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The Devil Inside: The Dark Legacy of the Exorcist
A history of The Exorcist, one of the most famous and controversial films ever produced, timed for its 50th anniversary and for the release of the forthcoming Hollywood reboot.
In 1973, The Exorcist left moviegoers gripping their rosary beads, vomiting in their popcorn buckets, and fainting in the sticky aisles. Cynically marketed as a cursed production based on a “true story,” The Exorcist quickly became one of the most controversial films ever released. With its groundbreaking special effects, relentless pace, and terrifying finale, the film revolutionized the horror genre and paved the way for future blockbusters.
In The Devil Inside , Carlos Acevedo goes beyond the myths to examine the national uproar The Exorcist caused, as well as the dark, real-world effects it had on a jittery audience. Until now, books about The Exorcist have largely perpetuated its legends while overlooking its cultural background. The Devil Inside places the film in its cinematic and social context—as a product of the New Hollywood, when maverick directors hijacked the film industry, and as part of the supernatural trends of the times, when the occult permeated music, books, and movies. From the original possession case that inspired the novel to the troubled production to the conflicts on the set to the uptick in demands for actual exorcisms, The Devil Inside sheds new light on a shocking phenomenon that has remained a pop-culture touchstone for fifty years.
In 1973, The Exorcist left moviegoers gripping their rosary beads, vomiting in their popcorn buckets, and fainting in the sticky aisles. Cynically marketed as a cursed production based on a “true story,” The Exorcist quickly became one of the most controversial films ever released. With its groundbreaking special effects, relentless pace, and terrifying finale, the film revolutionized the horror genre and paved the way for future blockbusters.
In The Devil Inside , Carlos Acevedo goes beyond the myths to examine the national uproar The Exorcist caused, as well as the dark, real-world effects it had on a jittery audience. Until now, books about The Exorcist have largely perpetuated its legends while overlooking its cultural background. The Devil Inside places the film in its cinematic and social context—as a product of the New Hollywood, when maverick directors hijacked the film industry, and as part of the supernatural trends of the times, when the occult permeated music, books, and movies. From the original possession case that inspired the novel to the troubled production to the conflicts on the set to the uptick in demands for actual exorcisms, The Devil Inside sheds new light on a shocking phenomenon that has remained a pop-culture touchstone for fifty years.
254 pages, Paperback
Published November 14, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 13, 2023
As a huge fan of THE EXORCIST, both the film and novel, I'm really torn about this book. On the one hand, it is very well-written and meticulously researched, giving even a jaded fan like myself a few new nuggets to chew over. (Rick Springfield shacked up with a 15-year-old Linda Blair...??? WOW.) On the other hand, Author Carlos Acevedo is relentlessly aggressive in his bashing of the film, the novel, the Author, the Director, the stars.....He takes great glee in belittling the talents involved, and devotes whole chapters towards the end to picking over the bones of their careers and gloating over their spoiled remains. Why write about such a legendary film, only to try to tear apart the foundations it was built upon?
Ultimately, I decided to rate the book on it's own merits...but it did leave me with a bitter taste of bile in my mouth.
Ultimately, I decided to rate the book on it's own merits...but it did leave me with a bitter taste of bile in my mouth.
December 21, 2023
If you’ve found your way to Carlos Acevedo’s fascinating new book, The Devil Inside: The Dark Legacy of The Exorcist (Hamilcar Publications), you’re likely someone who has experienced the lore of one of the iconic films of all time. You have a story, acquired first, second, third-hand, heard from a parent, a friend, a friend of a friend, who suffered personally the awesome power of a movie that not only terrified audiences but spawned a mania unseen in Hollywood since. The poor moviegoers who, unprepared for the horrors Pazuzu visits on little Regan MacNeil and those tasked with her salvation, soiled themselves or fainted, who ran from the theater as though what unspooled in celluloid was somehow linked to their spiritual fate—you heard of them. And the source of those stories grew monstrous accordingly.
It is just this supernatural element that Acevedo exorcises, making a piece of art the human—in many ways, all-too-human—project it is. With his typical acuity and exhaustive research, Acevedo treats The Exorcist to a comprehensive analysis, looking at not only changes in the film industry (for example, the introduction of a new rating system for movies) but also shifts in the spiritual and aesthetic tastes of America, all of which positioned The Exorcist for its remarkable success. The hocus pocus that has augmented the film’s legend is gone by the time Acevedo is finished.
What remains—a piece of art—Acevedo fittingly celebrates. The directorial choices of William Friedkin, for example, the disorienting use of volume “meant to bludgeon the audience with a pounding shrieking, alienating soundtrack that would raise its collective blood pressure,” the performances of the actors, like Linda Blair, who in portraying a girl in the grips of possession endured a very real suffering not at the hands of a demon, but at those of a lesser monster, Acevedo treats these and other aspects of the film as an astute and measured critic.
He closes by looking at the aftermath; this section of the book reveals The Exorcist as, unsurprisingly, a sort of professional zenith for all involved. And yet even here, where, for example, a rudderless and washed-out Blair, strikes fear in a passerby who knows the actress only as the girl who spat blasphemies and vomit alike, masturbated with a crucifix, and levitated, the profound impact the film had on audiences is obvious. The 10th grader in the 20-dollar The Exorcist t-shirt from Walmart probably doesn’t understand that impact, probably knows little of the dark legacy. But Acevedo does. And his presentation of it is undeniable.
It is just this supernatural element that Acevedo exorcises, making a piece of art the human—in many ways, all-too-human—project it is. With his typical acuity and exhaustive research, Acevedo treats The Exorcist to a comprehensive analysis, looking at not only changes in the film industry (for example, the introduction of a new rating system for movies) but also shifts in the spiritual and aesthetic tastes of America, all of which positioned The Exorcist for its remarkable success. The hocus pocus that has augmented the film’s legend is gone by the time Acevedo is finished.
What remains—a piece of art—Acevedo fittingly celebrates. The directorial choices of William Friedkin, for example, the disorienting use of volume “meant to bludgeon the audience with a pounding shrieking, alienating soundtrack that would raise its collective blood pressure,” the performances of the actors, like Linda Blair, who in portraying a girl in the grips of possession endured a very real suffering not at the hands of a demon, but at those of a lesser monster, Acevedo treats these and other aspects of the film as an astute and measured critic.
He closes by looking at the aftermath; this section of the book reveals The Exorcist as, unsurprisingly, a sort of professional zenith for all involved. And yet even here, where, for example, a rudderless and washed-out Blair, strikes fear in a passerby who knows the actress only as the girl who spat blasphemies and vomit alike, masturbated with a crucifix, and levitated, the profound impact the film had on audiences is obvious. The 10th grader in the 20-dollar The Exorcist t-shirt from Walmart probably doesn’t understand that impact, probably knows little of the dark legacy. But Acevedo does. And his presentation of it is undeniable.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews