Warner Home Video has announced William Friedkin’s original The Exorcist will receive a red carpet treatment when it arrives on Blu-ray Disc for the first time on October 5. A new DVD version will be available the same day.
The Exorcist Blu-ray will span two discs and be housed in a digi-book case with a personal letter written by Friedkin and a 40-page booklet with striking photos, cast bios, revealing production notes and more.
The theatrical and extended director’s cut versions will both be included with Friedkin offering the following remarks about the extended cut, “After my final cut of the original The Exorcist, I took out 12 more minutes before we actually released it in theatres. Years later, Bill Blatty asked if I’d consider reviewing some of that rejected footage (which he always felt should have remained) with an eye towards putting it into a new version. Bill gave me the best piece of material I’ve ever received and because of that and because the film had such a major reputation over some 25 years, I agreed to revisit all these scenes. When I saw them, I came to realize that Bill was, in fact, right. With technical advances, scenes that didn’t work then could now be fixed with CGI and there were others that I thought strengthened the spiritual aspect of the film. Warner agreed and released a whole new theatrical print in 2000 which we called The Exorcist: The Version You’ve Never Seen. And I now agree with Blatty that this is the best and most complete version.”
Three of the bonus features are newly created for the this release and included with the director’s cut on disc one. The complete breakout of features by disc are as follows.
Disc 1 – Extended Director’s Cut (2000)
- Commentary by William Friedkin
- NEW BD Exclusive: Raising Hell: Filming the Exorcist — set footage produced and photographed by Owen Roizman, camera and makeup tests, and interviews with director William Friedkin, actress Linda Blair, author/screenwriter/producer William Peter Blatty and Owen Roizman.
- NEW BD Exclusive: The Exorcist Locations: GeorgetownThen and Now — Featuring a tour of the iconic locations where the film was shot.
- NEW BD Exclusive: Faces of Evil: The Different Versions of The Exorcist — with director William Friedkin and author/screenwriter/producer William Peter Blatty discussing the different versions of the film and featuring outtakes from the film.
- Trailers, TV Spots & Radio Spots from the film’s 2000 release
- Trailers
- The Version You’ve Never Seen
- Our Deepest Fears
- TV Spots
- Most Electrifying
- Scariest Ever
- Returns
- Radio Spots
- The Devil Himself
- Our Deepest Fears
Disc 2 – Theatrical Cut (1973)
- Introduction by William Friedkin
- Commentary by William Friedkin
- Commentary by William Peter Blatty with Special Sound Effects Tests
- The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist [1998 BBC documentary]
- Additional Interviews with William Friedkin and William Peter Blatty
- The Original Cut
- Stairway to Heaven
- The Final Reckoning
- Sketches & Storyboards
- Trailers
- Nobody Expected It
- Beyond Comprehension
- Flash Image
- TV Spots
- Beyond Comprehension
- You Too Can See The Exorcist
- Between Science & Superstition
- The Movie You’ve Been Waiting For
The Exorcist on Blu-ray carries an SRP of $34.99.
