Episode 354: THE EXORCIST (1973)

2025-10-28

It’s the big kahuna of demonic possession movies, and honestly, a big fish in the pond of horror cinema in general: THE EXORCIST remains an absolute stone-cold classic more than 50 years after its release. Harry even wrote a Perisphere blog about seeing it as a lapsed Catholic! But how does it stay dreadful when nothing scary is happening? Why is it important that Chris MacNeil is an actress by trade? If Lankester Merrin is Batman, does that make Pazuzu the Joker? All that and more, plus a ghostly appearance from THE EXORCIST s...

But how does it stay dreadful when nothing scary is happening? Why is it important that Chris MacNeil is an actress by trade? If Lankester Merrin is Batman, does that make Pazuzu the Joker? All that and more, plus a ghostly appearance from THE EXORCIST superfan Blake Hester (@metallicaisrad)!

References:

“Fear in a Handful of Dust: Hell, Faith, and Will in The Exorcist” by Harry Mackin for Perisphere, the Trylon blog
“The Mesmerizing Horror of Essentially a Single Room Set in The Exorcist” by Allison Vincent for Perisphere, the Trylon blog
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Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Tubular Bells” by Mike Oldfield from the THE EXORCIST soundtrack.

0:00 - Episode 354: THE EXORCIST (1973)

4:51 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

7:35 - A word from Trylove guest and THE EXORCIST megafan Blake Hester

15:56 - Harry’s Perisphere piece and the reputation of this movie

25:03 - What makes THE EXORCIST so lean and mean today

30:32 - The Version You’ve Never Seen

36:50 - Why it’s important that Chris MacNeil is an actress

47:20 - What the demon reveals about our protagonists

54:22 - The surprising, emotionally confounding ending

1:12:14 - How much the behind-the-scenes stuff actually matters for our opinions of the movie

1:23:47 - The Junk Drawer

1:30:39 - To All the Loves We've Tried Before: 1973