The Exorcist

"Yes, it was inspired by a real exorcism. It starts with a young girl playing with a Ouija board. It’s kind of friendly, ‘Oh, haha! It’s a game. It’s not real.’ And then things get real. We know that there are exorcists in the church, and a belief in good versus evil, the Devil, spirits. This girl gets possessed by one particular demon, Pazuzu. He’s actually a Mesopotamian demon; you can see his amulet at the British Museum. I wrote a book called Tales of the Dark Feminine, and Pazuzu wasn’t always looked on as evil. But it’s Christianity versus the pagan and in The Exorcist the demonic entering into this young girl playing a supposedly innocent game. She’s at an age where she’s not a child, but she’s not yet a young woman. It’s quite frightening. It’s like, ‘Who is safe from evil?’ We often think of young girls as very vulnerable. How do you keep them safe? You’re not going to possess a baby, because a baby can’t do anything or say anything. What’s the next scariest thing? A young girl on the cusp of becoming a woman, a tween. At first, the book didn’t do so well. It took a while. Then the film came out, and that was it. It was horrifying. People were physically sick. It was a smash hit. It’s one of my favorite films. It’s really well done. Yes, by far."