The Myths and Realities Behind <em>The Exorcist</em>

is to exorcisms what to the Mafia: That is, the film is the font of every cliché about its subject and barely rooted in fact. Just as Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 mobster classic invented many of its gangland rituals out of thin air, William Friedkin’s landmark 1973 horror movie didn’t have much to do with the it was based on. One could view Friedkin’s new documentary, as an act of atonement, since it involves Friedkin shooting a real-life exorcism in all its mundanity. But more than that, the film feels like a director thinking back