1.

FADE IN:

WARNER LOGO FOLLOWED BY MINIMAL OPENING TITLES DONE IN BLACK

LETTERING WHITE BACKGROUND, WE THEN LOSE THE FINAL TITLE,
RETAINING THE WHITE BACKGROUND WHICH QUICKLY GIVES WAY TO:

FULL SHOT - BROILING NOON SUM

1 EXT. EXCAVATION SITE - NINEVAH - DAWN 1

An OLD MAN in khakis works at section of mound with

excavating pick. (In b.g. there may be TWO KURDISH ASSISTANTS
carefully packing the day's finds.) The old man now makes a
find. He extracts it gingerly from the mound, begins to dust
it off then reacts with dismay upon recognizing a green stone
amulet in the figure of the demon Pazuzu.

CLOSE SHOT - PERSPIRATION POURING DOWN OLD MAN'S BROW

CLOSE SHOT - OLD MAN'S HANDS

Trembling, they reach across rude wooden table and cup

themselves around a steaming glass of hot tea, as if for
warmth.

CLOSE SHOT - OLD MAN’S FACE

The eyes staring off, haunted, as if by some chilling

premonition — and some frightening remembrance.

2 EXT. LONG SHOT - ROADSIDE CHAYKHANA - ERBIL AREA - DAY 2

SUPERIMPOSE: NORTHERN IRAQ. The chaykhana (teahouse) is set

among poppied, green hills and athwart a ragged, rock-strewn
bolt of road. In the background, the beautiful mound-city of
Erbil floats upward, scraping the cloud. The KURDISH
PROPRIETOR is seen leaning in the Chaykhana doorway. He
watches the only other character visible, the OLD MAN, who
sits at an outdoor table, inexplicably cold beneath the fiery
sun. Abstractedly, he sips at his tea. Nearby, parked off the
road, an ancient jeep. LOSE SUPER. The Proprietor shuffles
out, stands beside the Old Man, speaks to him in Kurdish
indistinctly. The Old Man appears not to hear at first; then
comes to, looks up at Kurd, shakes head mutely, and reaches
into shirt pocket, removing coins to pay for his tea.

CLOSE SHOT - COINS SLIPPED ONTO TABLE

CLOSE SHOT - IGNITION KEY IN JEEP

 2.

The Old Man's hand reaches into FRAME, starts engine. The
jeep takes off, disappearing down the road. The Kurd comes
into FRAME, and we end CLOSE on him as he watches the jeep.
Mirrored in his face are sadness; love; respect.

3 INT. ROOM IN MOSUL - CURATOR OF ANTIQUITIES OFFICE - DAY 3

The CAMERA is in notion, SLOHLY PANNING the tagged finds of a

recent archeological dig now spread out in near rows on a
long table. The CAMERA STOPS finally at an Assyrian pendant
as the CURATOR'S HAND reaches INTO FRAME, lifting tag on
pendant so that-the writing on it can be read by him. The
only SOUND is the soft, regular TICKING of an old-fashioned
pendulum CLOCK.

CLOSE SHOT - LEDGER

containing entries of the finds. It is clearly headed (in the

Curator's handwriting) "Nineveh Excavation: Merrin." On a
fresh line of the entries, Curator's hand now writes:
"Pendant, Assyrian; Palace of Assurbani -- " Here, the hand
breaks off.

CLOSE SHOT - ARAB CURATOR

He is seated at same table on which rest the finds and is

looking up curiously from ledger at someone O.S.

CLOSE SHOT - OLD MAN

He is standing over another section of the same table.

He is staring down at something on it. O.S.

CLOSE SHOT - AMULET ON TABLE

Tagged, it is the Pazuzu amulet.

CLOSE SHOT - CURATOR

His gaze is now on the amulet. Softly:

CURATOR
Evil against evil.

INTERCUT OLD HAM AND CURATOR

The Old Man does not react, continuing to stare down at

amulet, expression haunted. After a beat:

CURATOR:
Father?
 3.

We are on the Old Man now as, after several beats, the
TICKING of the CLOCK abruptly ceases; and it is this sudden
silence that, after a beat, unconsciously causes the Old Man
to look up at the Curator, who is still staring at the Old
Man. Still no response. Something is worrying the Curator,
but he doesn't know what.

CURATOR: (ARABIC)
My heart has a wish: That you would
not go, old friend.

OLD MAN: (ARABIC)

I have an errand.

AT CURATOR - OLD MAN

They stand by open door to street, the Old Man leaving.

Curator has hold of Old Man’s hand in both of his. He is

troubled, as if the Old Nan’s premonition has invaded him.
The Old Man slowly looks up at Curator, searching his face
with great affection. Then, with a squeeze of his hand:

OLD MAN
Goodbye.

4 EXT. CURATOR'S OFFICE - DAY 4

The Old Man exits, leaving FRAME as he steps into the

gathering gloom of the streets of Mosul. The Curator watches
him, great love in his expression as:

P.O.V. THE OLD MAN STREET OUTSIDE CURATOR’S OFFICE

The Old Man almost collides with a fast-moving droshky.

CLOSE MOVING SHOT - DROSHKY’S SOLE PASSENGER

A corpulent, OLD ARAB NOMAN in black, her face a shadow

behind the lace veil draped loosely over her like a shroud.

AT CURATOR

His expression darkening at this.

5 EXT. LONG SHOT - MOSUL OUTSKIRTS - NINEVEH EXCAVATION - DUSK 5

The Old Man is slowly and warily walking amid the ruins of a
former temple area.

OLD MAN’S P.O.V.

 4.

An Arab watchman approaches, rifle at the ready; but then

stops and waves as he recognizes the Old Man.

MOVING SHOT

as the Old Man slowly resumes his walk with the manner of
someone sifting vibrations. He is like one*looking for
something, yet is afraid that he will find it. At last, upon
seeing something O.S., he freezes.

P.O.V. - FULL SHOT - STATUE OF DEMON PAZUZU IN SITU

AT OLD MAN

This is it. He lowers head, closing eyes against a dread

confirmation of his premonition. A SHADOW of the statue
lengthens and creeps onto Old Man’s face as in the distance
we HEAR the Dili YAPPINGS of SAVAGE DOG EACKS.

ANGLE AT SHADOWS QUICKENING ACROSS THE DESERT

Still the DOGS, yelping and howling distantly. A breeze rises

up, blowing dust and sand ACROSS THE FRAME.

AT OLD MAN

He slowly lifts his head, his gaze on the O.S. statue of

Pazuzu. But in his expression now is acceptance and grim
determination. The shadow on his face has grown longer and
the breeze is whipping gently at his shirt.

OLD MAN’S P.O.V. - STATUE OF PA2UZU

HIGH DOWN SHOT - TEMPLE AREA - STATUE - OLD MAN

They stand motionless like two ancient enemies squared off in

a massive arena.

ANGLE AT SETTING SUN

It sinks into darkness. The dog packs.

6 EXT. SUNRISE SHOT - WASHINGTON, D.C. 6

SOUND of savage dogs gives way to DISTANT SOUNDS of friendly

neighborhood dogs; children's voices; a city waking up.

