The Exorcist same name, and starring Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Max von Sydow, and Jason Miller. The film is part of "The Exorcist" franchise. The book, inspired by the 1949 exorcism of Roland Doe, deals with the demonic possession of a 12-year-old girl and her mother's attempts to win back her child through an exorcism conducted by two priests. The adaptation is relatively faithful to the book, which itself has been commercially successful (hitting the "New York Times" bestseller list). John Boorman's "" was released in 1977, and revisited Regan four years after her initial ordeal. The plot dealt with an investigation
Pazuzu (The Exorcist) was published, "The Exorcist" was released in theaters as a motion picture. In the beginning of the film, Father Merrin finds a ruined statue of the demon during a dig in Iraq. The majority of the film deals with Regan's demonic possession by a being she initially refers to as "Captain Howdy". During the attempted exorcism of Regan the statue of Pazuzu Merrin found at the beginning of the film briefly appears, The demon is ultimately exorcised out of Regan's body after Merrin dies of a heart attack, and Father Damien Karras sacrifices himself by luring the demon into his