Televised 1971 exorcism inspires Screen Gems’ True Haunting

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

I was unaware of this, but in 1971, two years before THE EXORCIST (pictured above) reached theatres, NBC filmed and televised an exorcism, showing viewers an attempt to drive out the spirits that were inhabiting Edwin and Marsha Becker's Chicago home. Forty years later, Edwin wrote a book called TRUE HAUNTING about the experience (you can pick up a copy at THIS LINK). Now the story told in TRUE HAUNTING is about to brought to the big screen by Screen Gems.

Cindy Cowan optioned the book and will be producing the film. Steve Bersch, Scott Strauss, and Brian Dukes are overseeing the project.

THE CALL screenwriter Richard D'Ovidio is writing the script for TRUE HAUNTING, which will tell the 

terrifying true story of the first televised exorcism on NBC in 1971. Millions around the country watched the program. The NBC news segment was a success, the exorcism was not. Instead, it made things worse for the Becker family who lived there. Much worse.

The exorcism segment aired by NBC before things got "much worse" for the Beckers can be seen below. Beware, the audio is not great, but it is loud.

I'm quite burned out on exorcism horror movies myself, but there are exceptions that can get through my resistance to this sort of thing. I hope TRUE HAUNTING will turn out to be good enough to win me over.