A stern-faced, dark-haired priest wielding an out-stretched crucifix spanned the front cover of the Feb-ruary 11, 1974 issue of Newsweek. In the upper right corner, a purple banner – the same colour as the priest’s stole – proclaims: “The Exorcism Frenzy”. Inside, the featured article begins: “On the day after Christmas, a film called The Exorcist opened in 22 cities across America. Since then, all hell has broken loose.”
On the same date, Time magazine devoted two stories to the film and its fervour. The first, “Exorcist Fever”, included a sequence of photographs: shocked women who exited the theatre with hands clenched over their mouths, cheeks and downturned heads. After stating the film’s incred-ible success – more than $10 million at the box office in its first five weeks, which has since become over $400 million worldwide – the article ends with a quote from William Peter Blatty, the film’s screenwriter (and author of the original novel): “There has been a devil theory that sinister forces were annoyed by the film. I don’t attach any significance to it. Still, I would like to think that some-body down there doesn’t like me.”