SERIES OF MOVING SHOTS - GEORGETOWN AREA - DAWN

 5.

Below us, the Potomac River; the Gothic spires and wooded
walks of Georgetown University; a PRIEST or two walking,
saying their Office; and then, we are on Prospect Street
slowly approaching a house that sits beside a flight of
steep, stone steps plunging precipitately down to "M" Street
below. An upstairs bedroom light is burning.

7 INT. CHRIS MACNEIL’S BEDROOM - DAWN 7

CHRIS is sitting up in bed. Her lips move silently as she

studies lines from a film script. We HEAR light O.S. RAPPING
SOUNDS, irregular, yet rhythmically clustered. They sound
like alien code tapped out by a dead man.

Chris HEARS them, listens for a moment, then tries to ignore

them, but she cannot concentrate. She irritably slams script
down and bounces out of bed. She EXITS into:

SECOND FLOOR HALL - MACNEIL HOUSE - DAWN

The RAPPINGS are louder. Chris listens for source of sound;

locates it; throws open door to Regan's bedroom.

8 INT. REGAN'S BEDROOM - AT DOOR - CHRIS - DAWN 8

The RAPPINGS have abruptly ceased. Chris looks baffled.

P.O.V. - THE ROOM - CAMERA SHIFTING

to follow Chris' scrutiny. It is a typical child’s bedroom.

A. large bay window; with shutters overlooks the steps
outside the house. REGAN is asleep, her blankets kicked off
and askew. Chris moves to bedside.

Heavy breathing, regular and deep. Chris considers; then

abruptly notices goose pimples on her arms. She rubs at them,
shivering as if at an icy coldness. She touches the nearby
radiator. Hot. She looks at Regan, frowning in perplexity,
for Regan's brow is wet with perspiration. Chris squints her
eyes in consternation; looks back at her goose pimples. Now
she hears SOUNDS from above, like tiny claws scratching at
the edge of a galaxy. She looks up at ceiling. The SCRAPINGS
cease.

Chris keeps staring a moment, then looks down. She leans

over, adjusts Regan's pillow, then examines her features with
warmth.

CHRIS
(whisper)
I sure do love you.
 6.

Car lights reflect on ceiling of darkened room.

9 INT. MACNEIL HOUSE - KITCHEN - CLOSE AT BACON FRYING - DAY 9

CHRIS
(o.s.)
Hi, Willie. Howya doin’?

FULL SHOT - KITCHEN - CHRIS - WILLIE

WILLIE, a middle-aged housekeeper, is at stove. Sleepy-eyed

Chris, in bathrobe and carrying script, is entering. Willie
hastily puts down fork, wiping hands on dish towel as:

WILLIE
(German accent)
Oh, Mrs. MacNeil! Good morning!

As Willie moves for coffee pot, Chris is ahead of her.

CHRIS
Never mind, Will, I’ll get it.

She drops a pack of cigarettes and matches beside her cup and
sits. Crusty-eyed, she picks up copy of Washington Post by
plate and stares at it fuddled until she realizes it is
upside down. She turns it right-side up. A man enters: KARL.
Willie's husband. Very Teutonic. He is carrying a Spark
left's bottle to mount on cooler in exchange for the empty.

KARL:
Good morning, Madam.

CHRIS:
(LIGHTS CIGARETTE)
Mornin'. Hey, Karl, we've got rats
in the attic. Better get us some
traps.

KARL:
There are rats?

CHRIS:
I just said that.

KARL:
But the attic is clean.

CHRIS:
Well, okay, we've got clean rats.

KARL:
No rats.
 7.

CHRIS:
Karl, I heard them this morning!

KARL:
Maybe plumbing. Maybe boards.

CHRIS:
Maybe rats! Now will you buy the
damn traps and quit arguing?

KARL:
(leaving quickly)
Yes. I go now.

CHRIS:
No, not now, Karl! The stores are
all closed.

KARL:
I will see.

CHRIS:
Karl -- !

He is gone. Chris and Millie exchange exasperated glances,

and then we HEAR FRONT DOOR OREN AND CLOSE, o.s. With a sigh,
Willie turns back to bacon, shaking her head.

WILLIE:
They are closed.

10 EXT. CAMPUS OF GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY - DAY 10

A film is being shot in front the steps of Healy Building.

The usual equipment, cast and crew are in evidence, as well

as spectators made up of faculty and students.

Chris, in jeans and sweatshirt, and indicating page in her

script (titled "CRASH COURSE”), calls her director, elfin
British BURNS DENNINGS. He has been drinking.

Swigging from a paper cup, he looks over as, argumentatively:

CHRIS:
Hey, Burke? Take a look at damned
thing, will ya?

DENNINGS:
Oh, how marvelous! You do have a
script, I see!
 8.

(he surgically shaves a

narrow strip from edge of
page of her script)
Yes, how nice! I believe I'll just
have a little fiddle.

As they continue, Burke will nervously fiddle with the paper,

in the meantime:

CHRIS:
Burke —

DENNINGS:
Yes, I'm terribly glad that the
star has a script. Now then, tell
me my baby: What is it? What's
wrong?

CHRIS:
(indicating script)
It just doesn’t make sense.

DENNINGS:
(lying)
Why, it's perfectly plain. You're a
teacher at the college and you
don't want the building torn down
and —

CHRIS:
Oh, well, Jesus, Burke; thanks; I
can read.

DENNINGS:
Then what's wrong?

CHRIS:
Why the hell should they tear down
the building?

DENNINGS:
Are you sending me up?

CHRIS:
No, I*m asking 'what for?'

DENNINGS:
Because it's there!

CHRIS:
In the script?

DENNINGS:
 9.

(suppressing drunken
giggle)
On the grounds!

CHRIS:
Well, it doesn’t make sense. They
wouldn’t do that.

DENNINGS:
They would!

CHRIS:
No, they wouldn't!

DENNING:
Shall we summon the writer? I
believe he’s in Paris!

CHRIS:
Hiding?

DENNINGS:
Fucking! Now then, shall we get on
with it?

Chris stares momentarily, then sags onto Burke spurting

laughter. Then she looks worriedly toward a PRIEST (KARRAS)
O.S. among the spectators, afraid he’s heard obscenity. And
now we CUT TO Karras and see that he is smiling slightly but
warmly. The ANGIE then RETURNS to Chris, Burke and the A.D.

DENNINGS:
I said, "Shall we get on with it?"

CHRIS:
Huh? Yeah, okay, Burke. Let’s go.

DENNINGS:
(at A.D.)
All right, lights, love.

ASST. DIRECTOR
Let's warm ’em!

DENNINGS:
(to A.D.)
Now the extras should be ...

And we HEAR the AD LIB continuation O.S. a bit as CAMERA now

FOLLOWS Chris as she walks, head down, concentrating while
crew sets up. Then she looks over toward Karras.
 10.

He’s gone. She sees him walking slowly away toward the campus
gates like a lone black cloud in search of the rain. Dennings
comes to Chris.

