William Friedkin tweeted this out today.

RIP

RIP to the man behind one of the scariest and greatest horror films ever made.
Also the excellent Exorcist III & The Ninth Configuration.

Not to mention A Shot in the Dark.

Yup, in his early career he collaborated on scripts with Blake Edwards.

I read the novel The Exorcist a few years ago and was struck by how closely the movie followed the book, down to visual details. Most of it reads like Blatty was just transcribing the movie, but of course, he wrote the book first.

I met him back in 2000 when I worked SXSW Film Fest as a projectionist and we screened The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen. First time that version was seen on the big screen and he was in attendance. Made it even more weird and fun when bats started flying around the theater at a tense scene which caused a lot of people to scream. He said that made it for a fun experience. RIP.

The Exorcist is one of two horror books that really scared the crap out of me. And the movie is one of my favorites. Sorry to see him go

Rip

RIP. Mr. Blatty

Scariest film I've ever seen, and I think I've seen them all.

He's with Pazuzu now.

I don't belong to the "God Is Alive And Hiding In Argentina" club, but I believe in the devil, all right.
You know why? Because the prick keeps doing commercials!

if theres an open casket a really good mortician would figure out a way to make his head do a 360 spin while there was a viewing of the body.

RIP.

Rest in Peace

RIP to a great writer. I'm not religious but his examination of the nature of faith was deeply moving.

Tonight and early tomorrow (1/21 and 1/22/17) Antenna TV is running a January 1974 episode of Johnny Carson with Blatty (also featuring Fernando Lamas, Richard Pryor, and Robyn Hilton).