When medicine and psychiatry fail, two Catholic priests, Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow) and Damien Karras (Jason Miller), attempt a ritual exorcism.

Many felt the production might actually be cursed. Jack MacGowran died during filming before his on-screen demise could be shot. The movie’s cost expanded to twice the original budget. A bedroom had to be constructed in a refrigerated enclosure in order to create the appearance of a supernatural cold zone, where a performer’s breath would be visible. Today’s digital solutions were impossible, so complicated practical effects presented one expensive challenge after another. Dick Smith’s unforgettable makeup for Linda Blair almost overshadows the masterfully imperceptible old-age illusion he worked on Max von Sydow, who was in his forties, not seventies, at the time of filming.

Linda Blair’s startling appearance is one of the best-known works of the legendary makeup artist Dick Smith.

The immense popularity of The Exorcist underscores the degree to which horror movies, with their stark portrayals of good versus evil, routine depictions of demons and hell, and demonstrations of death and resurrection, may fill an unmet craving for religious experience in an increasingly despiritualized world.

If you enjoyed The Exorcist (1973), you might also like:

THE CONJURING

WARNER BROS., 2013

Like The Exorcist, James Wan’s The Conjuring is based on a purportedly true story of demonic possession, this one investigated by veteran paranormal detectives Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga). The film interweaves the larger story of the Warrens’ activities with the harrowing ordeal of Roger and Carolyn Perron (Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor) and their five daughters, who move into a Rhode Island farmhouse and quickly realize they are not alone. The devilish presence is discovered to be a New England witch named Bathsheba Sherman, who sacrificed her newborn child and hanged herself in 1863 and is now intent on forcing another mother to follow in her bloody footsteps. Carolyn wakes up to find Bathsheba pinning her to the bed, vomiting blood into her mouth to complete the possession. It’s only one of the carefully calibrated visual shocks delivered by director Wan, who continued to chronicle the Warrens’ demonological exploits in The Conjuring 2 (2016). The Conjuring 3, directed by Michael Chaves, is in the works at the time of this writing.

Vera Farmiga conducts an exorcism in The Conjuring.