With news of the death of William Friedkin, director of The Exorcist, in Los Angeles on Monday, Ferdie Rous looks at why this cult classic still burns bright in the public imagination over half a century after it was first released
Love it or hate it, everyone has a view on The Exorcist – whether they’ve read the book, seen the film or if they run for cover at the very mention of it.
William Peter Blatty’s tale of 12-year-old Regan MacNeil’s possession by a demon and her exorcism by a Jesuit priest (Father Damien Karras), struggling with his own loss of faith, still burns bright in the public imagination 52 years after it was published. But like so many others, the 1973 film – directed by William Friedkin who died on Monday in Los Angeles at the age of 87 – looms large over the original text.
