Vomiting and fleeing the cinema - William Friedkin's movie terrified the world

08 August 2023 , 21:16

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A scene from The Exorcist (Image: Getty Images)

In the darkness, as the horrifying scenes on the big screen flickered across their faces, audience members groaned and screamed.

One was sick and several fainted, including a woman who lay motionless on the ground for over a minute as her friend frantically tried to revive her. Others burst out of the cinema, white as sheets. It’s safe to say the first showing of The Exorcist in the UK in February 1974 made an impact.

Directed by William Friedkin, who died on Monday aged 87, it is an iconic horror movie, admired by critics and fans half a century later. Though not everyone was a fan at the time. Bobbi Mitchell, 23, who attended the private screening, said afterwards: “It was absolutely disgusting – the most sickening film I have ever seen.”

Patt Rock, also 23, walked out in outrage. She said: “I found it repulsive. I think it should be banned because it could be mentally disturbing.” Oscar Baker, manager of the West London cinema where the preview took place, said: “At one stage the lounge looked like a casualty ward.”

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Terrified movie-goers reacting to The Exorcist

The Exorcist, starring Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow and Jason Miller, is about a girl called Regan, played by Linda Blair, who is demonically possessed. Her mum calls in two Catholic priests to perform an exorcism. It features nightmare-inducing scenes such as Regan’s head spinning 360 degrees.

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Even before the film opened officially in UK cinemas, many tried to have it banned. Senior clergymen in Britain, including Canon John S Pearce-Higgins, investigated the impact of The Exorcist in the US before it arrived here.

Vomiting and fleeing the cinema - William Friedkin's movie terrified the world

Linda Blair as Regan MacNeil (FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images)

He had not seen the movie himself, but said: “Unless this film is stopped there will be a real danger we will have a whole new crop of schizophrenics – and a small number of cases of genuine possession.” Moral campaigner Mary Whitehouse also tried to stop the film coming here.

However, there were soon hordes of Brits – with St John Ambulances on standby – queuing to watch The Exorcist right across the country. It became a smash hit at the box office. The fear-mongering only drummed up interest, and although some British cinemas banned the movie there were also special bus services organised to carry people to nearby towns showing the film.

Famed movie was released in the UK in 1974 (ANL/REX/Shutterstock)

Pastor Brian Grist, from the Elim Pentecostal Church in Thanet, Kent, begged people in cinema queues not to see The Exorcist. He warned: “Demonic possession is not make-believe. It could become a frightening reality in your life today. Often it begins with curiosity and the desire to dabble, aroused by films like this.”

The box office success wasn’t hurt by rumours of eerie happenings during the filming. Friedkin said at the time: “We were plagued by strange and sinister things from the beginning.” He added that unplanned images were visible on the film before it was edited.

Friedkin with his wife Sherry Lansing (AFP via Getty Images)

He said: “There are double exposures in the girl’s face at the end of one reel that are unbelievable. I had to do a tremendous amount of re-shooting.” Other strange incidents that led many to believe the production was cursed included the set of the family’s house catching fire during the shoot, leaving it badly damaged except for Regan’s room.

Ellen, who played the girl’s mum, was filmed screaming in genuine pain as she permanently injured her spine in the scene when her character was slapped to the floor by the possessed child. “The special effects caused any number of injuries to the actors... the whole thing was a nightmare,” said Friedkin.

Crowds queueing to watch the controversial movie (Nick Rogers/ANL/REX/Shutterstock)

Two cast members died before the film’s release; Jack MacGowran passed away aged 54 after getting flu and Vasiliki Maliaros died of natural causes aged 89. Other actors lost family members. The movie was based on a real exorcism on a boy in the US in 1949.

The exorcism was unsuccessful and had to be halted after the lad broke free from his restraints and slashed the priest with a mattress spring. In 1979, Paul Bateson, who played a radiographer in the film, was convicted of the murder of film journalist Addison Verrill. The Exorcist was banned in the UK on video in 1988, with the British Board of Film Classification saying it could not guarantee youngsters would not watch the film at home. It only returned to the shelves in 1999.

If you haven’t seen it, perhaps Friedkin’s own description might persuade you. He said: “The Exorcist is about the mystery of faith. It cannot be explained. It’s like the mystery of love. You meet someone, you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you. Someone else meets the same person, no effect at all.”