildup.

I wish I could have talked to Jen before she watched this movie. I would have told her, "Do NOT go into this movie underestimating it, or it will eat you alive till daylight."

There is also “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” which is also based on a true story of a girl who was possessed, and died during an exorcism attempt that went on for days.

It was a huge hit. Lines around the block. There were reports of people in the audience vomiting and fainting. There were features about in on the nightly news. There were quick knock offs like "Beyond the Door" and studios made their own religious themed horror films like "The Omen". Pretty much every film since that has depicted demonic possession borrowed from this film.

Linda Blair got an Oscar nomination for supporting actress but lost out to another child actress Tatum O’Neal in Paper Moon.

The dream of his mom going down the subway stairs was a metaphor for her decent into hell. He chased after, but couldn't save her

My theory ... I've heard enough of what Hollywood bigshots do to 12-year-old girls. Burke, the filmmaker, was left alone with Regan, not understanding what the problem was with Regan. Lost story short, Regan didn't like being fondled and the devil didn't like being interrupted, so they telekinetically opened the window and threw Burke out.

PS: Yes, that room was kept extremely cold so that you could see their breath/Religious attendance DID go up in the Catholic church after this movie. You can even see someone say that in the documentary I linked you to (here it is again: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6OtrZoqN-xo.html ). They say they're definitely going to mass tomorrow, lol.

All the best horrors have a great sound design. The Innocents (1961) is another film where what you hear is just as important as what you see.

For so many years this was exalted as the greatest horror movie ever made and suchlike, with references/homages/parodies all over the place, that it was very hard for a first-time viewer to see it properly (without a lot of it having been spoiled beforehand, and without unrealistic expectations). I guess it's now old enough that someone can finally see it truly fresh. If anything, the medical procedure scenes get more disturbing over time, and the bit with the crucifix has certainly not dulled either (probably because that was one part that you almost never saw referenced elsewhere, so the shock of it wasn't ruined). Bill Friedkin made quite a few good films in his time (this one, To Live & Die in L.A., The French Connection - which won him an Oscar - and Sorcerer, which is my favorite) but their opening acts tend to be a little slack; not sure why, since as he started out as a documentarian one would think setting the scene and getting on with things would be a strength of his. Don't know if you've seen anything by David Cronenberg but he was just about the best maker of 'body horror' movies (of which I guess you could call The Exorcist an example), as well as maybe the best filmmaker to come out of Canada - and he actually stayed here for some time, rather than the usual of dashing off the US as soon as he became well-known. The Fly and Dead Ringers are especially good, but he's made lots of terrific ones. As for the original book, this is the only instance I can think of where (1) a really good book was (2) faithfully adapted into (3) a really good movie; it probably helped that the book's author wrote and produced the film.

Not So Fun Fact: During the scene were Reagan MacNeil is convulsing in her bed, actress Linda Blair was strapped to a wooden board attached to a spring-mounted hinge that rapidly thrust her body back and forth, which resulted in Blair suffering a fractured vertebrae in her back.

16:59 - that was a happy accident lol. The puke was supposed to go over the priest's shoulder but the trajectory was off and got him in the face. His reaction was real and the director kept that take

They had no version of a steady cam at the time. Instead they suspended a chair on ropes from tracks on the ceiling, and several people pulled it backwards up the stairs while the cameraman sat on it, filming the actors.

Fun Fact: Max Von Sydow, who plays Father Merrin, was only 43 years old when The Exorcist was filmed. Special makeup effects artist Dick Smith applied prosthetics to make Von Sydow look much older.

Where was The Exorcist filmed? Mostly in Washington DC, at Georgetown University, and several other interior scenes were filmed in New York City at CECO Studios in Manhattan, along with New York University Medical Center and Fordham University in the Bronx. The opening sequences were filmed in and near the city of Mosul, Iraq.

I never hear of exorcism before I saw this movie in 1973. This movie brought the word exorcism into popular culture and it became a subject inserted into later movies. This effect on popular culture is another way that this movie broke new ground.

Linda Blair ( Reagan ) was 14 when the movie was releashed, so making her 12 or 13 during filming!

Linda Blair, the actress who played Reagan, was 14 years old when this film was released

The actress that played Regan (Linda Blair) was only 14 when the movie was released. She received a Golden Globe and Oscar Nomination for her performance. In the long run, not sure if this role helped her career though, being so iconic would make it difficult to break away from it's influence. Linda Blair also appeared in an episode of the TV show Supernatural. I don't remember any reference to the Exorcist until the end, when the boys are leaving and Dean starts saying that he really wants some Pea Soup.

I hate to correct you, Jen, but there were no Steadicam shots in The Exorcist. The Steadicam wasn't invented until 1975 and was first used in movies like Bound For Glory and Rocky. The shots in The Exorcist were done with cranes, dollys, and hand-held cameras.

