Based on the 1971 novel by William Peter Blatty, The Exorcist marries three scenarios into one plot. The movie opens with Father Merrin (Max von Sydow) on an archaeological dig in Al-hadar near Nineveh in Iraq. He is then brought to a near-by hole where a small stone is found, resembling a grimacing, bestial creature.
After talking to one of his supervisors, Merrin then travels to a spot where a strange statue stands, specifically Pazuzu, with a head similar to the one he found earlier. Meanwhile, Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller), a young priest at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., begins to doubt his faith while dealing with his mother's terminal sickness. In the central storyline, Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn), an actress filming in Georgetown, notices dramatic and dangerous changes in the behavior of her 12-year-old daughter Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair). Regan first has a seizure, then exhibits strange, unnatural powers, including levitation and great strength.
She often curses and blasphemes in a demonic male voice. At first, Chris believes that Regan's changes are related to the trauma of Chris's recent divorce, but doctors suspect a lesion in her brain. Regan is forced to endure a series of unpleasant medical tests. When X-rays show nothing out of the ordinary, a doctor advises that Regan be taken to a psychiatrist, whom she assaults. Paranormal occurrences continue to surround the MacNeil household, including a violently shaking bed, strange noises and unexplained movements. The director of Chris MacNeil's film is found brutally murdered after being asked to babysit for Regan. When all medical explanations are exhausted, a doctor recommends exorcism, suggesting that if Regan's symptoms are a psychosomatic result of a belief in demonic possession, then perhaps an exorcism would likewise have the psychosomatic effect of ending them.
When a teenage girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two priests to save her daughter. Movie: The Exorcist Year: 1973 Direct.
In desperation, Chris consults Father Karras, since he is both a priest and a psychiatrist. Regan claims she is not pos more less.
Photo by: Remember that horrifying movie, The Exorcist? Well, the flick's director is back and ready to cause some new nightmares in a documentary that covers a real life exorcism—and it's seriously scary. Read more: When he filmed his 1973 classic, The Exorcist, William Friedkin never actually witnessed a real-life exorcism and really, who could blame him?
After fast-forwarding a handful of years, Friedkin officially crossed seeing a real-deal exorcism off his list of accomplishments, which we're not sure is something to brag about. For those of you who aren't familiar with the 1973 film that terrfied people around the world—and set itself as one of the most profitable horror movies in the entire world— The Exorcist followed a young girl named Regan who started acting odd, you know, levitating and speaking in odd tongues. After getting no luck from doctors, the family turned to a preist who believed Regan may have been possessed. What followed was an exorcism that we can't soon forget.
That terrifying movie has been a thing of nightmares—who wouldn't have nightmares after seeing scenes like this?! Well, to further traumatize us, Friedkin premiered his newest film called The Devil And Father Amorth.The documentary followed the late Father Gabriele Amorth as he performed his ninth exorcism on an Italian woman while Friedkin recorded it. Sitting down with at the Venice Film Festival, Friendkin told the source that the experience was terrifying: “I went from being afraid of what could happen to feeling a great deal of empathy with this woman’s pain and suffering, which is obvious in the film.” The documentary was an idea that Friedkin was playing around with, and after meeting Father Amortha, Friedkin was then given permission to film one of the many exorcisms that Father Amorth performed. Friedkin was left filming the his entire experience alone. To shoot the horrifying experience, he used a Sony still camera that shot in high-definition. In the trailer, you can see Friedkin follow Father Amorth perform exorcisms and interview experts in the field.
The whole trailer is pretty terrifying, and we're not really sure if we want to go see the movie in real life Though we probably will. As scary as it may be, it's totally worth seeing the director of The Exorcist record an actual exorcism. You can check out the trailer for the movie below, and catch The Devil And Father Amorth when it opens in select theaters via The Orchard on April 20.