William Friedkin’s horror classic “The Exorcist”, based on the novel by William Peter Blatty, opens in the deserts of northern Iraq, where the elderly father Merrin (Max von Sydow) finds a mysterious demonic sculpture. The statue represents an animal head creature with angel -shaped wings and a snake between its legs. The statue is very worrying. Merrin knows that this demonic discovery will stress evil somewhere in the world. Merrin will remain absent for most of “The Exorcist”, only called to help when his vision is realized. In Washington, DC, a young girl by the name of Regan (Linda Blair) became a bodily possessed by a demon claiming to be the devil himself. The elderly priest will have to team up with Father Karras (Jason Miller) to remove the demon from the girl’s body.
Of course, connecting the details of “The Exorcist” seems to be a rude exercise, because it is one of the most popular horror films of all time. The film generated two suites, a pair of prequelles at war (read their history here) and a late restart. Another restart is in preparation. In addition, “The Exorcist” remains one of the most imitated films of all time, his iconography shamelessly reused by several generations of filmmakers. To date, any child possessed by a demon must be attached to a bed and growl in pain while a priest the holy water straw. This is practically part of the natural order.
The first scenes in Iraq in “The Exorcist” were filmed in northern Iraq, among the ruins of the ancient Mesopotamian city of Hatra. It is located about 68 miles southwest of Mosul and can be visited to date. It is also a site that some American military soldiers recognized when they were stationed there during the war in Iraq. The story tells that the soldiers, who recently watched “The Exorcist” on the domestic video, came out and saw the ruins that Friedkin had filmed several decades earlier. In an interview with Vulture in 2013, Friedkin recalled his interactions with the American army when they called to tell him that they were on his old set.
Tourist attraction on strange and short -lived exorcist theme
Although it was decades after the fact, a large part of the local extras of “The Exorcist” still lived in this city outside Mosul during the war in Iraq … and they remembered the filming of the film with clarity. Friedkin also recalled the experience and how surprising it was to receive a call from the military about his film. As he said:
“I received a call from the colonel of the lieutenant of the time, David Petraeus, who had gone to Mosul with the 101st Airborne shortly after the invasion of Iraq. He said that his soldiers looked ”The Exorcist ‘ On the video, they realized that the place they kept was the place where we had filmed the first scenes of the film. Many people who still lived there remembered me and the crew. “”
Of course, once they did this, the soldiers decided to transform the site into a miniature cinematographic tour. The peloton made a donation of $ 5,000 to the students of the University of Mosul, and they built a hasty tourist attraction where people could be taken to the ruins to see the real sites of “the exorcist”. According to Friedkin, the students went so far as to set up a parking lot, to build a local police station and even to build a Kebab stand for visitors. Friedkin continued:
“I think it was two or three Dinar for a visit they called” the exorcist experience “. Petraeus invited me to come and find some of the people with whom I worked in Iraq. He continued to be postponed and postponed, and finally we have lost Mosul, who is now one of the most dangerous places in Iraq.
It seems that Iraqi moviegoers, for a few moments on the run can visit filming sites “The Exorcist”. It is a shame that Friedkin could not return there at that time.
To date, however, we can always visit the exorcked stairs in Washington, DC.
