This year we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of one of Horrors most iconic films.

Here is a film that I hold in very high regard.

I can’t count how many nightmares this film has given me over the years. You see, I was brought up in a religious household so watching the film was more like watching something that could possibly happen to me and that terrified me.

The weird thing was is that I kept going back for more and even to this day, even though I’m not a religious person myself, it still terrifies me. Maybe it’s my sub-concious remembering the fright I had as a child up-on watching this, whatever it is it has definitely left a permanent mark on me.

Over the years and with repeated viewings I learned more and more about the film and why I enjoyed it so much. Whether it was the magnificent cinematography (which I still find amazing) or the fantastic story telling, I just kept finding more things to love about it.

I’d love to have been there right at the beginning, watching those videos of the audience in the cinemas screaming and fainting, I think weve all seen the videos of it in documentaries and such but to have been there to actually witness the hysteria of it all, that must’ve been something.

The film has so many memorable and truly iconic scenes and provides the viewer an atmosphere that will never be recreated in any film, EVER, no matter how hard you try. Seriously though, that atmosphere is just truly incredible, it never ceases to amaze me.

From the get go there’s such an uneasy feeling and that ramps up as the film goes on, it never lets you get comfortable. Even after the credits roll, you’re still left with that feeling of dread, it’s no wonder some people felt traumatised by this feature.

This film also features some of the greatest cinematography featured in a film, not just Horror, all of film. Whilst you’re sat there, your nerves on high alert and your heart beat gets faster, your eyes are treated to some amazing and beautiful scenes.

It’s easy to miss some of these scenes due to your attention being promarily focused on the story, we all know the iconic scene when ‘Father Merrin’ (played by the great Max Von Sydow) turns up at the house but there’s plenty more.

Let’s not also forget that this film was considered one of the first ‘cursed’ films. Sadly there were a number of deaths said to have occurred during the making of and shortly after the completion of “The Exorcist”, the reports vary upto about nine deaths.

Five of those deaths were said to have happened before the film was even released, sadly those deaths included a camera mans new born child and Max Von Sydow’s brother. There were also said to be more truly eerie events that happened during production too.

Jason Miller who played ‘Father Karras’, had a son named Jordan that was seriously injured during the filming; Jordan was hit by a speeding motorbike and ended up in intensive care. In addition, Jason himself reported having a strange occurrence while working on the set of “The Exorcist”. Miller would often study his lines in a restaurant; on one occasion he was approached by a priest and handed a medallion of the Blessed Virgin.

The old priest told Miller that he was giving him the medallion as a form of intervention; he warned Miller that if anyone does anything to “reveal the devil for the trickster that he is, he will seek retribution against you or he will even try to stop what you are trying to do to unmask him.” The priest then advised Miller that the medallion would protect him and warned him to be very careful.

Ellen Burstyn, who played ‘Regan’s mother, was injured on the set during filming. In the scene where she is checking on her daughter and later thrown away from the bed, she received a permanent injury to her spine: the harness that was used to shoot the scene pulled her away quickly and when she landed, Burstyn landed on her coccyx. The scream seen immediately following the moment when she’s tossed away from the bed is a very real scream, produced by the agonizing pain the actress experienced.

There are also reports of a carpenter being seriously injured while building the sets for the movie and some reports claim that a carpenter lost some of his fingers while working on the set. The Assistant Director of the film, Terrance Donnelly, has also made claims pertaining to strange events surrounding “The Exorcist”.

Donnelly reports that in all his years of filmmaking, he never once experienced a set catching on fire; actress Ellen Burstyn concurs with Donnelly, explaining that the set caught on fire when no one was at the location at the time. The first set of the ‘MacNeil’ home actually burned down in an unexplained accident and had to be rebuilt. The film’s director then requested that Reverend Thomas Bermingham conduct an exorcism to relieve the anxiety of the cast and crew: the exorcism was refused.

Instead the Reverend performed a blessing for the cast and crew, and the blessing had to be repeated again when the location where the movie was being shot changed. Publicist Joe Hyams asserts that the fire set the production back a period of six weeks. Donnelly further explained that there was no logical explanation determined for the fire and that the cause remains till this day, unknown.

Marcel Vercoutere, responsible for some of the movie’s special effects, reports feeling very eerie when working on the set: “There was definitely a feeling that it could happen, we were playing around with something that we shouldn’t have been playing around with”. Writer of the novel “The Exorcist”, William Peter Blatty reported having unexplained experiences as well: on one occasion, Blatty’s now former wife reported seeing the telephone rise up off the hook into the air unaided.

At first Blatty didn’t quite believe something like that could happen; a few days passed when he was sitting next to the same telephone when it rang: he went to reach for a pack of cigarettes before answering and watched as the telephone receiver rose up off the cradle unaided and landed near the phone.

Honestly, I could go on and on and on about this film. There are so many stories that surround this film, whether you believe them or not is another matter, but there’s no deying it adds to the mystique and legend of it all and I love it.

It’s been 50 years since “The Exorcist” was released and I can honestly say that if it was released today it would still be a hit, I stand by that as well. It’s the supernatural film that all over films are compared to and nothing has ever topped it.

So what else is there to do but wish one of my all time favourite films a ‘Happy Anniversary!’, I think I’m going to watch it and take it all in again.