With the recent passing of the great William Friedkin and the release of The Exorcist: Believer, ’tis the season once again to revel in what an unholy miracle The Exorcist is.
Still one of the scariest films ever made that hasn’t aged a day, it’s a masterpiece of atmosphere, weaving bone-crunching technique with sophisticated domestic drama that makes you actually care about the people being terrorized.
One aspect of the film that doesn’t get highlighted enough is the devil itself, Pazuzu.
While Linda Blair is, obviously, incredible as Regan and got an Oscar nomination, it’s widely known now that her possessed voice is actually Mercedes McCambridge.
But it wasn’t as widely known when the film was released, and the story of why that is got messier than the pea soup vomit Regan retched out.
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