The Exorcist
Description
The tale of possession that shocked millions.
The belief in evil. And the belief that evil can be cast out.
From these two strands of faith, author William Peter Blatty and director William Friedkin wove a frightening, explicit and realistic story of an innocent girl inhabited by a malevolent entity. As a university student in 1949, Blatty first heard of an exorcism of a 14-year-old Maryland boy. Two decades later he wrote the novel that stayed on the best-seller lists more than a year.
In The Exorcist, Blatty framed the unending battle between good and evil in a narrative both dramatically compelling and philosophically provocative. Friedkin's film version, which shocked millions of viewers worldwide, has the same goal. Friedkin, whose previous film The French Connection won him the Best Director Academy Award, balances touching and sympathic performances by Linda Blair as the helpless girl Regan and Ellen Burstyn as her desperate mother against those of Jason Miller as the doubting Father Karras and Max von Sydow as the quiet, authoritative Jesuit exorcist.
The Exorcist, which won Academy Awards for Blatty's screenplay and Best Sound, is a harrowing experience in its unflinching presentation of bizarre phenomena and strong language. Which makes its ultimate message of courage and hope all the more powerful.
VHS Release Year
Distributor
Warner Home VideoBarcode
012569100732