“The Exorcist Extended Director’s Cut” Special Screening Pre-Reception
William Peter Blatty — who terrified America with his novel and screenplay for "The Exorcist" — has passed away at the age of 89 in New York City, spending his final years telling the world that he was in constant communication with his dead son! His fellow fear icon
Stephen King quickly went to social media to declare: "RIP William Peter Blatty, who wrote the great horror novel of our time."
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Blatty found instant fame with the success of "The Exorcist" in 1971, and later won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay when the movie became a monster hit after being released over the Christmas holidays in 1973. The author later lost his son at the age of 19, when Peter Blatty died of a rare heart disorder.
William Peter Blatty
He published a memoir in 2015 titled "Finding Peter," and said of his son: "Since his passing at the age of nineteen, he has given Julie, his mother, and me unremitting strong evidence that his death, like all human death, is a lie!"
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LA Screening Of “The Exorcist” Re-Release
Blatty backed up his comments by going on to direct a film adaptation of "Killer Kane" in 1980, and also helmed 1990's "The Exorcist III" — both of which bombed at the box-office, but are critically-acclaimed today. (He's seen here with "Exorcist" star
Linda Blair in 2000.) In 2016, Blatty finally saw his original director's cut of "The Exorcist III" — retitled "Legion" — released to the home video market.
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