The very sad breaking news is that the man who scared us shitless in the ‘70s with The Exorcist, William Peter Blatty, has passed away. He was 89.
Having penned the original novel, which has recently spawned a spin-off Sy-Fy channel series, the New Yorker picked up a Best Screenplay Oscar for Willie Friedkin’s blockbusting Hollywood adaptation of the demonic possession tale.
Team Hot Press are also major fans of the novels which preceded and followed it, Twinkly, Twinkle “Killer” Kane and The Ninth Configuration.
As coincidence would have it, this week sees the Netflix premiere of Hostage To The Devil, a documentary about the Kerry-born Jesuit priest, Malachi Martin, who was a real life Father Karras.

William Peter Blatty, dear friend and brother who created The Exorcist passed away yesterday

— William Friedkin (@WilliamFriedkin) January 13, 2017

Hostage to the Devil - Trailer 1 - (2016) from Causeway Pictures on Vimeo.