Linda Blair as Regan MacNeil, Max von Sydow as Fr Merrin and Jason Miller as Fr Karras in The Exorcist. Photograph: Silver Screen CollectionMemories of The Exorcist still possess the imagination and autumn pattern of Washington DC’s Georgetown University set more than 50 years on. And when the students don their Halloween Night gothic costumes, they have a timeless set in Healy Hall and the famous “Exorcist Steps as Insta” props. And Georgetown can claim a central role in a film which, upon its release in 1973, caused a genuine sensation across the United States. In that sense, the supernatural power which The Exorcist held over the United States of 50 years ago reflects a kind of collective naivety and the central role of religion then in everyday life.
