In this article we will be taking a look at The Exorcist movie curse that was thought to have followed the William Friedkin horror blockbuster from 1974. Is there any truth behind this Hollywood curse?

Let’s take a closer look…

The Classic Horror Movie

When this blockbuster was released in the 70’s – it was dubbed as ‘the scariest movie of all time’. In my opinion, it still looks better and packs more of a punch than more recent, modern horror hits.

I can still remember one of my relatives telling me about the time she first went to see the movie when it hit the cinemas in Bristol in the 70’s. At the time she and her partner were curious of the ambulances parked outside the cinema, and the medical workers on standby next to them.

They were surprised to discover that these medical services were actually there to support the movie’s audience…as they left the cinema in horror and panic!

Seriously – that actually happened outside numerous cinemas in the UK at the time.

A Cursed Movie?

Okay, onto the so-called curse…

Well this whole topic arrived on the scene when Ellen Burstyn (she plays the mother in the movie!) started telling media outlets that “there was an enormous amount of deaths connected with the film”. In later interviews she then went on to say she believed that there were a total of nine deaths linked directly to the whole project.

The most famous of these deaths was that of Jack MacGowren – the guy who played Burke Dennings in the movie. Unfortunately he died before the movie even managed to get released. Ironically, his character in the film also dies.

It is also thought that another two ‘background actors’ died shortly after the movie project was finished. On top of this – several crew members met an untimely end!

Burstyn also claims that she nearly died on set of the movie during filming, during a freak accident involving a stunt (when Regan throws her mother across the bed using a demonic/paranormal force).

This incident actually caused Burstyn to have a nasty injury to her back, and the scream you hear in the movie is actually the real scream she let out during the fall!

Actor Jason Miller (Father Karras) and the book’s author, William Peter Blatty, were both present on the film’s set to witness some paranormal activity. Apparently the telephone used to communicate between the set and the production house rose into the air and fell to the floor right in front of them.

Many other members of the crew also reported props floating across the room on several other occasions.

The Exorcist Movie Curse

Things got so bad on the set of the film that it actually got to the point where a religious technical adviser named Thomas Bermingham was hounded by crew members, desperately begging him to exorcise the set. He declined, saying that an exorcism would push these crew members cleanly over the edge.

A few days later large parts of the set actually burned to the ground…and Bermingham changed his mind and did indeed bless the set.

What are your thoughts on this subject?

Do you feel that the movie had some sort of demonic curse linked to it?

Please leave your opinions in the comment section below.