Details

Release year: 1998

Storyline

The Exorcist (1973) became a cultural phenomenon upon its release. This making-of documentary tells the story of its creation and describes how audiences reacted to it. Interviews with cast and crew are shown.

Top credits

Directors

Nick Freand Jones

Writers

Mark Kermode

Cast

Mark Kermode — Self - Presenter
Ellen Burstyn — Self, Chris MacNeil
William O'Malley — Self - 'Fr. Dyer'
William Friedkin — Self - Director

See all 21 credits →

Did you know

• There are four versions of this documentary: 1) The 1998 full-screen VHS and widescreen laserdisc releases had a 35-minute version. 2) The widescreen VHS had a 60-minute version. 3) The DVD and Blu-ray releases have the 74-minute version. 4) The original, uncut 81-minute version was released on BBC iPlayer for Halloween 2019. The 81 minute version, re-shown for the 2021 BBC Four broadcast, is referred to by Mark Kermode as the "Festival Version".

• This documentary is available on The Exorcist: 25th Anniversary Edition DVD.

• When the UK's BBC 2 ran one of the later restored versions in 2021, sister channel BBC Four re-ran a version of Mark Kermode's "The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist" documentary. With a new introduction added on, he explained that the documentary they were about to see was the longest version of the documentary, which he referred to as the "Festival Version", which for example included a range of interviews unseen in other edits, such as an interview with the British Board of Film Classification. Kermode also put the documentary back in context, to remind the viewer, that at the 25th Anniversary, only the original theatrical version existed, which is why some of the then, in 1998, "missing scenes" are now (back) in the newer edit. This also includes an extract of the original "jump cut" version of the Father's possession, before the revised edit version had the subtle cgi morph transition. After his 2021 introduction, the documentary then starts in its original full frame 12:9 aspect ratio - complete with the originally presented letterbox aspect ratio.