Full Blu-ray Details to Make Your Head Spin – The Exorcist
Steve Barton
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Along with Fox’s Blu-ray release of the Alien box set and Universal’s Blu-ray release of Psycho, there’s only one other Blu-ray release this year that has our blood boiling like holy water on the skin of a demon – Warner Brothers’ Blu-ray edition of The Exorcist. We’ve got all the details for what is to be the mother of all Exorcist releases!
The following just came in from Blu-ray.com:
“Warner Home Video has announced The Exorcist for release on October 5 in a two-disc Digibook edition, packaged with a personal letter written by director William Friedkin inside a 40-page booklet. Both the extended director’s cut and the theatrical version of this 1973 horror masterpiece will be included, remastered from the original camera negative. Three new documentaries, produced by acclaimed documentarian Laurent Bouzereau, are also included exclusively in the Blu-ray edition.
Regarding the two versions, director William Friedkin says, “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.”
Said Jeff Baker, WHV Executive VP & General Manager, Theatrical Catalog, “Generally speaking, sourcing relevant and provocative film assets for older films (30 years and older) is difficult and, more often than not, proves to be unsuccessful. The never before seen behind the camera treasure trove of material that consumers will see in The Exorcist Blu-ray release is one of the great finds in modern day home entertainment history. Laurent Bouzereau, an acclaimed documentarian, has blended this archival rare footage with updated present day interviews to create a masterpiece that will be treasured and studied for decades to come.”
Disc contents are as follows:
Disc 1: – Extended Director’s Cut (2000) plus Special Features
Disc 2 – Theatrical Cut (1973) plus Special Features
o William Friedkin
o William Peter Blatty with Special Sound Effects Tests
o The Original Cut
o Stairway to Heaven
o The Final Reckoning
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