CHRIS:
Are you ready, ducks?

CHRIS:
Do it.

DENNINGS:
Roll the film.

ASST. DIRECTOR:
Okay, roll 'er.

TECHNICIAN:
Speed.

DENNINGS:
Action!

While extras cheer and boo at her approach, Chris races up

Healy Steps and seizes bullhorn from REEEL STUDENT LEADER.
There is pushing and shoving. POLICE are on the scene.

CHRIS:
(through bullhorn)
Okay, now, hold it! Hold it a
second!
(as the commotion
continues)
Hey, give me a chance, will *ya,
huh? Just a minute?

We see now that various of the student factions are holding

up signs and banners. Some read: "KEEP CLASSES OPEN", "FREE
LOGIC!", "SHUT DOWN!", "CLOSE THE SCHOOL" and "BURN IT!?"
Still other placards are blank. Many of the students in one
sector are affecting shrouds and death masks. As the
commotion diminishes;

CHRIS:
Look, we're all concerned with
human rights, but the kids who pay
tuition have also got a right, the
right to learn, and shutting those
kids out of class solves nothing.
It's answering one kind of tyranny
with another, one kind of cruelty
with another.
 11.

Commotion. At some point during the above speech, we will

hear Chris O. S. while the CAMERA GOES to Dennings as the
director turns a significant and imperious gaze to the A.D.,
who dutifully pads over to him and proffers his open script
like an aging altar boy the missal to his priest at solemn
Hass. Burke begins to slice off a strip of page.

14 EXT. "O" STREET - CHRIS AT CAMPUS MAIN GATE - DAY 14

It has clouded over, threatening rain. Chris, wearing

raincoat, sends limo driver home.

CHRIS:
I feel like walking, Tommy. Thanks.

He nods. She starts to walk home, thoughtful and weary.

As she walks by Holy Trinity Auditorium, a YOUNG PRIEST in

nylon windbreaker passes her. Tense. He takes a right into an
easement leading into a courtyard back of church. Chris
pauses by easement, watching him; curious.

He heads for white frame cottage from which an OLDER PRIEST

emerges looking glum and nervous. He nods curtly toward the
Younger Priest, and with lowered eyes heads for door to back
of church. Again, cottage door opens from within and Karras
appears. He silently greets the Younger Priest, putting his
arm around his shoulder as he leads him inside, a gesture
that is gentle and somehow parental. Door closes and they are
gene. Chris is pensive, puzzled by the scene. A RUMBLE OF
THUNDER. She looks up at the sky, tugging up raincoat collar.

15 EXT. MACNEIL HOUSE - CHRIS ENTERS - DUSK 15

16 INT. MACNEIL HOUSE KITCHEN - DUSK 16

We open on SHARON SPENCER, a pretty young blonde and Chris’

secretary (and nurse to Regan) sitting at break fast table,
typing. Stack of mail and messages. Me HEAR front door close;
FOOTSTEPS approaching. Chris enters, weary.

SHARON:
(continuing to type)
Hi, Chris. How’d it go?

CHRIS:
Oh, well, it was kind of like the
Walt Disney version of the Ho Chi
Minh story, but other than that it
was really terrific.
 12.

Chris has come to table, stands leafing through mail and

messages. Sharon continues to type through:

CHRIS:
Anything exciting?

SHARON:
Do you want to have dinner next
week at the White House?

CHRIS:
Are you kidding?

SHARON:
No, of course not; it’s Thursday.

CHRIS:
Big party?

SHARON:
No, I gather it’s just five or six
people.

CHRIS:
(back to table, sifting
mail and messages)
No kidding? Where's Rags?

SHARON
Oh, she’s down in the playroom.

CHRIS:
What doin'?

SHARON:
She's sculpting. She’s making you a
bird.

CHRIS:
How’d the lesson go?

SHARON:
(frowning)
Bad time with math again.

CHRIS:
Oh? Gee, that’s funny.

SHARON:
I know. It's her favorite subject.

CHRIS
 13.

Oh, well, this "new math'." Christ,

I couldn’t make change for the bus
if --

She is interrupted by the bounding entrance of REGAN, her 11-

year-old daughter. Freckles. Ponytails. Braces on teeth. Arms
outstretched, she is racing for her mother.

REGAN:
Hi, Mom!

She is in SCENE not? as Chris catches her in a bear hug.

'Sharon resumes her typing.

CHRIS:
Hiya, bearface!

Chris covers her with smacking kisses. Then, rocking her back
and forth:

CHRIS:
What ’djya do today? Anything
exciting?

REGAN:
Oh, stuff.

CHRIS:
So, what kind of stuff?

REGAN
Oh, well, I studied, and I painted.

CHRIS:
Wha'djya paint?

REGAN:
Oh, well, flowers. Ya' know,
daisies? An' — Oh! Mother! This
horse!
(excited; eyes widening)
This man had a horse, ya know, down
by the river? We were talking, see.
Mom, and then-along came this
horse! He was beautiful! Oh, Mom,
ya should've seen him, and the man
let me sit on him! Really! I mean,
practically a minute! It was a gray
horse! Mother, can't we get a
horse? I mean could we?

CHRIS:
We’ll see, baby.
 14.

REGAN:
Gee, Mom, I’m starving.

CHRIS:
Run upstairs and get dressed and
we'll go out for some pizza.

She races upstairs.

REGAN:
Can I wear my new dress?

CHRIS:
Honey, sure.
(at Sharon)
Got a date?

SHARON:
Yes, I do.

CHRIS:
You go on, then.
(indicating mail)
We can catch all this stuff in the
morning.

Sharon rises, but Chris abruptly recollects something.

CHRIS:
Oh, hey, wait. There's a letter got
to go out tonight.

SHARON:
(reaching for dictation
pad)
Oh, okay.

Chris starts to dictate:

CHRIS:
Dear Mr. Gable...

Sharon reacts, amused; then Chris dictates in earnest: a

letter to her agent. As she gets into it:

REGAN:
(o.s.)
Moth-theeeeeerrrr! I can’t find the
dress!

CHRIS:
(starting out)
Shar, wait’ll I come down.
 15.

SHARON:
(eyeing watch)
Gee, it’s time for me to meditate,
Chris.

CHRIS:
(after a beat; muted
exasperation)
You really think that kind of stuff
if going to do you any good?

SHARON:
Well, it gives me peace of mind.

CHRIS:
(after a long beat)
Right.

She turns away and starts to exit.

CHRIS:
Correct. Terrific.

18 INT. SECOND FLOOR HALLWAY - MACNEIL HOUSE - DUSK 18

Chris heads for Regan’s bedroom and enters.

19 INT. REGAN'S BEDROOM - DUSK 19

The scene is odd: Regan is standing in the middle of the

room, silently staring up at the ceiling, frowning.

CHRIS:
What’s doin’?

REGAN:
Funny noises.

CHRIS:
(moving to clothes
closet- and searching for
dress)
I know. We’ve got friends.

REGAN:
Huh?

CHRIS:
Squirrels, honey. Squirrels in the
attic.
 16.

