7 questions I STILL have after watching The Exorcist

With Halloween fast approaching it’s time to dig out a horror classic - and what better movie to watch this All Hallow’s Eve than The Exorcist? It’s got everything, demons, priests, projectile vomiting… you know what else it has? A whole load of unanswered questions! Yes, that’s right, no one ever talks about how the classics have just as many plot holes, unconfirmed events, and inexplicable deaths as modern-day movies and here at GR+ we like answers - or at least, good guesses - which is why I’m running down the list of questions (with major spoilers) I still have after watching The Exorcist. 

Read more: Is it just me, or is The Last Exorcism better than The Exorcist?

1. What was the significance of the artifact Father Merrin dug up?

The beginning of The Exorcist doesn’t start in Georgetown with the MacNeil family, but on an archaeological dig in the ancient city of Hatra in Iraq. Father Merrin uncovers an artifact which looks like a small demonic figurine head and it obviously disturbs him. We then spend a good deal of time following him on his travels around Iraq until he eventually comes across a much larger statue of the same demon within some ruins. The whole thing obviously holds some significance to him, but it’s never really explained. The statue reappears later on in the movie during a scene where the possessed Regan is thrashing around on the bed and it’s widely assumed that it’s a depiction of the demon Pazuzu who is possessing her. Did digging up his artifact in Iraq unleash him? If so, then what’s so important about that specific statute when there was a massive one out in the open elsewhere this whole time?

Read more: The 25 best horror movies based on true stories

2. How did Regan become possessed in the first place? 

This element is sort of skimmed over in the movie, which considering it's a film about exorcising the demon is a bit weird. How did Regan become possessed? Her behavior simply appears to slowly change over time, so much so, that, in the beginning, you could argue she was simply turning into a teenager (that is until the crucifix stabbing). There is a Ouija board and a mention of an imaginary friend - Captain Howdy - in the film but we never see it in action. Having said that, the book which the movie is based on goes into more detail and reveals that it is indeed through the Ouija board which the demon comes to possess Regan. Exorcist 2: The Heretic tried to say that Regan has psychic powers and this is how and why Pazuzu possessed her, but considering how bad that sequel is, let’s pretend it never happened. 

Read more: The 25 best horror movies to scare you senseless this Halloween

3. How did Father Karras’ mum die alone when she was in a hospital?

It’s clear how Father Karras’ mum died - she was old and terminally ill - but what’s bothering me is that the movie never explains how she came to die alone in her flat. We hear the news of her death from a friend of Karras who specifically says that she sadly died alone at home and wasn’t found for a few days... While that’s pretty disturbing in it’s own right, it’s also quite confusing because the last time we saw Mama Karras she was tied down to a bed in a mental hospital surrounded by people. I think what probably happened is that Father Karras took his mother out of that hospital just like he said he would, but as the family couldn’t afford to put her into a nice care home, he had no choice but to take her back to her flat where he ultimately had to leave her to go to work. Given that all this happens off-screen it’s just a wild stab in the dark, but I can’t think of any other way to explain it so let’s go with it.

Read more: The 10 best found footage horror movies

4. Why did the demon kill Burke Dennings?

Another major event which we never see on screen is the death of Chris MacNeil’s director friend Burke Dennings. He apparently comes round to see Chris and Sharon leaves him watching over Regan while she nips out to pick up some medicine, but when she returns Dennings is dead on the street below having fallen (or been pushed?) from Regan’s bedroom window. Although it’s officially seen as a terrible accident by the authorities, Regan’s mum knows she had something to do with it and even tells Father Karras as much. But why would the demon kill him specifically and no one else? Was it just that it never really had the opportunity to kill anyone else in the household? Did it somehow convince Dennings to untie it and seized it’s opportunity for bloodshed? And if so, why didn’t it escape into the night and how did it tie itself back up? Perhaps Pazuzu was tapping into Regan’s sense of unease about Dennings who she believed might marry her mum, but that still doesn’t explain how it forced him out of the window. 

Read more: The 30 best Halloween horror movies you can stream on Netflix, Amazon Prime (and more) now

5. How did Father Merrin die?

It’s pretty obvious that his heart gave out as he attempts to exorcise the demon from Regan, but given that we don’t see it happen, I feel like it’s worth mentioning. Father Karras simply walks in to find Merrin face down on the bed with the possessed Regan cackling in the corner - did she kill him? Probably not… at least, not directly. We know Merrin is old, the priests who recommend him say as much, and he takes (heart?) pills through the film suggesting he’s not in the best of health. It’s probably all just a bit too much for the old fella and he conked out there and then. Case closed. 