Watch how this movie was made this movie was not suppose to be a horror movie but a psychological movie. the struggle of a mother trying to protect her daughter. the movie set burnt down and the only thing that wasnt burnt down was actually regans room, they used high powered air conditioners to cool the room and it got that cold it actually snowed in the room. watch the episodes on how it was made and the reaction of people in 70's. people were fainting and had to leave to go to the lobby. watch it, its truly amazing what the director did to get the actors reactions while filming. they also used real priests in the movie

You noticed A LOT more than most people do on a first watching. BIG props for realizing Regan defaced the church.

I was a teenager when this shocker was released. I was one of the people that waited 4 hours in line to see it. Seeing it first run in a theater with all that anticipation was a great experience flash forward 50 years it still packs a punch. It almost equates to King Kong back in 1933 when those audiences were shocked at what they saw.

Double congrats: 1. You watched the theatrical release. Good choice. 2. I’ve seen a bunch of reactions to this, and you’re the first to have picked up that he’s an astronaut, and he’s going to die in space.

Fun Fact: Arthur Penn, Mike Nichols, and Stanley Kubrick were all offered the job of directing The Exorcist, and all of them turned it down. Director William Friedkin was offered the job based on his success with the Oscar winning film, The French Connection, two years earlier. It was The Exorcist author William Peter Blatty himself who insisted on the hiring of Friedkin.

The St. Christopher's pedant necklace is what protected Fr Karras from being possessed by the demon and evil. The demon had to take the necklace off of him in order to possess him. If only Fr. Merrin didn't uncover the Pazuzu demon statue from the ruins in Iraq and Regan didn't play with the oujia board then Burke, Fr. Merrin and Fr. Karras would all be alive. But then we wouldn't have a movie.

1. I first saw this with friends when I was 12. Back then nobody paid much attention to what rating system there was. I was aware of the head twisting, puking and language so I kind of had an idea what I was in for. What freaked me out the most was the flashing demon. 2. When the doctor is looking at Reagan's skull x-rays and say's there's "nothing in there" I always 🤣 3. The spider crawl down the stairs was NOT in the original release. 4. Linda Blair was 14 years old when this was made. 5. Father Merrin and the demon had a previous encounter where he almost killed the father. Merin doesn't acknowledge the receipt of the note and tells Karras there's no need for analysis. 6. The demon doesn't kill Merrin. From the beginning we know he has a heart problem most likely brought on by the previous encounter. 7 Karras doesn't kill the demon. He does manage to draw it out of her and sacrificed himself for her. 8. Karras is confessing and asking for forgiveness of his MORTAL SIN of suicide with the other priest. 9. Imagine how hard it was to sell that house. Finally: You seemed to have missed Father Karras' losing of faith.

My response/rebuttal to tour intro would be *NO,* everybody should *NOT* watch this. Faint hearts, weak hearts, weak minds, the spiritually vulnerable, overly fearful people, etc. I first watched this when I was a kid. This was from a novel perhaps, but it is actually based on a true story. I do not have details, but I do know that when this was released there were several suicides and faintings, etc. This was serious stuff back then as well as it is now.

You mentioned admiring the Regan effects, they were created by a master of special effects of the film making period, Stan Winston.

People were horrified by this movie when it came out. You can watch archive footage of people interviewed by reporters outside theaters. I’ll never forget seeing this woman being interviewed and you can see she was extremely shaken up by what she watched. There are great movies but then are movies like this, Frankenstein and Jaws that have an impact on society when they come out.

"Captain Howdy" was Pazuzu, the demon that possessed Regan. And there was no CGI in the movies in 1973. Those were all practical, physical effects. There's a sale on pea soup right now. Stock up.

The Exorcist received 10 Academy Awards nominations, including for Best Picture. No Horror picture before or after received this level of accolades. This was considered a great movie that just happened to be a horror movie.

The album Tubular Bells from which a portion of the soundtrack theme comes from, is an excellent piece of music

Filmed in the Georgetown section of Washington DC the long steps are real and became a tourist attraction almost as famous and popular to visit as The Washington Monument. The book's author William Peter Blatty before this novel wrote several comedy movie screenplays in the 1960's.

Nominated for 10 Oscars including Best Picture but won for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sound Editing. It was the highest grossing movie of 1973, $440 million dollars against a $13 million dollar budget. Adjusted for inflation, it would have made $2.4 billion dollars. The movie is said to be cursed as most of the actors and crew got into unexplained accidents before and during filming.

27:57 The scene here where the [genuine] priest is giving the last rites, if you watch you can see his hands are shaking - that's genuine. The director asked the priest/actor if he trusted him and when he said yes he slapped him hard across the face and shouted action ! The poor guy was so shaken he shook and that's what you see on screen. Genuine terror.

