The Exorcist is a horror novel by William Peter Blatty, published by Harper & Row in 1971. It is based on a 1949 exorcism of Robbie Mannheim that Blatty heard about while he was a student in the class of 1950 at Georgetown University, a Jesuit and Catholic school. On October 31, 2010, Cemetery Dance will publish a special omnibus edition of The Exorcist and its sequel Legion, signed by Blatty.

Plot

An elderly Jesuit priest named Father Lankester Merrin is leading an archaeological dig in northern Iraq and studying ancient relics. Following the discovery of a small statue of the demon Pazuzu (an actual ancient Sumerian demigod) and a modern-day St. Joseph medal curiously juxtaposed together at the site, a series of omens alerts him to a pending confrontation with a powerful evil, which unknown to the reader at this point, he has battled before in an exorcism in Africa. Meanwhile, in Georgetown, a young girl named Regan MacNeil living with her famous actress mother, Chris, becomes inexplicably ill. After a gradual series of poltergeist-like disturbances, she undergoes disturbing psychological and physical changes, appearing to become "possessed" by a demonic spirit.

After several unsuccessful psychiatric and medical treatments, Regan's mother turns to a local Jesuit priest. ...

Cast: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, Mercedes McCambridge, Robert Symonds, Lee J. Cobb, Jason Miller, Titos Vandis, Donna Mitchell, Barton Heyman, Peter Masterson, Jack MacGowran, Kitty Winn, Roy Cooper, Robert Gerringer, Rudolf Schundler, Jay Robinson, Ron Faber, Vasiliki Maliaros, Rev. William O'Malley, Wallace Rooney

Director: William Friedkin

Genre: Horror

Release Date: December 26, 1973

MPAA Rating: R

Screen Writer: William Peter Blatty

Runtime: 132 minutes

Studio: Warner Brothers