[Jason Stringer]

This year’s Halloween treat has come early, fellow Exorcist fans, thanks to anonymous source and the masters of horror news, Bloody-Disgusting.

They have recently published the first clips of newly discovered test footage filmed ahead of principal photography. The built sets can be seen (Regan’s bedroom) and Linda Blair appears in costume, so principal photography must have been close, which dates this footage circa 1972.

Keep in mind, this footage is not from Owen Roitzman’s collection (as found on the 2010 Blu-ray), nor is it from The Fear of God documentary (some of Dick Smith’s test make-up and apparatuses are shown in that superb BBC documentary). According to Bloody-Disgusting, this particular footage came from a 16mm print (of a 35mm reduction) which was labelled: œWarner Bros color timed anamorphic test “ The Exorcist. The case had William Friedkin’s name hand-written on the address label.

They speculate that the man standing by the bed might be author and producer William Peter Blatty. This is most likely the case (its hard to tell but the ‘mo is a good indication), but he is not just in that shot to supervise– he is ‘standing in’ as Father Merrin/Karras would be placed in that frame (you can see him miming the act of flipping pages of a bible).

The footage is suitably creepy and astounding. Sit back and enjoy something that has been kept under wraps for over 40 years!

[Justin]

Looks like these are coming from whoever scored the lot of test reels that were up on eBay a couple of years back: http://captainhowdy.com/forum/ebay/huge-lot-of-ultra-rare-special-effects-reels/

 

Pretty amazing footage and can't wait to see the rest of it. Glad it's being shared!

[Jason Stringer]

You're right, Justin. Very happy the winning bidder has decided to share the footage– looking forward to seeing more!

[melisa08]

I love it ♥

[GhettoExorcist]

A few observations about this amazing footage.

 

-The man standing beside the bed is more than likely not WPB.  It actually looks like it may be Owen Roizman.  If you watch his footage you can see why I'd say that, although my guess is it would be neither but maybe someone else working on the crew and standing in for lighting purposes.

-Linda appears to be wearing white (possibly Captain Howdy) makeup.  It's possible that this footage may be have been done very early in pre-production before it was scrapped for the version that eventually came to pass.

-It looks like they could have easily gotten away with a shot of the demon “body slamming” Regan, as seen in the first shot of the harness footage.  That would have looked even creepier than what's in the film, not taking anything away with what is.

 

If I had to guess, the footage that BD has leads up to something more and more amazing.  Fingers crossed that's it's something we didn't even know existed!!!

[Jason Stringer]

BD said the clips they will release in the coming days might show that it is WPB. I can see how it might not be him, though. It's hard to tell.

I think this footage was done closer to principal photography than we think. The set appears built and Linda's outfit is the one she wears in the film, these things usually aren't ready until late in pre-production.

I agree with you with the demon body slamming Regan, too. Some of that convulsion footage looked somehow more violent than what we see in the final film– or are we just used to seeing it now, perhaps? I remember it being extremely effective when first seeing the film. I wish I could go back to that time!

[GhettoExorcist]

Also the idea of Regan in
a straight jacket would have been interesting. It looks as if they had been considering it. Although I dont think it would have worked as well as it did in the final version.

[Justin]

Actually, I was wrong… this can't be the footage that was for sale on eBay as that came from Film Effects of Hollywood and had all their labels on it, and this BD footage was apparently Friedkin's personal copy (I mean, it’s the same footage, not the same copy). I do hope they have the early Eileen Dietz screentests with the white make-up similar to Captain Howdy.

 

Some of these tests were done in late July (the last one in the video is dated the 25th), only a couple of weeks before principal photography began. And notice how different the design of Regan's room looks? It seems Friedkin wanted a lot of last minute changes.

 

I also believe digital copies of this footage can be purchased/licensed here, if anyone is interested: http://www.producerslibrary.com

[GhettoExorcist]

I’ve tried using that site and it never lets me add anything to my bin

[Sofia]

“Some of these tests were done in late July (the last one in the video is dated the 25th),”

Uh-uh, most of these tests were done in September 1972.

[Justin]

Sofia said:

“Some of these tests were done in late July (the last one in the video is dated the 25th),”

Uh-uh, most of these tests were done in September 1972.

You can see the date in the footage, written on the clapperboard. It says 7-25-72. 

[Sofia]

It looks like a 7 (quality is really not that good, Ju) but I'm pretty sure it's 9. It looks like it was filmed around the time as these tests:

 

 

 

 

[Justin]

It's definitely a 7:

 

And this make-up test is dated August 2nd:

 

[Sofia]

This footage was shown on Linda's E&A bio. I have it on VHS and I remember I couldn't make out the date. 😉

[Sofia]

Oh my gosh!! Where did you get such a clear quality, Justin?? You never showed it to me!

[Author]

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