The Exorcist is finally getting the theme park treatment it deserves
Because nothing says “lingering religious guilt”—and a universe in which evil is real, indiscriminate, and capable of destroying our lives at a moment’s notice—like a bunch of poorly paid teenagers splashing pea soup on each other while bored families look on in simulated horror, Universal Studios has announced that it’ll be bringing William Friedkin and William Blatty’s The Exorcist to its annual “Halloween Horror Nights” event. The influential 1973 horror film will be featured in both the company’s Orlando and Hollywood locations, where Florida attendees will get to “hear, feel—and even smell—” (gross) “every iconic levitating, head-spinning, vomit-wrenching, skin-crawling moment,” while attendees at Universal Studios Hollywood will be treated to “The Exorcist Maze,” in which they’ll get to emulate the experience of the franchise’s producers, as they chase after a terrifying spectral presence known as “diminishing returns.”