A rotating head. A levitating teenager. Pea purée puke. Your mother sucks cocks in hell. The power of Christ compels you. Even if you’ve never seen The Exorcist, you’re almost certainly aware of The Exorcist, with the film’s legend now just a part of pop culture folklore. But for actress Eileen Dietz, who played the terrifying demon Pazuzu that possesses 12-year-old Regan (played by Linda Blair), being connected with the iconic horror was, for many years, a thankless task.
With those evil eyes and defiant growl, which occasionally breaks out into a sinister smile, the face of Pazuzu is directly responsible for the nightmares of millions of people (this author included). The face may only flash up on the screen four or five times as a subliminal image during the movie, but whenever it does, it really feels like you’ve come face-to-face with a pure incarnation of evil. Yet many people still don’t know it was Dietz (who for many years went un-credited) under all of that make-up, or that it was her, not Linda Blair, who acted as Regan in some of the film’s most iconic scenes.
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