History Film / TheExorcist

The original movie is considered one of the best (and ''[[NightmareFuel/TheExorcist most terrifying]]'') horror movies of all time and was followed by two sequels and (for complicated reasons) two versions of the same prequel, with varying levels of quality and success from each of them. A TV series of the same named premiered on [[Creator/{{Fox}} FOX]], which was later revealed to be another sequel to the original. There's also a very, [[MindScrew very weird]] non-horror, semi-spinoff movie called ''Film/TheNinthConfiguration'', adapted and directed by Blatty himself from his earlier novel of the same name, which is set in the same universe as this movie but has very few direct connections to it.

* CatchPhrase: Burke is fond of using the adjective "cunting", which is what Pazuzu uses to mock Chris in Would You Like To Know How They Died? below.

* DeadpanSnarker: Burke Dennings. [[spoiler: Even when he's dead. If that's really him.]] Lt. Kinderman and Father Dyer aren’t far behind in levels of snarkiness.

-> I AM NO ONE
-> HELP ME
* ArbitrarySkepticism: Invoked, and actually a major plot point. Chris thinks Father Karras and the doctors treating Regan are absurdly resistant to consider that Regan really is possessed, especially after various medical tests uncover no obvious illness. But as Karras points out, the modern Catholic Church has such high standards for performing an exorcism that they have to exhaust ''every'' rational explanation before they can assume the victim is actually a victim of demonic possession.

* ChristianityIsCatholic: Obviously, as it is the only church to offer exorcism as a practice. This is TruthInTelevision. The Lutheran minister of the parents of the child in the real life case the movie is based on told the parents to get a Catholic priest because Lutherans had no exorcism tradition. The apparent anomaly of Damien Karras and his mother being Catholic when most Greek Christians are Eastern Orthodox is explained by their status as Frankoi, meaning they are among the 200,000 [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_in_Greece Greeks who practice Roman Catholicism.]]

* DeadpanSnarker: Burke Dennings. [[spoiler: Even when he's dead.]] Lt. Kinderman and Father Dyer aren’t far behind in levels of snarkiness.

* MindYourStep: The film's climax involves a fall out of a window and a ''long'' StaircaseTumble. They filmed using a RealLife stairwell near Georgetown, which has become a tourist attraction known as the Exorcist Steps. [[spoiler: If you ever walk it, you'll [[NightmareFuel realize just how far]] Karras fell to his death...]]

* PluckyComicRelief: Downplayed by Lt. Kinderman. He is not as overtly wacky and goofy as most uses of the trope, but his snarks provide what little humor the film has.

* BrownNote: [[http://theexorcist.warnerbros.com/cmp/silencebottom.html Many sound effects were put in (sometimes deep in the mix) to make it more unsettling]] - for instance, pigs being herded for slaughter and [[BeeAfraid angry bees]].

** Father Karras is deeply depressed about choosing a life of poverty instead of becoming a rich doctor - and his uncle gives him a WhatTheHellHero about it. (His mom, on the other hand, is [[SoProudOfYou proud of him]].) Made worse that he can't afford to give his mother proper health care when she becomes senile, and she dies alone in her squalid apartment. Pazuzu exploits this fully.

[[TheFilmOfTheBook Based on]] the [[Literature/TheExorcist 1971 novel]] by William Peter Blatty, [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory and inspired by]] what was supposedly an actual documented exorcism from 1949, ''The Exorcist'' is the terrifying, shocking tale of an originally rather cute 12-year-old girl named Regan [=McNeil=] and the efforts of her mother Chris (Creator/EllenBurstyn), a famous film actress, her mom's secretary Sharon, and a pair of priests to save the poor girl's soul from the ravages of a powerful, malign entity called Pazuzu (though his name is kept ambiguous in the film).

** Inverted by Pazuzu. The wings on the stone idol he was released from (and most other depictions of him, we might add, most famously in the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' series) are actually birdlike.

''The Exorcist'' is a 1973 ReligiousHorror film (though the director, {{Creator/William Friedkin}}, doesn't view it as such) and is the TropeMaker and TropeCodifier for HollywoodExorcism.

''The Exorcist'' is a 1973 ReligiousHorror film (though the director, {{Creator/William Friedkin}}, doesn't view it as such).

* BeatTheCurseOutOfHim: After all the enchantments, crosses and holy water, it took [[spoiler: Karras]] punching the crap out of out of the possessed Regan in order to drive the spirit out of her [[spoiler: and into him.]] (In the book, he just ''talked'' Pazuzu into it, in a kind of street fight attitude.)

* ForTheEvulz: Seems to be Pazuzu's entire reason for possessing and torment Regan, as it's not like it benefits him in any way.
* FreudianExcuse: Invoked. Everyone, including Chris, thinks Regan's conversations with "Captain Howdy" is her desire to see her father, whose name is Howard, more often. After discussing Captain Howdy, Regan is seen reading a magazine with the headline: "Big Trouble In the [=MacNeil=] Marriage! The Night Howard Walked Out On His Wife."

* EvilAlbino: Pazuzu/Captain Howdy when you can see his face.

* DeadpanSnarker: Burke Dennings. [[spoiler: Even when he's dead.]]

%%* GoodShepherd: Father Merrin.

* StealthSequel: WordOfGod states that ''Film/TheNinthConfiguration'' is the true sequel to ''The Exorcist''. According to Wiki/ThatOtherWiki, the astronaut in ''The Exorcist'' is Captain Cutshaw in ''The Ninth Configuration''. In the book series, several unused pieces of dialogue from ''The Exorcist'' were used in ''The Ninth Configuration'' instead.

* BookEnds: The first shot of the movie is an apartment light going off. At the end of the film, the light's back on.

* SecondaryCharacterTitle: Father Merrin has little screen time in the film, appearing in the first 10 minutes, then vanishing until the final act, where he meets the rest of the cast for the first time. Father Karras is the closest thing to a main character, being the only one who has an arc.

* AdaptationDeviation:
** The film leaves out, perhaps understandably, the aspect of Regan's possession from the book in which she has uncontrollable diarrhea, requiring her to wear a diaper and making her room smell unbearable.
** Also, the crucifix-masturbation scene is much more graphic in the book, with the possessed Regan reaching orgasm.