Join our free screening in Coleman Hall 1255 to celebrate the art of film in Illinois.
In The Exorcist (1973) something beyond evil is happening in teen Regan’s (Linda Blair) bedroom. Regan has brutally changed both in the way she looks and the way she acts, with violent outbursts on everyone who comes in contact with her. Her worried mother (Ellen Burstyn) gets in contact with a priest who comes to the conclusion that Regan is possessed by a demon that must be exorcised.
The Exorcist is the
sensational, shocking horror story about devil possession and the subsequent
exorcism of the demonic spirits from a young, innocent girl (of a divorced
family), but it was also notable for being one of the biggest box-office successes.
And it remains one of the few horror films nominated for Best Picture.
The film's screenplay - a
horror-tinged western (and tale of good vs. evil), was faithfully based upon
author William Peter Blatty's 1971 best-selling theological-horror novel of the
same name.
Chicago native and Academy-Award
winning director William Friedkin helms the movie. Interestingly enough,
Friedken began making movies while working at Chicago’s WGN after graduating
from high school.
Critically, it was presented with ten Academy Award nominations, two of which won (Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sound). The other eight nominations included: Best Picture, Best Actress (Ellen Burstyn), Best Supporting Actor (Jason Miller), Best Supporting Actress (Linda Blair), Best Director, Best Cinematography (Owen Roizman), Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, and Best Film Editing. [Until The Silence of the Lambs (1991), the film was the only horror film to be nominated for Best Picture in Academy Award history.]
But some had problems with
the film when it was released in 1973. The film was enormously popular with moviegoers at Christmas-time of 1973, but some portions of the viewing audience fled from theaters due to nausea or sheer fright/anger The controversial nature of the film's
content - exorcism (accompanied by blasphemies, obscenities and graphic
physical shocks), was supposedly based upon an authentic, nearly two-month long
exorcism performed in 1949 on a 14-year old boy. Unfortunately, the film
spawned inferior imitations, as well.
Most problematically, The Exorcist draws on paranoia of its period, showing a fear of women, young people and the outside world.
Despite these misgivings, The Exorcist definitely meets our goal to highlight the horror film
in Illinois, and, perhaps, give us another night of horror and thrills.
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