FAQ for
The Exorcist (1973) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for The Exorcist can be found here.

Yes. The Exorcist is a 1971 novel by American author William Peter Blatty. The movie spawned four sequels: Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Exorcist III (1990), Exorcist: The Beginning (2004), and Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005).

The book by William Peter Blatty was inspired by an actual event, the supposed exorcism of a demon from a 14 year old boy living in Mount Rainier, Maryland, USA. Blatty had read a news report concerning the boy, whose family had called in a priest after conventional medicine had failed to relieve him of various symptoms, including violent episodes and outbursts of foul language. The priest spent two months with the boy, during which he claims to have witnessed him speaking Latin (a language the boy had no knowledge of) and moving across the room on his bed whilst sleeping. However, investigative journalist Mark Opsasnick researched the story after the film was released and could not find any record of a boy having lived in the house stated in the original news article in The Washington Post on August 20th 1949. There had been a case in Cottage City, Maryland of an exorcism being performed on a boy who allegedly would spit involuntarily, growl when angered, and whose bed shook from time to time. Opsasnick concluded that this was the case which Blatty had read about and that the Mount Rainier piece was a fabrication. Interestingly, while Opsasnick had sought to prove the possession was real, the evidence he uncovered forced him to conclude that the boy was only mentally ill, and the possession story was the result of the boy's religious-fanatic mother and grandmother, a credulous priest, and sensationalistic media. Opsasnick's investigation is regarded as the final word on the case; he went more in-depth into the story than any other journalist before.

The novel upon which the film is based makes it clear that Regan is possessed by Pazuzu, a demon referenced in Syrian and Babylonian texts as being the "demon of the wind." In the film itself, this subject is never explained other than "the devil (in lowercase initial letter, according to shooting script) has possessed her." While playing with the Ouija board, it's hinted that a self-imposed name of the devil in question is "Captain Howdy." The specific name or real identity of the devil who possessed Regan (Linda Blair) was never addressed in the script nor any scene of the film, leaving to the audience to believe it was either Satan himself or a lesser demon. However, Karras takes issue with Regan claiming to be "the Devil himself", suggesting that it is unlikely that Regan is, in fact, possessed by the Devil.

In a scene deleted from the theatrical release, but re-inserted into the "Producer's Cut," Merrin and Karras have a brief discussion during a break in the exorcism of why the devil/a demon would choose, of all people, to possess a 12 year old girl. The priests come to the conclusion that rather than physical destruction being the devil/demon's motive, it is in fact attempting to wreak spiritual havoc by causing people to doubt God. (Fans have pointed out that this makes little sense, as a demon proving that the existence of such things as real in an age of disbelief, would also raise the question that God is real. Perhaps a few believers might doubt God, but overall this strategy would end up being counterproductive.)

This is from the Wikipedia entry for Demonic Possession: (1) The ability to curse/blaspheme in languages unknown to the person, (2) The ability to find secret things, read the mind, and divine future happenings, (3) The ability to make physical efforts abnormal for that person, and (4) The act of spitting or vomiting every object the demons would have made the person swallow.

The devil was trying to deceive Father Karras (Jason Miller) into thinking she is not possessed.

The devil and/or other demon cohorts. Many demonologists believe in three observed stages of demonic attack. First, Infestation, brought on by calling upon demonic forces, whether intentional or not. Initially a demon may only scratch at walls, so as to by and large go undetected. Secondly, Oppression, in which demons systematically oppress humans, often those who are the most emotionally troubled. Finally, if a demon has not been exorcised, and its victim has been thoroughly tormented to the point where all their mental barriers against it have collapsed, the demon may execute full-fledged possession.

The 'spider walk' was a scene originally included in the film. It showed Regan walking backwards down the stairs of the family home like a spider. The scene was supposed to be immediately after Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn), Regan's mother, receives a phone call saying that Burke Dennings (Jack MacGowran) is dead. Director William Friedkin felt that the call about Dennings was the climax of the scene, and therefore it would be difficult to add the spider walk in at the end as this would create a double climax. Friedkin never filmed any reaction shots from Chris and her personal assistant Sharon (Kitty Winn), both of whom were in the hall as Regan came down the stairs. The scene was eventually inserted back into the film for the Director's Cut. The inclusion of the scene was not unanimously supported by the film's fans, some of whom pointed out that this is the only time that the possessed Regan comes out from the bedroom. Regan's confinement allows the viewer to concentrate on dialogue and action outside the room, without wondering whether she will emerge and attack someone. The inclusion of the spider walk scene, for better or worse, establishes that she can and will emerge from the bedroom at any point.

