19 Fascinating Facts About The Exorcist

It's hard to believe it's been 40 years since the release of the movie The Exorcist. The first horror film nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, it scared the pants of a generation to watch an innocent young girl succumb to a demon possessing her body. There are plenty of things you probably don't know about the movie, like the extra who was found to be a murderer.

17. Paul Bateson, who appeared briefly in film as an X-ray technician, is a suspected serial killer in real life.

Bateson was an X-ray technician at NYU Medical Center and served as an extra on the film.

In 1979, Bateson was convicted in the murder of film critic Addison Verrill. Authorities believe that he was also responsible for “the bag murders” of six other men — whose mutilated and dismembered body parts washed up in black plastic bags along the Hudson River.

That's just one of 19 Fascinating Facts About The Exorcist you can learn at Buzzfeed. There's plenty more.

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That's pretty neat about the old priest. Would never have guessed that it was makeup and whatnot to make him look older. Why can't they do convincing aging makeup nowadays??

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My best memory of The Exorcist: I read the book and did a book report at school before the movie came out. The next year, when we had book report assignments, they specifically said NO EXORCIST! Kids whined, "But MC did it!" The only reason for the restriction was because it would be easy to just see the movie instead of reading the book.

And the book was way scarier than the movie.

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