Began looks unconvinced. She looks up at ceiling again; then

moves over to watch her mother’s search for the dress which
now ends in apparent failure.

REGAN:
See, Mom? It’s not there.

CHRIS:
Yeah, I see. Maybe Willie picked it
up with the cleaning.

REGAN:
It’s gone.

CHRIS:
(taking a dress off rack)
Yeah, well put on the navy. It's
pretty.

21 EXT. "C & O” CANAL - DUSK 21

Karras and the Georgetown University President (TOM) are

walking.

KARRAS:
It’s my mother. She’s alone, Ton. I
never should've left her. At least
in New York I’d be close. I could
see her.

TOM:
I could see about a transfer.

KARRAS:
I need reassignment. Get me out of
this job, Tom; it’s wrong. It’s no
good.

TOM:
Are you kidding? You’re the best
that we’ve got.

They stop.

KARRAS:
Am I really? It's more than
psychiatry, Tom, and you knew that.
Some of their problems core down to
vocation, to the meaning of their
lives, and I just can't cut it,
Tom. It's too much. I need out. I'm
unfit.
 17.

After a pause.

KARRAS:
I think I’ve lost my faith.

24 INT. BASEMENT PLAYROOM OF MACNEIL HOUSE - EARLY EVENING 24

Chris is coming down, calling to Regan.

CHRIS:
Whatchya doin’ down there?

REGAN:
Come on down, Mom; I've got a
surprise.

CHRIS:
Oh, great.

Regan is standing by a games table in basement made over as

playroom, and hands her a sculpted clay "worry bird” with a
comically long painted nose. Chris oohs and ahhs.

REGAN:
Do you like it?

CHRIS:
Oh, honey, I do, I really do. Got a
name for it?

REGAN:
Uh-uh.

CHRIS:
What’s a good one?

REGAN:
(shrugging)
I dunno.

CHRIS:
(pondering)
Let me see, let me see. I don’t
know. Nhaddya think? Whaddya think
about ’Durbbird?' Huh? Just
'Dumbbird.'

Regan is snickering, nodding; hand to mouth to hide the

braces.

CHRIS:
'Dumbbird' by a landslide! Super!
(setting bird on table)
 18.

Here, I‘ll leave it here to dry for

a ...

She has noticed an Ouija Board and planchette on table.

CHRIS:
Hey, where'd you get the Ouija
Board?

REGAN:
(indicating)
I found it.

CHRIS:
Found it where?

REGAN:
(indicating)
In that closet.

CHRIS:
You been playin' with it?

REGAN:
Yep.

CHRIS:
(surprised)
You know how?

REGAN:
(moving to sit by board)
Oh, well, sure. Here, I'll show
you.

CHRIS:
Well, I think you need two people,
honey.

REGAN:
No, ya don’t, Mora. I do it all the
time.

CHRIS:
(pulling up chair
opposite)
Oh, you do? Hell, let’s both play,
okay?

REGAN:
Well -- okay.
 19.

Regan has her fingertips positioned on the planchette, and as

Chris reaches out to put hers there, planchette makes sudden,
forceful move to the position on board.

CHRIS:
You don’t want me to play?

REGAN:
No, I do! Captain Howdy said ”No."

CHRIS:
Captain who?

REGAN:
Captain Howdy.

CHRIS:
Honey, who’s Captain Howdy?

REGAN:
Oh, ya know. I make questions and
he does the answers.

CHRIS:
That’s so?

REGAN:
Oh, he's nice.

CHRIS:
Oh, well, sure; he’s terrific.

REGAN:
Here, I’ll show you.

Regan stares at board, eyes drawn tight in concentration.

REGAN:
Captain Howdy, do you think my mom
is pretty?

Seconds tick by. nothing happening. Chris turns head at an

odd, o.s. CREAKING SOUND from closet area. She holds the look
for a moment, then looks back at board* Another few beats of
silence. Then:

REGAN:
Captain Howdy?
(no response)
Captain Howdy, that’s really not
very polite.

CHRIS:
Honey, maybe he’s sleeping.
 20.

REGAN:
(muttering)
Let him sleep on his own time.

28 INT. REGAN'S BEDROOM - NIGHT 28

Regan in bed. Chris finishing tucking her in. Sits on bed.

CHRIS:
Honey, Sunday's your birthday. Want
to do somethin’?

REGAN:
What?

CHRIS:
Oh, well, I don't know. Somethin'.
You want to go see the sights?

REGAN:
Oh, yeah, Mom!

CHRIS:
And tomorrow night a movie! How’s
that?

REGAN:
(a hug)
Oh, I love you!

CHRIS:
Oh, Rags, honey, I love you.

REGAN:
You can bring Mr. Dennings if you
like.

CHRIS:
Mr. Dennings?

REGAN:
Well, I mean, it’s okay.

CHRIS:
(chuckling)
No, it isn’t okay. Honey, why would
I want to bring Burke?

REGAN:
Well, you like him.

CHRIS:
 21.

Oh, well, sure I like him, honey.

Don’t you?
(no response)
Baby, what’s going on?

REGAN:
(a sullen statement)
You’re going to marry him, Mommy,
aren’t you?

CHRIS:
(amused)
Oh, my baby, of course not! What on
earth are you talking about? Burke
Dennings? Where’s you get that
idea?

REGAN:
But you like him.

CHRIS:
I like pizzas but I wouldn’t ever
marry one! Honey, he’s a friend,
just a crazy old friend!

REGAN:
You don’t like him like Daddy?

CHRIS:
Rags, I love your daddy. I’ll
always love your daddy. Mr.
Dennings comes by here a lot ’cause
he’s lonely, that’s all; he’s a
friend.

REGAN:
Well, I heard ...

CHRIS:
You heard what? Heard from who?

REGAN:
I don’t know. I just thought.

CHRIS:
Well, it’s silly, so forget it.

REGAN:
Okay.

31 INT. MCKEIL HOUSE STUDY - AT CHRIS - NIGHT 31

 22.

Stretched out on rug in front of fire, studying script. Turns

a page. Regan, half asleep, enters.

CHRIS:
Hi, honey. What’s wrong?

REGAN:
There's these real funny noises,
Mom. It’s like knocking. I can’t go
to sleep.

CHRIS:
(struggling up)
Oh, where the heck are those traps!

REGAN:
Huh?

Chris takes her hand, leading her out of study.

CHRIS:
Oh, nothing, hon. Come on. You can
sleep in my bedroom and I’ll see
what it is.

32 INT. CHRIS’S BEDROOM - NIGHT 32

She Is tucking Regan into her (Chris’s) bed.

REGAN:
Can I watch TV for a while till I
sleep?

CHRIS:
Where's your book?

REGAN:
I can’t find it. Can I watch?

CHRIS:
(turning on bedside TV)
Sure, okay.
(tunes volume control)
Loud enough?

REGAN:
Yes.

CHRIS:
(exiting; turning out
light)
Try to sleep.
 23.

33 EXT. MACNEIL HOUSE - FULL SHOT - NIGHT 33

In an upper floor gabled window we SEE candlelight glow.

