The Exorcist Legacy
50 Years of Fear
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This encyclopedic overview of the Exorcist franchise by film historian Segaloff (More Fire!) will satisfy even the most obsessive fans. A publicist on the original 1973 film directed by William Friedkin, Segaloff devotes the bulk of the book to that movie, describing the difficulties of designing believable demonic makeup for actor Linda Blair's possessed character and Max von Sydow's struggle as a nonbeliever to get into character as a Jesuit priest. Segaloff also delves into the numerous spin-offs, sequels, and prequels; the 1971 William Peter Blatty novel that Friedkin's film was based on; and the 1949 alleged exorcism in Cottage City, Md., that inspired Blatty, which Segaloff suggests may have just been a case of a troubled 14-year-old boy acting out to avoid school. The surfeit of minutiae and workmanlike accounts of film production will test readers' patience, as when Segaloff expounds on the set design and contributions of bit players: "Lou DiGiamo was in charge of casting the extras, and he threw a wide net." Still, the author's love for the original film buoys this, and his insights into how Blatty's ruminations on faith and the existence of God animate his book and screenplay shed new light on the story. The result is a competent celebration of a horror classic.
