Cool Videos: Check out this never before seen special effects test footage from The Exorcist

I am a huge fan of THE EXORCIST. I love all of the stories surrounding how it was filmed and the urban legends about the production being cursed. I used to live in the Washington, DC area and visited the fabled staircase many times. It is a powerful movie that holds up very well today. Every Halloween I try to watch it at least once because there are few horror movies that are as good as William Friedkin’s masterpiece.

Having been released numerous times on home video formats, I didn’t think that there was much more we could learn about what went into making THE EXORCIST. The features on the extended DVD are fairly exhaustive, but it looks like that was not everything. Bloody Disgusting somehow got their hands on a never before seen video from THE EXORCIST that show the special effects testing on the levitation and bed whipping scenes. This footage is pretty amazing as it still looks as good as the final product.

Even cooler to note it the fact the footage was labled as “Warner Bros color timed anamorphic test” which means Friedkin may have originally thought about filming in 35mm instead of 16mm. Most viewers probably wouldn’t care, but us film geeks know that could have changed the scope and feel of the final product.

Check out this exciting footage!

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