The Exorcist

A closer look at the story

Chris MacNeil, an actress living in Washington, D.C., notices escalating, frightening and dangerous changes in the behaviour and appearance of her young daughter, Regan. Before long it becomes clear that a mysterious, malevolent presence has taken possession of the girl. At the same time a young priest at Georgetown University, grappling with his mother's terminal illness, has begun to question his faith. Having tried everything to save her daughter, the mother turns in desperation to two Catholic priests, one of them experienced in exorcism. Directed by William Friedkin and adapted by William Peter Blatty from his own novel, the 122-minute 1973 film stars Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Jason Miller, with Max von Sydow as Father Merrin, in a horror classic.