34 INT. MACNEIL HOUSE - DOWN SHOT - NIGHT 34

at Chris as she climbs narrow steps to attic with candle.

35 INT. ATTIC AT DOOR - NIGHT 35

Door is pushed slowly open. Chris ENTERS, tries the light

switch. It doesn't work. She looks about the attic searching
for something while slowly advancing at CAMERA when the
candle flame suddenly and astoundingly disengages from the
candle and shoots up to the ceiling and is extinguished.
Behind Chris, having come upstairs, looms KARL. Coning up
silently behind Chris:

KARL:
There is nothing.

On the "Nothing," Chris leaps three feet out of her skin and
emits a YELP of startled fright, spinning around and
practically into Karl's arms. A hand to her fluttering heart:

CHRIS:
Oh, good Jesus! Oh, jesus h.
Christ, Karl, don’t do that!

KARL:
Very sorry. But you see? No rats.

CHRIS:
Yeah, no rats. Thanks a lot, Karl.
Terrific.

KARL:
(exiting.)
Madam, maybe cat better.

CHRIS:
What?

KARL:
Maybe cat better — to catch rats.

He EXITS. Chris stares a moment, then releases a sigh of

weariness and relief.

36 EXT. MACNEIL HOUSE - NIGHT 36

 24.

Bedroom, light is turned off. All is peaceful.

37 EXT. MONTAGE - CHRIS AND REGAN SIGHTSEEING IN D.C. - DAY - 37

MEMORIAL DRIVE AND LEE MANSION
GIVING WAY TO:

CHRIS AMD REGAN AT TOMB OF UNKNOWN SOLDIER

They stare mutely. Regan has turned sad. After a few beats:

REGAN:
Mom, why do people have to die?

Chris looks at her. She doesn’t know how to answer.

Finally:

CHRIS:
(tenderly)
Honey, people get tired.

REGAN:
Why does God let then?

CHRIS:
(frowning; a few beats)
Who’s been telling you about God,
baby?

REGAN:
Sharon.

CHRIS:
Oh.

REGAN:
Mom, why does God let us get tired?

CHRIS:
(after a beat)
Well, after awhile, God gets
lonesome for us, Rags. He wants us
back.

38 INT. CHRIS MACNEIL’S BEDROOM - NIGHT 38

Chris is pacing with phone receiver to ear, waiting, and

meantime is talking to Sharon, who is seated on edge of bed,
scribbling shorthand in steno pad.

CHRIS:
 25.

And get hold of that real estate

agent and tell him we’re staying
till June. I want Rags to finish up
the semester at school. And then --
(halfs to talk into
phone)
Yeah, yeah, I’m here. Yes, I'm
waiting ...
(mouthpiece down; to
Sharon)
Good Christ, do you believe it?

39 INT. MACNEIL HOUSE - SECOND FLOOR HALL - FIGHT 39

Despondent, Regan stands head down, hand on doorknob to her

bedroom, listening to:

CHRIS:
(o.s.)
Doesn’t send a card or call his
daughter on her birthday?

SHARON:
(o.s.)
Well, the circuits might be busy.

CHRIS:
(o.s.)
My ass, he just doesn’t give a
shit! He’s just --

Regan sadly enters her room as:

CHRIS:
(o.s.j phons)
Yes, goddamit, I’m waiting!

39 INT. CHRIS’S BEDROOM - NIGHT 39

CHRIS:
(pacing; muttering to
self)
The whole fucking world is still
waiting for the sunrise.

40 INT. CHRIS’S BEDROOM - DAWN 40

We are on Chris in bed as phone rings. She answers.

Wake-up call from the A.D. Hangs up; gets out of bed;
discovers Regan is in bed tri.th her, half awake.
 26.

CHRIS:
Well, what in the -- !
(amused)
What are you doing here?

REGAN:
My bed was shaking.

CHRIS:
Oh, you nut.
(kisses her and pulls up
her covers)
Go back to sleep.

41 EXT. HOUSE - NIGHT TO DAY TRANSITION FOLLOW NEWSPAPER BOY ON 41

BIKE TO EOLY TRINITY

43 INT. HOLY TRINITY CHURCH - AT REAR SIDE DOOR - DAWN 43

We HEAR key in door from other side. The PASTOR of Holy

Trinity sluggishly enters, sets door stop to hold door open,
turns on church lights, blows nose into handkerchief as he
absently shuffles along; then genuflects at altar railing. He
blesses himself, says a silent prayer, and as he looks up and
starts to bless himself he. reacts with startlement and then
shock as he sees before him;

P.O.V. STATUE OF BLESSED VIRGIN AT SIDE ALTAR

It has been desecrated, painted over to suggest that the

Virgin is a harlot. A slatternly, dissolute appearance.

And glued to the appropriate spot is a sculpted clay phallus

in erection.

44 INT. NEW YORK SUBWAY STATION 44

Silence, except for low RUMBLE of distant train. Points of

light stretch down the darkness of the tunnel like guides to
hopelessness.

ANGLE AT PLATFORM - MAN

The station appears to be deserted. The MAN stands close to

the edge of the near platform. Black coat, hat and trousers.
Powerfully built. He carries a valise resembling a doctor’s
medical bag and stands with his back to us, head down, as if
in dejection. Hear him, a vending machine on a pillar.

WIDE ANGLE - PLATFORM

 27.

DERELICT:
Faddah.

An old DERELICT lies drunk, his back against station wall.

DERELICT:
Hey, Faddah! Couldja help an old
altar boy, Faddah? I’m Cat’lic.

The Man looks up with dismay, disclosing the round Roman

collar at the neck, and the face of Damien Karras, now filled
with an even deeper pain than when we met him.

He shuts his eyes against this intrusion and clutches at his

coat lapels, nulling them together as if to hide the collar.
The train SOUND is UP FULL NOW, and in ANOTHER ANGLE the
TRAIN rushes across FRAME, blocking our view of Karras and
the Derelict.

45 EXT. HIGH SHOT - EAST 21ST STREET IN N.Y.C. - DAY 45

Between 1st and 2nd Avenues. Karras walks despondently along

the south side of the street, which is studded with decrepit
tenement buildings. He pauses before one and with melancholy
sees his past in the raggedly clothed, grime-covered, foul-
mouthed urchins pitching pennies against the stoop. Karras
looks up at front door. He starts up the steps.

45A INT. HALL - KARRAS OUTSIDE MOTHER’S APARTMENT DOOR 45A

CUTTING, we find the CAMERA stationed by an apartment front

door, trained on Karras mounting steps at far end of hall. He
approaches and lightly raps. From within we HEAR faint SOUND
of a RADIO tuned to news station.

Karras waits a moment, then digs out a key from pants pocket,
opens door like an aching wound, and enters.

46 INT. TENEMENT APARTMENT - DAY 46

The RADIO now more audible. We are in a railroad flat

kitchen. Tiny. Cracking plaster and peeling wallpaper.
Unkempt. Sparse and ancient furnishings. In the kitchen, a
snail tub for bathing. Faded old newspapers spread on the
uncarpeted floor. As Karras enters, he breathes in an aching
sigh as his gaze brushes around at the painful reminders of
his past. Then he glances to right, from which we HEAR SOUHD
of RADIO. He puts down valise and starts into bedroom.

