Halloween may be as old and mouldy as the last craved pumpkins but we can’t get enough horror. When posed the question of “what is the greatest horror film of all time?” it’s safe to say that The Exorcist will always rank very highly. Not only was it a cinematic success in the 70’s, going on to define many sectors of the Horror genre, but it created an atmosphere and a presence within the film itself which still terrifies audiences.

In 1973 the film directed by William Friedkin, was created from William Peter Blatty’s original book and is one of the most successful horror films ever made, something the recent Halloween reboot nearly toppled.

The success it seems may have been down to a lot of clever marketing ploys. One being that many audiences were handed vomit bags when entering the cinema with some establishments even having paramedics on hand to help quell people’s hysteria. Many of the cast and crew also claimed to feel a darkness surrounding the production of the film, who found it very difficult to explain away mysterious incidents.

Oh yeah, and by the way, the film was actually based on a true story of the ‘demonic possession’ and ‘exorcism’ of a young boy, who was given a pseudonym “Roland Doe” or “Robbie Mannheim” in hiding his true identity.

Take a look at some of our favourite images, below.

(Images via: Vintage.es)