Editorials
‘The Exorcist’ Was Released 43 Years Ago Today!
As I mentioned yesterday, it is not often that horror films are released in December. The month is typically reserved for family-friendly films and Oscar contenders, but every now and then a studio will release a horror film, taking a gamble hoping that counter-programming will work in its favor and make a film a box office success. What happens when a horror film is also a potential Oscar contender? The world found out 43 years ago today, when Warner Bros. Pictures released William Friedkin’s adaptation of William Peter Blatty’s novel The Exorcist in theaters. As many of you already know, The Exorcist is one of the greatest horror films ever made. It would go on to become the second highest grossing horror film of all time (after Jaws) when adjusted for inflation. today we celebrate the masterpiece’s 43rd anniversary.
Blatty’s novel was partially inspired by a real-life exorcism that took place in 1949, though he changed many of the details of the event for his novel. When Warner Bros. approached Blatty about adapting his novel, he insisted that Friedkin direct because he had such respect for him after seeing his The French Connection. While the studio was initially hesitant (they wanted The Cowboys‘s Mark Rydell to direct), Blatty eventually got his way after a brief standoff.
Friedkin took over 200 days to shoot The Exorcist (well over its planned 105-day schedule), but it paid off in spades. Friedkin was known for going to extreme measures to get authentic reactions from his actors, and the extended shooting time only added to the stress behind the scenes. The film actually had a fairly troubled production (much like the following decade’s Poltergeist films), leading many to believe that the set was cursed.
The Exorcist was released on December 26, 1973 and would go on to earn 10 Academy Award nominations, winning for Best Sound and Best Adapted Screenplay. It also has the distinction of being the first horror film to be nominated for Best Picture. Shockingly, it received a mixed reception from critics at the time. Contemporary criticism has been much kinder to the film, though it has a surprisingly low (well, low for a film of The Exorcists‘s caliber) 86% Rotten Tomatoes score. Nevertheless, it has been included on many publications’ “Best Horror Films” lists and is usually in the number one spot.
The film took in a domestic haul of $193 million upon its initial release (it would see two additional released in the new millennium) and spawned two sequels (one very bad, the other quite good), two mediocre prequels and a (very, very good) television series. The footprint it left on the horror genre is enormous, and its cultural significance is undeniable.
So join us today in celebrating The Exorcist on its 43rd anniversary. Did any of you see it in theaters when it was originally released? If not, when did you first see it? Share your memories of the film in the comments below!
The trailer for Ti West’s upcoming adaptation of A Christmas Carol raised a lot of eyebrows when it dropped earlier this week. While plenty of folks initially dismissed Ebenezer as a derivative project meant to cash in on the recent wave of unnecessary prequels that expand the backstory of beloved characters (such as 2023’s Wonka), Charles Dickens’ original novel already made a point of exploring Ebenezer Scrooge’s origins in detail – meaning that this new film is likely just a particularly faithful adaptation of the source material under a different name.
Couple that with the fact that the movie is being helmed by a genuine horror auteur and I think it’s safe to say that the latest iteration of the first modern ghost story is in good hands.
That being said, one detail that immediately jumped out at me during the brief teaser (other than a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nod to Johnny Depp’s iconic bedroom death scene from the original A Nightmare on Elm Street) is the fact that many of Ebenezer’s ghosts appear to have been directly lifted from the iconic John Leech illustrations that accompanied the first edition of Dickens’ novel.
Here are a couple of stills from the trailer compared to the original artwork:
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
The Phantoms in ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘Ebenezer’
Marley’s Ghost in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
Mainly working with old-school wood and steel engravings that would later be transferred to print, Leech was instrumental in crafting the iconic look of history’s most influential phantoms – especially since Dickens is said to have been deeply involved with the creation of these so-called “comic illustrations.”
And since the novel is commonly said to have popularized spiritualism in Victorian England, much of the ghostly iconography that we still see in genre media to this very day (including some of Ti West’s previous films) can be traced back to the author’s partnership with Leech.
Ebenezer won’t be the first A Christmas Carol adaptation to borrow heavily from these designs, but I can appreciate how Ti West is incorporating an important part of horror history into his latest film.
Ebenezer will be available in theaters starting November 13.
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