KARRAS:
Mama?
 28.

No response. CAMERA FOLLOWS him into squalid living room.

Karras now sees his MOTHER, fully dressed, sleeping on a torn
and grease-stained old sofa. On her right cheek, a prominent
mole. He observes her for a moment; sighs as he removes
raincoat.

As he drapes it over a chair, his mother awakens with a

slight start; sees him; reacts with surprise and joy.

Speaking with a thick Mediterranean accent:

MOTHER:
Dimmy!

She hastily gets to feet and throws arms around Karras.

MOTHER:
Oh, Dimmy, I so glad to see you!

48 INT. KARRAS' MOTHER'S KITCHEN - DAY 48

Me HEAR radio still tuned to news. Karras and mother sit at

tiny table in kitchen. Karras sips at coffee. His mother
drinks in his presence as:

MOTHER:
Dimmy, you thin. You not eating,
(rising)
I fix for you.

KARRAS:
No, Mom.

MOTHER:
I fix.

CUT TO:

KARRAS AND MOTHER

at table. Karras eating.

KARRAS:
Really great, Mom! Just great!

MOTHER:
You Uncle John cone by to visit me.

KARRAS:
(pleased)
Oh really, Ha? When?

MOTHER:
 29.

Last month.

Karras looks saddened.

52 INT. MOTHER’S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT 52

Mother (wearing holy medal) sits on sofa, watching as Karras

repairs a broken lamp. The room has been tidied up a little.
In the scene we SEE a broom, a small plastic refuse container
and a dilapidated carpet sweeper. Silence. Then:

MOTHER:
Dimmy, you worry about something?

KARRAS:
No, Mama.

MOTHER:
You not happy. What's the matter,
Dimmy?

KARRAS:
Nothing, Mama. Really. I’m fine.

A pause. Then:

MOTHER:
(o.s.)
I wish you was marry Mary McArdle.

CLOSE SHOT

silently watching; thinking.

ANOTHER ANGLE - (TIME PASSAGE)

Karras is entering living room, pulling on raincoat. He has

valise. He cones to Mother and observes her sadly for a
moment. Regret. He leans over and kisses her cheek tenderly.
He starts to leave, remembers something, tunes radio to all-
news station.

54 EXT. FORDHAM UNIVERSITY - (ESTABLISHING) - DAWN 54

55 INT. SMALL CHAPEL - JESUIT RESIDENCE HALL - DAWN 55

Karras wears trousers and T-shirt. He vests and prepares for

mass, and then steps back facing altar, blesses himself, and
begins:

KARRAS:
 30.

(with poignant longing)

'I will go to the Altar of God,
Unto God who gives joy to my
youth.'

56 IHT. HALL OF BELLEVUE HOSPITAL - DAY 56

The CAMERA is fixed at one end of the hall, and Karras and
his UNCLE are approaching from far down the opposite end;
however, their dialogue is clearly audible at all times, and
their voices metallically reverberant.

Karras has his head down, sorrowful and displayed, as he

listens to the Uncle, who speaks with a thick, immigrant
accent. Karras is ruefully shaking his head, and the UNCLE is
gesturing helplessly, defensively, as:

UNCLE:
But, Dimmy, da edema affected her
brain! You understand? She don't
let. any doctor come near her! She
was all da time screwin', even
talkin' to da radio! Listen,
regular hospital not gonna nut up
wit’ dat, Dirnmy! Un'erstan? So we
give her a shot an’ bring her here
’til da doctors, day fix up her
leg! Den we take her right out,
Dimmy. Two or t’ree month, and
she’s out, good as new.

ANOTHER ANGLE

Karras and his Uncle have halted outside locked door above
which is posted the legend: NEURO-PSYCHIATRIC: WARD 3, and
Uncle pushes BUZZER to summon curse.

UNCLE:
You go in, Dimmy. I wait out here.

Karras nods. Now the uncle has head down in ironic thought.

UNCLE:
Cat’s funny. You know, if you
wasn’t be priest, you be famous
psychiatrist now on Park Avenue,
Dimmy. Your mother, she be livin’
in a penthouse instead of da --

59 INT. WARD 3 AT PADDED ENTRY DOOR 59

 31.

as a corpulent NURSE waddles INTO FRAME and uses large iron

key to unlock door. O.S., we HEAR the demented SCREAMS, MOANS
and FRAGMENTED STATEMENTS of MENTAL PATIENTS. The door comes
open, disclosing Karras and Uncle. Karras slowly lifts head
at the O.S. SOUNDS.

60 INT. WARD 3 INVALIDED PATIENTS’ ROOM 60

Karras walks down aisle of an enormous ward containing eighty

beds. The PATIENTS are mostly elderly, and we HEAR their
CRIES of PAIN and DEMENTED CHATTER. Karras stops before a
bedded patient far down the row; Karras' MOTHER. Gaunt and
hollow-eyed, looking confused and helpless; disoriented; she
has spied her son and is gripping at sidebars of bed, trying
to raise herself as CAMERA now moves forward, again, trained
on mother.

By the time Karras halts by her, his mother, looking

frightened and pathetic, eyes wide with pleading, has raised
herself up, pulling weakly, hands trembling.

MOTHER
Why you do dis, Dimmy? Why?

60 INT. BELLEVUE HALL - KARRAS AND UNCLE WALKING 60

Behind them, WAPD 3 entry door. Karras is fumbling for his

cigarette pack. His eyes are wet with tears.

KARRAS:
Couldn’t you have put her someplace
else?

UNCLE:
Like what? Private hospital? Who
got the money for dat, Dimmy? You?

61 INT. GYM 61

Karras in boxer shorts and shirt works savagely at a punching

bag of the man-sized, stuffed variety. Eyes wet with tears,
he slams at the bag with a mixture of sorrow, rage and
frustration.

61 INT. DR. KLEIN’S OFFICE - BUILDING ROSSLYN - DAY 61

Chris sits in reception room. A few other MOTHERS and

CHILDREN are present.
 32.

62 INT. DR. KLEIN’S EXAMINING ROOM 62

BRIEF MONTAGE OF SHOTS

Klein administering physical to Regan. Should include

ophthalmoscope, tuning fork and simple coordination test.
Also blood sample in centridograph, and urine sample under
microscope. FINAL SHOT has a NURSE leaning with her back
against examining table, her expression partly puttied,
partly disturbed as she observes Regan, who is in her slip
and in constant motion; stepping, twirling, touching, making
nervous movements while aimlessly humming. Klein is not
present.

64 INT. DR. KLEIN’S OFFICE - DAY 64

Chris is seated on edge of chair. Klein is back of desk,

writing a prescription.

KLEIN:
A disorder of the nerves. At least
we think it is. We don’t know yet
exactly how it works, but it’s
often seen in early adolescence.
She shows all the symptoms: the
hyperactivity; the temper; her
performance in math.

