Eli Roth

is possessed by his new movie The Last Exorcism

Girls and Corpses: Why another exorcist movie? What makes this one different than William Freidkin’s The Exorcist?

Eli Roth: The Exorcist traumatized me as a child. But that film was over 30 years ago. I think that the subject of possession is so fascinating and terrifying to so many that there are other stories you can tell. We were very careful to acknowledge that this movie exists in a world where the characters are aware of The Exorcist, but then doesn’t show any of the things so strongly associated with it. We wanted it to feel very real, like a real possession, if you were in the room with that person. We didn’t want yellow eyes and vomit; we wanted something that felt raw and unrehearsed, like some other entity took over this body.

G&C: Do you believe in real exorcisms? What did you learn about exorcisms that surprised you?

ER: I don’t believe in possession but I know that many do, and who’s to say they’re not right.  Being the son of a psychiatrist I heard about all kinds of psychological problems people can have. I’m very curious and fascinated by it. But something that really surprised me was in 2008 when the Pope made a big speech saying that the solution to the world’s evil was...

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