It’s the perfect Halloween movie but, apparently, it’s also cursed

Oct 29, 2012 20:21 GMT  ·  By
“The Exorcist” was considered a “cursed” movie when it came out in 1973
   “The Exorcist” was considered a “cursed” movie when it came out in 1973

If scary movies are your thing around Halloween time, you must include the original “The Exorcist” on the list this year. Though released in 1973, it remains one of the scariest, freakiest movies of all times.

In fact, it’s so freaky that even random facts about it are freaky. I’ll illustrate:

Freaky fact no. 1: TooFab notes that the movie is believed to be “cursed,” in the sense that nothing good came out of being involved in it for many people.

“Ellen Burstyn was permanently injured during filming, stars Jack MacGowran and Vasiliki Maliaros both died before the movie was even released and a fire destroyed most of the set. A film-goer seeing the movie also broke his jaw after fainting ... and sued Warner Bros., claiming the flick made him pass out,” the e-zine writes.

Freaky fact no. 2: The movie generated such intense response that Linda Blair, the young protagonist, had to make sure she always traveled with extra security around for at least half a year after release, because of the death threats she’d been getting from religious extremists.

Freaky fact no. 3: The green vomit in which Blair’s character was covered at one point was actually Andersen’s pea soup – but you already knew that.

Freaky fact no. 4: “The Exorcist” was the first film to be nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award. It lost, but did not leave empty-handed, taking home the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Freaky fact no. 5: The demonic voice coming from Blair’s character wasn’t actually hers. “Radio actress Mercedes McCambridge [voiced it]. Mercedes was initially left out of the film's credits and had to sue Warner Bros. in order to get recognition,” says TooFab.