CHRIS:
Yeah, the math. Why the math?

KLEIN:
It affects concentration.
(he rips the prescription
from the small blue pad
and hands it over)
Now this is for Ritalin. Ten
milligrams a day.

CHRIS:
(eyes prescription)
What is it? A tranquilizer?

KLEIN:
A stimulant.

CHRIS:
Stimulant? She’s higher'n a kite
right now!

KLEIN:
 33.

Her condition isn't quite what it

seems. Nobody knows the cause of
hyperkinetic behavior in a child.
The Ritalin seems to work to
relieve the condition but we really
don’t know how or why, frankly.
Your daughter's symptoms could be
an overreaction to depression --
but that's out of my field.

CHRIS:
Depression?

KLEIN:
Well, you mentioned her father ...
the separation.

CHRIS:
Do you think I should take her to
see a psychiatrist?

KLEIN:
Oh, no. I'd wait and see what
happens with the Ritalin. I think
that’s the answer. Wait two or
three weeks.

CHRIS:
And those lies she's been telling?

KLEIN:
Lies?

CHRIS:
Ya know, those things to get
attention, like saying that her bed
shakes and stuff.

KLEIN:
Have you ever known your daughter
to swear and use obscenities?

CHRIS:
Never.

KLEIN:
Well, you see, that’s quite similar
to things like her lying —
uncharacter —

CHRIS:
(interrupting; perplexed)
Wait a minute. What are you talking
about?
 34.

KLEIN:
Well, she let loose quite a string
while I was examining her, Mrs.
MacNeil.

CHRIS:
You’re kidding! Like what?

KLEIN:
(looking evasive)
Well, I’d say her vocabulary's
rather extensive.

CHRIS:
Well, what, for example? I mean,
give me a for instance!

Klein shrugs. No reply.

CHRIS:
Hey, come on; I’m grown-up. What’d
she say? I mean specifically,
Doctor.

KLEIN:
Well, specifically, Mrs. MacNeil,
she advised me to keep my fingers
away from her "goddam cunt."

CHRIS:
(shocked.)
She used those words?

KLEIN:
She used those words. Look, I doubt
that she even understood what she
was saying.

CHRIS:
Yeah, I guess. Maybe not. You don't
think a psychiatrist?

KLEIN:
The best explanation is always the
simplest one. Let's wait. Let’s
wait and see.
(smiling encouragingly)
In the meantime, try not to worry.

CHRIS:
How?
 35.

68 INT. MACNEIL HOME - FULL SHOT - LIVING ROOM - PARTY IN 68

PROGRESS - NIGHT

A few Jesuits and some of the cast and crew of the motion
picture are present. Vibrant hum of conversation. Then a
CLOSER ANGLE featuring Burke Dennings. Burke, an empty glass
in hand, stands chatting with silver-maned SENATOR and
SENATOR'S WIFE. Back of them, and to side. Chris is visible,
chatting with the Jesuit DEALT of the college.

Karl is approaching the latter with drinks tray. Burke seems

irritable and tautly drunk.

DENNINGS:
Ho, no, her part is finished; all
the parts with the principal
actors, you see; but I’m staying to
finish other scenes.

SENATOR:
I understand.

Karl has approached Burke's group.

DENNINGS:
Oh, how splendid,
(reaching for a fresh
drink)
Let's another for the road.

CHRIS:
(brief over-the-shoulder
at Dennings)
The Lincoln Highway?

DENNINGS:
(at Chris)
Oh, now, don’t be so silly.

SENATOR’S WIFE:
(at Chris)
Fun party.

CHRIS:
(at wife)
Thanks, Martha.

And Chris returns to conversation with the Dean. During the

above, the Senator has mutely refused another drink, but
Burke now takes one in his other hand as well as:

DENNINGS:
(at Karl)
 36.

Oh, now tell me, was it Public

Relations you did for the Gestapo,
or Community Relations?

KARL:
(grimly uptight)
I am Swiss.

DENNINGS:
Yes, of course. And you never went
bowling with Goebbels, I suppose.

FRONT TRACKING SHOT - KARL

His face impassive; yet his eyes are angry, as we HEAR:

DENNINGS:
(at Karl as latter moves
on)
So superior, aren't you? Nazi!

CAMERA FOLLOWS Karl but holds — as he passes them — on Sharon

and MARY JO FERRIN, who are seated somewhere in the room. A
bubbly personality, Mary Jo is reading Sharon’s palm.

PERRIN:
Well yes, your work line is longer
than your heart line. There, you
see? And you've recently broken, up
with a boyfriend. Am I right?

SHARON:
No.

PERRIN
I'm really famous for predictions,
not palms.
(dropping Sharon's palm)
Where’s the bathroom?

SHARON:
(rising)
Upstairs, I’ll go with you.

As they move, CAMERA FOLLOWS:

PERRIN:
Oh, by the way, I brought that
witchcraft book you asked for.

SHARON:
Oh, thanks.

PERRIN:
 37.

And another one on Russian ESP,

They’re in the study.

They walk out of frame as CAMERA HOLDS on Dennings, the

Senator, and his wife. The Senator is turned away from
Dennings, conversing in low tones with wife. Dennings is now
composed and as he stares down into his gin glass:

DENNINGS:
There seems to be an alien pubic-
hair in my gin.

SENATOR:
(turning to Dennings, as
his wife splits)
I beg your pardon?

DENNINGS:
(defensive)
Never seen it before in my life!

SENATOR
(a murmur)
Yes, I’m sure.

DENNINGS:
(now accusatory)
Have you?

ANGLE AT CHRIS, JESUIT DEAN, MARY JO PERRIn

Mary Jo is seated on sofa with Jesuit Dean. Chris is on floor

in front of coffee table facing then, as all eat dinner.

PERRIN:
On, cone on, every family's got one
black sheep.

DEAN:
Yes, I know, but we were pushing
our quota with the Medici Popes.

CHRIS:
Say, Father, there's something I've
been meaning to ask you. Do you
know that sort of wing that's in
back of the church over there? The
red brick one, I mean.
(pointing in direction)

DEAN:
St. Mike's.

CHRIS:
 38.

Yeah, right. St. Mike's. What goes

on in there, Father?

DEAN
Oh, that's where we say Black Mass.

CHRIS:
(as Perrin chuckles)
What’s that?

PERRIN:
Oh, he's kidding.

CHRIS:
I wasn't. I'd still like to know
what it is.

DEAN
Oh, well basically, I guess, it's a
travesty of the Catholic Mass. It's
connected to witchcraft. Devil
worship cults.
(looking around for
someone)
Gee, where's Joe? He knows all
about this stuff.

He is indicating Father Dyer, who is standing at buffet,

heaping second helping onto his plate.

DEAN:
Hey, Joe!

DYER:
(turning)
You called, Great Dean?

Dean beckons him over.

DEAN:
(to Chris)
They had a couple of cases of
desecration in Holy Trinity last
week, and Joe said something about
one of them reminding him of some
things they used to do at Black
Mass, so I expect he knows
something about the subject.

