CaptainHowdy.com The #1 Exorcist Fansite Since 1999
A 2004 documentary called Exorcists: The True Story has finally found its way to the internet, thanks largely to Exorcist Fansite members columbiancannon and Ryan.
The documentary explores the belief in possession and the practice of exorcism, featuring a dramatisation of the real 1949 Maryland exorcism, which was the inspiration for the The Exorcist novel by author William Peter Blatty. Footage shows Blatty speaking about elements in the real case and how they evolved into his best-selling novel which would eventually appear in the film. There are also rare snippets of fan reactions to the film outside of an unknown movie theatre.
Webmaster of TheNinthConfiguration.com Ryan has heavily editied the feature to show moments featuring scenes from The Exorcist and others with William Peter Blatty speaking, and provided it on YouTube. Watch the embeded video below.
I love it when new material about The Exorcist comes along like this. I missed the airing of this documentary and subsequent re-runs, so I’m happy to finally see it. It seems the re-enactments have been done reasonably well and the overall ambience of the presentation could make for a great watch. Also great to see the producers got hold of key people who are knowledgebale about the Maryland case, and even have original documents on screen, namely a letter Father Bowdern wrote to Blatty about the case. I’m impressed.
Thanks to columbiancannon for discovering the release and Ryan for putting in the hard work.