The movie does not answer that question. In the novel, however, Lt. Kinderman (Lee J. Cobb) scratched off some of the paint from one of Regan's sculptures and compared it with the same paint used in the church desecrations. It matched, implying that, in Regan's possessed state, she was the one vandalizing the church. This was made more certain when he found that the blasphemous Latin altar card was typed on the MacNeil typewriter.

That question is never answered in the movie. However, author Blatty revealed in an interview (no quote available) that Karl (Rudolf Schündler) put the crucifix under the pillow because he is Catholic.

The physicians diagnosed a lesion of the temporal lobe of the brain. When nothing showed up on the x-rays and arteriograms of Regan's brain, the psychiatrists diagnosed it as "somnabuliform possession" and recommended that Chris seek out an exorcist because, believing oneself to be possessed can sometimes be cured by believing that exorcism works, as a placebo. What was actually going on inside Regan was left open to the reader to decide in the novel, although it was for the most part suggested that she was possessed. On the other hand, the film makes it clear that she is actually possessed by showing such humanly impossible things as a head that can turn itself backwards, levitating beds, sliding armoires, slamming doors, etc. But most important of all, the demon is seen to exchange bodies, leaping into Damien Karras at his commanded request. While possessed, Damien's irises turn a yellowish green, just as Regan's had while possessed.

The alternate question is "Did the devil force Karras to jump out the window?". This is a subject that depends on how the audience interpretes the argument: In a traditional cinematic way or a theological explanation.

Theory 1: Viewers who have seen the movie generally agree that it was Karras' intent to jump from the window. He dragged the devil from Regan's body into his own, but then his hands headed for Regan's throat. At that split second, he did what he felt he had to do, which was leap to certain death. Rather than call it "suicide", which would contradict the Directors intention of Karras' renewed faith, viewers tend to think of it more like "demonicide" (note: Roman Catholic theology that previously stated the souls of those who commit suicide were doomed to hell was changed during Vatican II due to a better and more modern understanding of mental illness. The film takes place after the reforms of the Council was enacted). Karras rediscovers his faith at the moment he has the confidence to say, "You son of a bitch!" Clearly, he's no longer talking to Regan, but to the demon inside her. Until then, Karras as a psychiatrist could have thought he was dealing with a rare form of mental illness combined with paranormal phenomena. But when the demon mocks the death of Fr. Merrin (Max von Sydow), something "clicks" inside of Karras, and he sees the demon's - and God's - reality in one flash. He wins the battle by giving up his own life as opposed to letting the devil take Reagan's life. In other words, Karras did not commit suicide, nor more than did Jesus in his self-sacrifice on the cross or a soldier who throws himself on a grenade to save his comrades.

Theory 2: This scene is meant to be a parallel with a biblical exorcism found in the Bible (Mark 5:1-20), where Jesus drag a "Legion" of demons out of a man. Then, the "Legion" begged to Jesus so they could posses any body instead of that man's one, so Jesus allow them to enter inside 2000 of pigs (unclean animals according to the Kosher rules) but the pigs ran unto a cliff, to die by drowning in the sea. Notice that Father Karras repeatly says he's a faithless man guided by science, giving him a "unclean" status before God. He's symbolically speaking a "pig" willingly to receive a devil as a desperate act of obedience to God. Giving this, when the devil goes out of Regan, it enters in Karras, who in the same fashion of the pigs in the biblical account, (a) prefers to die atoning his own disbelief rather to let a devil enter inside to destroy him or any other person, or (b) the devil indeed wanted to destroy life, regardless "clean" or "unclean".

There were nine deaths associated with the film, among them were actor Jack McGowran who played Burke Dennings, Max von Sydow's brother, Linda Blair's grandfather, and a nightwatchman working on the set. However, the sheer number of people involved in the making of this film and the length of time it took to complete it made it more likely that some people connected with the film, however loosely, would die during its filming.