ⓘ Details

Movie TitleThe Exorcist

Release DateDecember 26, 1973

TaglineSomething almost beyond comprehension is happening to a girl on this street, in this house… and a man has been sent for as a last resort.

Runtime121 minutes by AFI / 122 minutes by Box Office Mojo

DirectorWilliam Friedkin

Screenplay Written ByWilliam Peter Blatty

Based OnThe 1971 novel The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

Is It a Remake?No. It is the original feature-film adaptation of Blatty’s novel.

BudgetApproximately $11–12 million, depending on source

Box OfficeApprox. $193 million domestic / approx. $441 million worldwide across releases

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👥 Main Cast

Ellen BurstynChris MacNeil

Max von SydowFather Lankester Merrin

Jason MillerFather Damien Karras

Linda BlairRegan MacNeil

Lee J. CobbLieutenant William Kinderman

Kitty WinnSharon Spencer

Jack MacGowranBurke Dennings

Father William O’MalleyFather Dyer

Barton HeymanDr. Klein

Peter MastersonDr. Barringer

Rudolf SchündlerKarl

Gina PetrushkaWilli

Robert SymondsDr. Taney

Arthur StorchPsychiatrist

Titos VandisUncle John

Mercedes McCambridgeDemon Voice

Eileen DietzDemon / Regan Double

Reverend Thomas BerminghamTom, President of University

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🏆 Awards

⭐ Academy Award Winner — Best Adapted Screenplay: William Peter Blatty

⭐ Academy Award Winner — Best Sound: Robert Knudson and Chris Newman

⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Picture

⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Director: William Friedkin

⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Actress: Ellen Burstyn

⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Supporting Actor: Jason Miller

⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Supporting Actress: Linda Blair

⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Cinematography: Owen Roizman

⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Art Direction-Set Decoration: Bill Malley and Jerry Wunderlich

⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Film Editing: Norman Gay, Jordan Leondopoulos, Bud S. Smith, Evan A. Lottman

⭐ Golden Globe Winner — Best Motion Picture: Drama

⭐ Golden Globe Winner — Best Director: William Friedkin

⭐ Golden Globe Winner — Best Supporting Actress: Linda Blair

⭐ Golden Globe Winner — Best Screenplay: William Peter Blatty

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📖 Short Plot Summary

Actress Chris MacNeil begins to fear something is horribly wrong with her young daughter, Regan, after the girl’s behavior shifts from strange to violent and medically inexplicable. As doctors, psychiatrists, and specialists fail to explain what is happening, Chris turns to the Church for help. Father Damien Karras, a priest and psychiatrist struggling with guilt and a crisis of faith, is asked to evaluate Regan. When the signs point to demonic possession, the older Father Merrin is called in for an exorcism that becomes a brutal spiritual and psychological battle for Regan’s soul.

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❝ Key Quotes

“The power of Christ compels you!” — Father Merrin / Father Karras

“What an excellent day for an exorcism.” — Regan / Demon

“Why this girl? It makes no sense.” — Father Karras

“I think the point is to make us despair.” — Father Merrin

“You’re gonna die up there.” — Regan / Demon

“Take me. Come into me.” — Father Karras

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💡 Trivia

Director

The Exorcist was directed by William Friedkin.
William Peter Blatty wrote the screenplay, adapting his own bestselling 1971 novel.
AFI lists the film as a 1973 R-rated horror film with a December 1973 release.
The film was the first horror movie to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Friedkin treated the story less like a haunted-house thrill ride and more like a realistic, procedural collision between medicine, faith, doubt, and evil.

Cast / Casting

Ellen Burstyn plays Chris MacNeil, the mother trying to save Regan when science fails to explain what is happening.
Linda Blair plays Regan MacNeil and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Jason Miller plays Father Damien Karras and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Max von Sydow plays Father Merrin, the older priest whose earlier encounter with evil frames the film.
Mercedes McCambridge supplied the demon’s voice, giving the possessed Regan an unnerving vocal presence.
Father William O’Malley, a real Jesuit priest, plays Father Dyer and also served as a technical adviser.

Soundtrack / Score

The film does not use a traditional original score in the usual sense.
IMDb’s soundtrack listing includes music by Krzysztof Penderecki, including “Polymorphia” and other modern classical pieces.
Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells” became the film’s most famous musical association.
The sound design was central to the film’s impact and won the Academy Award for Best Sound.
The movie’s unsettling music and soundscape help make the horror feel clinical, spiritual, and almost documentary-like rather than simply theatrical.

Location

The story is set largely in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
The famous MacNeil house exterior is associated with 3600 Prospect Street NW in Georgetown.
The nearby Georgetown stairs became known as “The Exorcist Steps” after the film’s climax.
Georgetown University notes that scenes were filmed around campus, including Dahlgren Chapel, Healy Hall, Old North, Kehoe Field, the Lauinger Library steps, and the Exorcist Steps.
The Iraq prologue was filmed in and near Mosul and Hatra, giving the film a mythic opening before it moves into a modern American home.
Many interior scenes were filmed in New York City.

Behind-The-Scenes

The film was produced by William Peter Blatty.
Owen Roizman served as cinematographer, and the editing team included Norman Gay, Jordan Leondopoulos, Bud S. Smith, and Evan A. Lottman.
The production became famous for delays, difficult conditions, injuries, and reports that helped create the film’s “cursed production” legend.
AFI notes the film’s production involved a troubled and highly publicized release history.
Box Office Mojo lists the budget at $11 million, while The Numbers lists the production budget at $12 million.
Despite controversy and reports of audience reactions, the film became a massive box-office phenomenon and one of the most influential horror films ever released.

Nostalgia

The Exorcist remains one of the defining horror films of the 1970s.
Its release became a cultural event, with long lines, shocked audiences, intense press coverage, and public debate about religion, censorship, and screen violence.
Regan’s possession imagery — the bedroom, the head turn, the voice, the levitation, and the poster silhouette of Father Merrin — became horror iconography.
The film influenced decades of possession movies, religious horror, and supernatural thrillers.
For many horror fans, it is still the movie that separates “scary” from “I may need to sleep with the lights on and call a priest.”

Easter Eggs

The opening Iraq sequence introduces the Pazuzu imagery and sets up the spiritual battle that later reaches Georgetown.
The MacNeil house poster image, with Father Merrin standing under a beam of light, became one of the most recognizable horror images in film history.
The film’s repeated medical testing sequences ground the supernatural horror in realism before the exorcism begins.
Father Karras’ crisis over his mother’s death becomes one of the demon’s most effective psychological weapons.
The ending on the Georgetown steps turns a real location into a permanent horror landmark.

Misc.

The Exorcist is rated R.
Rotten Tomatoes’ critics consensus calls it one of the scariest films of all time, citing its special effects and eerie atmosphere.
The film’s original U.S. release was December 26, 1973.
The film received 10 Academy Award nominations and won 2.
Your 3 Guys and a Flick ratings page lists the episode as Episode 184, with Don rating it 5.00, Ken rating it 4.50, Jon rating it 5.00, and an overall rating of 4.83.

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