THE EXORCIST ( 1973)

Fires, injuries and a total of nine deaths surrounded the release of The Exorcist, considered one of the scariest— and, possibly deadliest— movies evermade at the time.

The set of the MacNeilhome infamously caught fire and pushed back production bymore than a month.

Actress Ellen Burstyn injured her tailbone— and subsequently suffered a permanent injury to her spine— when her‘ possessed’ onscreen daughter threwher across the room. Reportedly, her harness malfunctioned. “It became scary forus, because of the inexplicable things thatwere happening aswe shot,” said Burstyn later. “I had been on a spiritual retreat before I started filming, and in talking to the teacher, he said,‘ You’re playing with some really heavy energy. You should protect yourself.’… Hemade some tapes formeto use inmy meditation… Those tapes were in my dressing room with my tape recorder, [ but] before we started shooting, thatwas stolen.” In addition, actors Jack Mac Gowran and Vasiliki Maliaros, whose characters both die in the film, died in real- life while the movie was in post- production. The film was reportedly banned in the Middle East, except for Lebanon, due to the belief that itwas cursed. In Rome, where several viewers claimed to hear a demon- like scream for outside the cinema hall. One woman was overcome with fear and passed out, breaking her jawin the process and suing the filmmakers.

Other incidents include the cameraman’s wife having a stillborn baby and Jason Miller, whoplayed Father Karras, almost losing his son when he was struck by amotorcyclist on an empty beach.