
- 304 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
Foreword by John Russo
Updated and Expanded with a New Coda
A provocative, fascinating, and compulsively readable account of one of the most shocking, influential, and successful films of all time, The Exorcist, with a new coda on The Exorcist: Believer and the upcoming The Exorcist: Deceiver.
On December 26, 1973, The Exorcist was released. Within days it had become legend. Moviegoers braved hours-long lines in winter weather to see it. Some audience members famously fainted or vomited. Half a century later, the movie that both inspired and transcends the modern horror genre has lost none of its power to terrify and unsettle.
The Exorcist Legacy reveals the complete story of this cultural phenomenon, from the 1949 real-life exorcism in Maryland that inspired William Peter Blatty’s bestselling novel on which the movie is based, to its many sequels, prequels, TV series, and homages. Nat Segaloff, biographer of the film’s director, William Friedkin, draws on original interviews with cast, crew, and participants as well as revelations from personal papers to present an intriguing and surprising new view of the making of the movie, and its aftermath.
Segaloff also examines as never before the keys to the movie’s enduring appeal. Friedkin and Blatty’s goal was far more ambitious than making a scary movie; they aimed to make people “think about the concept of good and evil.” The Exorcist succeeds, and then some, not just by creating on-screen scares, but by challenging viewers’ deepest personal beliefs—and fears.
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Information
Table of contents
- Praise
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Table of Contents
- FOREWORD: The Exorcist and Me by John Russo
- PREFACE: The Secret Screening
- CHAPTER 1: The Two Bills
- CHAPTER 2: The Actual Case
- CHAPTER 3: The Book
- CHAPTER 4: Making The Exorcist
- CHAPTER 5: Shooting for Hell
- CHAPTER 6: The Devil Is in the Details
- CHAPTER 7: All Hell Breaks Loose
- CHAPTER 8: Second and Third Thoughts
- CHAPTER 9: Exorcist II: The Heretic
- CHAPTER 10: The Exorcist III
- CHAPTER 11: Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist and Exorcist: The Beginning
- CHAPTER 12: The TV Series
- CHAPTER 13: The New Trilogy
- CHAPTER 14: Billy Goes to Hell: The Devil and Father Amorth
- CHAPTER 15: A Possession Primer
- CHAPTER 16: The Mystery of Faith
- AFTERWORD: Mark Kermode
- APPENDIX: Colloquy with William Peter Blatty
- CODA: Repossessed
- Acknowledgments
- Bibliography
- Photo Captions and Credits
- Endnotes
- Extended Credits