One Behind-the-scene Video Perfectly Explains Why One Creepy ‘The Exorcist’ (1973) Scene Still Has People Wetting Their Pants in Fear
Directed by William Friedkin, 1973’s supernatural horror movie The Exorcist follows the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s attempts to rescue her. She plans on saving her daughter via exorcism by two Catholic priests. The movie is based on the novel The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty, who also served as the screenwriter and producer for the movie.
The movie, upon its release in 24 theaters, received mixed reviews, but reports suggested that fans waited in long lines in cold weather to watch the movie. The Exorcist was the first horror movie to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, and even today, it is regarded as one of the best horror movies ever made. The R-rated movie, however, had a severe impact on the cast and crew, along with some audience members who reportedly had physical reactions after watching the movie in the theater.
Behind-the-scenes footage from The Exorcist reveals why it’s one of the scariest movies to date
There is no doubt that The Exorcist has been named one of the scariest movies ever made, and it has changed the trajectory of horror movies in the industry. An X account (All the Right Movies) shared a clip of behind-the-scenes footage from the movie, which went on to showcase how much precision and detailing were done to make the movie what it was on-screen.
Behind the scenes with some of the practical effects work on THE EXORCIST. pic.twitter.com/2Wnq8Mjfa3
— All The Right Movies (@ATRightMovies) June 8, 2024
Screen Craft mentions that one of the noticeable aspects of the movie was the use of special effects, which looked so real on-screen that not only did the cast react to them, but people watching the movie also suffered. All of the effects were created without CGI or anything computer-generated. One such scene that has had fans sweating was Regan’s 360-degree neck turn.
To achieve that, director William Friedkin’s special effects team created a fiberglass mold of the young girl’s head, played by Linda Blair. They set the head on top of a rubber dummy doll that was used for the body. The footage shared showcases how they added moving eyes and breath to the doll to make it appear real. The filmmaker praised his special effects and makeup team for making the dummy look so real on-screen that it became one of the scariest moments in the movie. In his words, ‘That is iconic’.
The actress shared in the footage that she went along with the fact that the head spun and the fact that it looked so real, which only goes to prove that a lot of people wanted to buy into filmmaking. She added that the dummy sat with her in the makeup room, so she was constantly looking at her face, and she didn’t enjoy that.
The Exorcist actress Linda Blair shares her experience working with William Friedkin
Actress Linda Blair played the role of Regan MacNeil, who gets possessed by a demon, and the later William Friedkin shared in an interview with ET how he finalized her as the one.
She came in to meet with me, and I had a feeling about her as soon as I met her. She was extremely bright. She was a straight-A student, and she was a champion horsewoman at the time. She was an extraordinary, gifted, natural actress.
The actress became a cinematic icon for portraying the spine-chilling role in the movie, and in an interview with CBR, she reflected on her work on the iconic horror movie of all time. She was asked about her experience while working with the director, to which she replied,
His brain was very locked into how to bring this project to life, and that meant you needed the best special effects because there was no CGI back then. He needed the best of the makeup, and they worked three to six months on the makeup with the testing. He thought that was very important, so he pushed the effects to be the best, and that was hard to do on a child’s face and to get it minimal.
Blair mentioned that the filmmaker was creating a character she didn’t understand at the time, which was hard and intense for her. She noted that Freidkin had to walk a very fine line with her because she was a child and he knew her personality and character. The actress mentioned that the director took a lot of chances with her and would tell her about the scene beforehand to make her understand that she shouldn’t come out of her character.
Linda Blair said that working on The Exorcist was intense, and she looks forward to writing about it someday in her autobiography.
The Exorcist is available to stream on VOD on Prime Video and Apple TV+.