Read more: 15 dark horror movie endings that will chill you to the bone

6. Where did the demon go when Father Karras died?

It feels veeeeeeeeery convenient to me that forcing the demon into himself and then committing suicide got rid of Pazuzu. Surely the demon would have just jumped into the nearest person he could possess once he realised his host was dying - there were certainly plenty around at the time. On the other hand, I’m no possession expert and perhaps the demon has to have a living host to stay in our world and as soon as Karras died he was sent back to wherever (presumable hell?) he came from. Or… maybe he’s still out there!

Read more: The 25 best zombie movies that will turn you veggie

7. Why doesn’t Regan remember anything?

Shock-horror: another movie ends with the victim having no memory of the traumatising events which happened to them... do we really believe that? I guess you could argue that it was really Pazuzu the whole time who did those things, so why would Regan remember? But in the rebooted TV show - spoilers to come if you want to remain surprised - it’s revealed that she’s the mum of the possessed girl at the centre of that story and that she remembers everything from her own possession all those years ago. So, was she lying? Well, maybe… denial would certainly be more appealing than the alternative, but I think it’s more likely that the memories simply came back to her over time. And probably made for some interesting therapy sessions…

Read more: 12 Halloween-themed movies to make you laugh, cry, and hide behind the sofa

Lauren O'Callaghan

Lauren O'Callaghan is the former Entertainment Editor of GamesRadar+. You'd typically find Lauren writing features and reviews about the latest and greatest in pop culture and entertainment, and assisting the teams at Total Film and SFX to bring their excellent content onto GamesRadar+. Lauren is now the digital marketing manager at the National Trust.

Read more
The 30 best horror movies of all time: pictures from The Wicker Man, The Shining, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and Hereditary.
The 30 best horror movies that will haunt you long after the credits roll
The toy monkey in Osgood Perkins' new horror comedy The Monkey
The Monkey ending explained: Who dies and is the curse broken?
Best Amazon Prime horror movies: Kiernan Shipka as Jamie Hughes holding a bat and a wrench during the movie Totally Killer.
The 10 best Amazon Prime horror movies to watch right now
Pulse
The 32 greatest sci-fi horror movies
Fear Street on Netflix
The 25 best Netflix horror movies to watch right now
Best movies on Amazon: An image of Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
The 25 best movies on Amazon Prime to watch right now
Latest in Comedy Movies
John Cena in Barbie
John Cena comedy Coyote Vs. Acme might come out after all, over a year after it was controversially shelved
Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore 2
29 years later, Happy Gilmore 2 trailer sees Adam Sandler return to the course with familiar faces – and confirms release date
Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jonah Hill, and Michael Cera in Superbad
Seth Rogen says Sony wouldn't let Jonah Hill use a PlayStation in Superbad as his character was too "reprehensible": "They're like, 'We can't have him interact with our products'"
Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan in Freakier Friday
Freaky Friday 2 trailer promises more body-swap hilarity from Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan in long-awaited sequel
Jenna Ortega as Astrid Deetz in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice 2 star Jenna Ortega would love to star in another classic horror comedy franchise: Gremlins
This is Spinal Tap
First Spinal Tap 2 teaser reveals release date for comedy sequel that’s over 40 years in the making
Latest in Features
Kill Team: Blood and Zeal box on a wooden surface
Kill Team: Blood and Zeal pre-orders just went live, and I wish other Warhammer games were this weird
Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman.
DC June 2025 solicitations: 10 must-have comics to pre-order this month
Flow
Flow won big as this year's Oscars underdog against Pixar and Netflix, and it's proof of the power of storytelling over dialogue
Yasuke riding through a village looking for Knowledge in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Assassin's Creed Shadows' prologue is the most gripping in franchise history, but I'm fixated on the tiny details
Naoe blends in among lush trees in Assassin's Creed Shadows while observing Amagasaki Castle from a rooftop perch
After 18 years Assassin's Creed Shadows cracks the ultimate stealth loop with its deliciously dense castles
Naoe perched in front of a castle in Assassin's Creed Shadows
I've spent 20 hours in Assassin's Creed Shadows chasing drip and decor, and it's proving to be my biggest source of motivation in the RPG