Actress Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) has every reason to be content, having just completed a film with director Burke Dennings (Jack MacGowran). However, she becomes disturbed by the changes taking place in her 12-year-old daughter, Regan (Linda Blair). At first sullen and withdrawn, Regan becomes aggressive and blasphemous, and ugly welts appear on her face and body. No medical cure is forthcoming, and after Burke is killed by being thrown from Regan's window, Chris turns to local Jesuit priest Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller) for help. Karras then calls in exorcist Father Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow), who confirms that Regan is possessed by the devil. William Peter Blatty's screenplay, based on his own novel inspired by actual events, won an Oscar, and the film was deemed so powerful that it was refused a BBFC certificate for fifteen years.

Re-cut edition of the horror classic featuring 11 minutes of footage removed before its initial 1973 release, including the famous Spider Walk sequence. Actress Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) is disturbed by the changes taking place in her 12-year-old daughter, Regan (Linda Blair). At first sullen and withdrawn, Regan becomes aggressive and blasphemous, and ugly welts appear on her face and body. When no medical cure is forthcoming, Chris turns to local Jesuit priest Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller) for help. Karras is shocked by what he sees in the MacNeil home and calls in exorcist Father Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow), who confirms that Regan is indeed possessed by the devil.

This unstoppable publishing phenomenon was the inspiration behind one of the most successful horror movies of all time. A powerful presence has taken possession of the 12-year-old daughter of a film star. The ensuing battle between a doubt-ridden priest and the unspeakable horror within the girl is a classic war of good versus evil.

Father Damien Karras: 'Where is Regan?' Regan MacNeil: 'In here. With us.' The terror begins unobtrusively. Noises in the attic. In the child's room, an odd smell, the displacement of furniture, an icy chill. At first, easy explanations are offered. Then frightening changes begin to appear in eleven-year-old Regan. Medical tests fail to shed any light on her symptoms, but it is as if a different personality has invaded her body. Father Damien Karras, a Jesuit priest, is called in. Is it possible that a demonic presence has possessed the child? Exorcism seems to be the only answer... First published in 1971, The Exorcist became a literary phenomenon and inspired one of the most shocking films ever made. This edition, polished and expanded by the author, includes new dialogue, a new character and a chilling new extended scene, provides an unforgettable reading experience that has lost none of its power to shock and continues to thrill and terrify new readers.

Originally published in 1971, The Exorcist, one of the most controversial novels ever written, went on to become a literary phenomenon: It spent fifty-seven weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, seventeen consecutively at number one. Inspired by a true story of a child's demonic possession in the 1940s, William Peter Blatty created an iconic novel that focuses on Regan, the eleven-year-old daughter of a movie actress residing in Washington, D.C. A small group of overwhelmed yet determined individuals must rescue Regan from her unspeakable fate, and the drama that ensues is gripping and unfailingly terrifying.

Two years after its publication, The Exorcist was, of course, turned into a wildly popular motion picture, garnering ten Academy Award nominations. On opening day of the film, lines of the novel's fans stretched around city blocks. In Chicago, frustrated moviegoers used a battering ram to gain entry through the double side doors of a theater. In Kansas City, police used tear gas to disperse an impatient crowd who tried to force their way into a cinema. The three major television networks carried footage of these events; CBS's Walter Cronkite devoted almost ten minutes to the story. The Exorcist was, and is, more than just a novel and a film: it is a true landmark.

Purposefully raw and profane, The Exorcist still has the extraordinary ability to disturb readers and cause them to forget that it is "just a story." Published here in this beautiful fortieth anniversary edition, it remains an unforgettable reading experience and will continue to shock and frighten a new generation of readers.

Hidden away in a brooding Gothic manor in the deep woods is Center Eighteen, a secret military "rest camp" currently housing twenty-seven inmates, all officers who have succumbed to a sudden outbreak of mental illness. Have the men truly lost their minds, are they only pretending to be insane to avoid combat, or is some more sinister conspiracy at work?
Desperate for answers, the Pentagon has placed a brilliant Marine psychiatrist in charge of the base and its deranged occupants. A man of deep faith and compassion, Colonel Kane hopes to uncover the root of the men's bizarre obsessions. But as Center Eighteen descends into chaos, Kane finds the greatest challenge may be his own buried demons. . . .
The basis of an acclaimed 1980 film (also known as" Twinkle, Twinkle, "Killer" Kane"), William Peter Blatty's "The Ninth Configuration" is a thought-provoking, blackly comic journey into the heart of madness--and the outer limits of belief.