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Profs and Pints presents: “The Exorcist’s Power,” with David Wilt, professorial lecturer in film studies at George Washington University.
William Peter Blatty’s best-selling 1971 novel The Exorcist, based on actual events in the Washington DC area in the late 1940s, gave rise to a film that was, and remains, extremely popular and influential. Premiering in theaters in 1973, The Exorcist changed how films depict devil worship, demons, and supernatural possession, much as George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead caused the “cannibal zombie” genre to replace the “voodoo zombie” genre.
The Exorcist inspired numerous devil-possession focused films, novels, and television shows from the 1970s to the present day. These include a number of official sequels or prequels, parodies, and imitations produced in the U.S. and elsewhere. Among them are the notorious “Turkish Exorcist” (Seytan), Italy’s Demon Witch Child and Beyond the Door, and Mexico’s Satánico pandemonium (a.k.a La sexorcista).
Wilt will discuss the original case that inspired Blatty, the best-selling book itself, the film The Exorcist and its many cinematic offspring, and the DC area locales that factored into the film. His talk is a can’t-miss event for horror-film buffs and folks willing to sleep with the lights on for the rest of October. Your head just might spin, and you’re double-dared to stroll out of talk and make a pilgrimage to Georgetown’s Exorcist stairs. (Advance tickets $12. Doors: $15, save $2 with a student ID.)