This movie was so extreme back in 1973 that it was literally worth it to see it 2 or three times just to watch the audience reaction around you.

Other great films about demons: Demons (Italian film 1985), Legend (Tom Cruise 1985), Evil Dead 2 (1987), Prince of Darkness (1987), Night of the Demons (1988), The Conjuring (2013)

According to mythology, a demon can't be killed bcuz it was never alive to begin with so by sacrificing himself, he drove the beast back to hell, freeing himself and Regan from it. Also, Linda Blair was only 12 when she made this movie, not 20.

Mrs. Karras and Burke died in real life in Jan.and Feb. of 73.. The movie premiered Dec. 26th 1973

There is no denying that it was the scariest movie made up till that date and even today few movies come close. People ran from the theater, became ill during the film, some were affected long after they had seen the movie!

The filmmaking is even more impressive in this movie when you take into account the fact that the steadicam wasn't invented yet. It was first used in 1975 biopic Bound for Glory. All of these shots were ä cams and any of the old complicated methods. Which were a real pain in the ass, and time consuming to set up. The first horror film to use the Panaglide (Paramount's version of the steadicam) camera, was "Halloween", for their famous long, single takes.

Linda Blair was 13 when this movie was filmed.

The stairs are in Georgetown, a neighborhood of D.C. The bridge you see at the end is the Key Bridge that spans the Potomac River over into VA.

Jen! Awesome, I've been waiting for this, can't wait to see your full reaction on Patreon. Their breath was genuine, the film set was refrigerated to show the mist out of their mouths. Some trivia, it was the first horror film to be nominated for a best picture Oscar (10 nominations total). It was based on a true story(but on a 14 year old boy). Most disturbing film I've ever seen! That film score sticks with you.

Other young actresses considered for the role of Regan included Jamie Lee Curtis, Brooke Shields, and Eve Plumb (Jan Brady from the Brady Bunch). Some of their parents declined due to the content. While Linda Blair did a great job, the success severely hampered her career. Most roles for child actors were for family-oriented movies. Studios didn't think parents would take their kids to a movie with "the possessed girl".

Hey, Jen! My dad saw this in a theater when he was in his 30s and my mom said he came out white as a sheet! He refuses to watch it again. Lol. Father Merrin is played by legendary Swedish actor Max von Sydow who regularly starred in Ingmar Bergman films. There is a famous image of him as a medieval knight returned from the Crusades playing chess with a black-robed, white-faced Death on a stony beach in Sweden from Bergman's "The Seventh Seal" in 1957. There is a prequel to "The Exorcist" about Father Merrin's first encounter with the demon Pazuzu starring Stellan Skarsgard as a young Merrin in East Africa called "The Exorcist: The Beginning" from 2004 directed by Renny Harlin with some really terrifying scares that had people moaning with fear in the audience! Another really good movie about demonic possession is "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" directed by Scott Derrickson in 2005. The William Peter Blatty book William Friedkin adapted for this movie is based on a real incident in Missouri in 1949. A lot of freaky and spooky things happened during the film's production including a set fire, the deaths of nine people involved in the film, a back injury from a botched stunt suffered by Ellen Burstyn and a bit player who actually murdered someone for real six years later. The famous shot of Father Merrin standing in a shaft of light piercing the gloom outside the MacNeil residence is based on Rene Magritte's series of paintings called "Empire of Light". The green goop was split pea soup and the projectile vomit that splats in Karras' face was actually supposed to hit his chest! His shock is totally real! Linda Blair's incredible performance left such an indelible impression, she could never escape being associated with the role. Mercedes McCambridge, a veteran character actress from the '40's-'80's who lent support to many of Hollywood's leading ladies, was the voice of Pazuzu. She achieved the desired effect by gorging on raw eggs, chain-smoking and binge drinking before reading her lines! The Director's Cut features the famous "spider-walk" scene where a contortionist stand-in for Blair scuttles downstairs bent-over backwards like a spider! Karras' faith is renewed by his experience and the shock of Merrin's death. Only then is he able to expel Pazuzu from Regan by offering himself as a tasty alternative. Pazuzu opts for the priest's soul over the child's as the greater prize but is thwarted from seizing full control by the priest's newfound belief long enough for Karras to leap to his death thereby denying Pazuzu a host. When Regan kisses Father Dyer's cheek, it indicates to the audience she has been freed of the demon's grip. She has no conscious recollection of what occurred but seeing Dyer's collar stirs a subconscious compulsion to express gratitude. Some devout Christians feel this movie glorifies evil but it is actually a powerful example of the renewal of faith! Jason Miller, who played Father Damien Karras, is Jason Patric's dad.

Anyone still curious about why Burk was in Regan's room/house alone? Burk Dennings was Regan's babysitter, the book mentions this but I'm not sure if the movie did but yeah, he was her sitter before she lawn darted him out on to the steps out side her window.