The Exorcist Ending Explained
The 1973 horror classic The Exorcist wraps up with a dramatic exorcism that saves 12-year-old Regan MacNeil from demonic possession, but leaves Father Damien Karras dead after he sacrifices himself to banish the evil spirit. In the story, Regan’s mother Chris MacNeil calls in priests when medical help fails against her daughter’s bizarre symptoms like speaking in voices, superhuman strength, and levitating. Two priests take on the job: the experienced Father Merrin and the doubting Father Karras, who first thinks Regan is just sick in the mind.
As the ritual goes on in Regan’s bedroom, the demon inside her fights back hard. It mocks the priests, makes objects fly around, and even kills Father Merrin with a sudden heart attack. Karras, now alone, gets angry and demands the demon go into him instead. The demon agrees, jumping into Karras’s body. He smashes his head against a wall to fight it, then runs down the stairs and jumps out the window to his death on the sharp steps below. This act forces the demon out for good, leaving Karras’s body broken but freeing Regan completely.
Right after, Regan wakes up normal, with no memory of the horror. She meets Karras’s mother briefly in a touching moment before the MacNeils leave town. The film ends quietly with Chris driving away, Regan waving goodbye to a kind detective, and a sense that faith won out over pure evil. Director William Friedkin built this climax to show exorcism as real and risky, drawing from a true 1949 case of a boy possessed that inspired the book by William Peter Blatty. For more on the plot, check out this video summary at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8rlIAEPs0o[4].
People still debate if the ending proves demons exist or just explores doubt and belief. Karras starts skeptical but ends up a hero through self-sacrifice, tying into big themes of good versus evil. The movie shocked audiences back then with its raw scares, and this finale cements why it stays scary today. Note that later films like The Exorcist: Believer connect back, where Regan returns as an adult to help others, as detailed on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exorcist:_Believer[1].
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exorcist:_Believer
https://www.imdb.com/news/ni64696951/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m9t7IUTS1E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8rlIAEPs0o
https://parade.com/news/jamie-lee-curtis-mom-janet-leigh-didnt-let-her-audition-the-exorcist
https://screenrant.com/mike-flanagan-exorcist-movie-jacobi-jupe-cast/
https://talesmoonlitpath.com/horror-movie-endings-some-are-better-than-others-by-paul-lonardo/