PERRIN:
What happened at the church?

DEAN:
Oh, it’s really too disgusting.
 39.

DYER:
Listen, give me just a minute. I
think I've got something going over
there with the Astronaut.

DEAN:
What?

DYER:
(raising eyebrows)
First missionary on the moon?

They burst into laughter as he moves off to join ASTRONAUT.

CHRIS:
He’s fun.
(at Dean)
You haven't told me what goes on
yet in back of St. Mike’s. Big
secret? Who’s that priest I keep
seeing there? You know, sort of
dark? Do you know the one I mean?

DEAN:
(lowered tone; trace of
regret)
Father Karras.

CHRIS:
What’s he do?

DEAN:
He’s our counselor, Chris. A
psychiatrist. The back of St.
Mike’s is our couch.

CHRIS:
Oh, I see.

DEAN:
Had a pretty rough knock last
night, poor guy. His mother passed
away.

CHRIS:
(sensation of grief)
Oh, I’m sorry.

DEAN:
He seems to be taking it pretty
hard. She was living by herself,
and I guess she was dead for a
couple of days before they found
her.
 40.

PERRIN:
(murmur)
Oh, how awful.

DEAN:
The superintendent of her apartment
building found her at four in the
morning. They wouldn’t have found
her even then except ... Well, the
next door neighbors complained
about her radio going all the time.

TWO SHOT - DYER AND ASTRONAUT

The Astronaut is breaking up as:

DYER:
No, I’m really not a priest. I’m
actually a terribly avant-garde
rabbi.

69 INT. MACNEIL HOUSE - KITCHEN 69

Chris is bursting in as Dennings continues to rave at a

stolid, expressionless Karl who stands immobile, arms akimbo,
watching Dennings.

DENNINGS:
Cunting Hun! You bloody damned
butchering Nazi pig!

CHRIS:
(over Dennings)
Karl! Will you get out of here! Get
out!
Sharon enters now and Chris has started pushing Karl out. The
latter, defiant, permits it only reluctantly.

DENNINGS:
What the hell makes you think
you're so fucking superior?
Goddamned cunting Heinrich Himmler!
Get the hell back to — !

Karl is out and now Dennings, in a remarkable performance, is

instantly composed and as Chris turns to him after shoving
Karl out door, Dennings turns to her genially and rubs his
hands together with:

DENNINGS:
Now, then, what's dessert?
 41.

CHRIS:
Dessert!

DENNINGS:
(whining)
Well, I'm hungry.

Chris reacts, incredulous and exasperated, then turns and

exits. Passing Sharon:

CHRIS:
Feed him!

79 INT. REGAN'S BEDROOM - NIGHT 79

Regan is in bed. Chris is tucking her bedcovers in. The room

lights are cut and Regan is turned on side. She has eyes
closed. Chris, finished, looks down at her.

CHRIS:
You okay, hon?

No response. Chris waits. Regan appears to be asleep.

Chris leans over, kisses her cheek.

CHRIS:
(whisper)
Sleep tight.

81 INT. MACNEIL HOUSE - ANGLE AT MAIN STAIRCASE - NIGHT 81

Dyer and Dean are SINGING and PLAYING, "Oh, Lindberg (What a
Flyin' Fool Was He)." GO TO Chris holding front door open for
Sharon and the Assistant Director with a barely conscious
Dennings being carried between them, heading for open front
door.

CHRIS:
Nite, Burke. Take it easy.

DENNINGS:
(eyes still closed; a
mutter)
Fuck it!

Chris shakes head. Then CAMERA FOLLOWS her to the piano

group, which now includes the Astronaut. Dyer is just
finishing the song. Group applauds. Dyer spots Chris.

DYER:
Hi, Chris. Great party.
 42.

CHRIS:
Thanks, Father. Keep goin'.

DYER:
(playing chords)
I don't need the encouragement. My
notion of heaven is a solid white
nightclub with me center stage for
all the rest of eternity.
(after amused reaction
from group)
Does anyone else know the words to
"I’ll Bet You’re Sorry Now, Tokyo
Rose."

Chris starts singing as Dyer delightedly joins her. Then

abruptly he stops, staring expressionlessly at something O.S.
Chris, too, stops as Dyer nods head toward spot O.S.

DYER:
I believe we have a visitor, Mrs.
MacNeil.

AT CHRIS AND ASTRONAUT

Chris looks where Dyer has indicated, and as sudden silence

falls on the group, Chris gasps in shock and dismay, hand
flying to her cheek, a small whimper coming up in her throat.
The CAMERA MOVES TO TIGHT ON ASTRONAUT'S FACE as he, too,
looks down and we HEAR:

REGAN:
(o.s.)
You're going to die up there.

As Astronaut’s face turns gray with dismay and chilling

apprehension, we HEAR:

CHRIS:
(o.s.; anguished)
Oh, my God! Oh, —

AT REGAN - ASTRONAUT’S P.O.V.

Regan in nightgown, is staring up at Astronaut (CAMERA), and

is urinating gushingly onto the rug.

CHRIS:
(o.s.; continuing)
-- my God, Oh my baby!

THE ANGLE WIDENS OUT

 43.

to disclose Chris rushing up to Regan and leading her away

toward stairs.

CHRIS:
(continuing)
Oh, come on, Rags, come with me,
come upstairs!
(over shoulder to
Astronaut)
Oh, I’m so sorry! She's been sick,
she must be walking in her sleep!
She didn’t know what she was
saying!

CLOSE AT ASTRONAUT - STARING - SHAKEN

86 INT. REGAN’S BATHROOM - NIGHT 86

Regan sits in tub like someone in trance while Chris rapidly

bathes her.

CHRIS:
Honey, why did you say that? Why?

87 INT. REGAN’S BEDROOM - NIGHT 87

Moonlight streams in through open window. Regan turned toward

wall, is in bed, dully staring at a point in space.

Chris sits on edge of bed. Through window, from street below,

we HEAR O.S. SOUNDS and VOICES of departing guests.

CHRIS:
Howya feelin', honey? Better?

No response.

CHRIS:
Would you like me to read to you?

Regan shakes head slightly, still staring at wall.

CHRIS:
Okay, then. Try to sleep.

She leans over, kisses Regan, rises.

CHRIS:
’Night, my baby.

Chris leaves and is almost out the door when she is arrested
by Regan calling to her in a low, despairing, haunted tone:
 44.

REGAN:
Mother, what’s wrong with me?

CHRIS:
Why, honey, it’s nerves. That’s
all. I mean, it’s just like the
doctor said. You keep taking those
pills and you’ll be fine. Just
fine.
(a long wait for
reaction; but Regan
neither moves: nor
speaks)
Okay, Rags?

Chris waits. Still nothing. Troubled and despondent.

Chris starts out of room.

88 INT. SECOND FLOOR HALL OF MACNEIL HOUSE - NIGHT 88

The CAMERA is FIXED at one end of hall, and we see Chris exit
at the other from Regan’s bedroom. Head down, thoughtful, she
starts toward us; then remembers some thing and moves back to
lean over balustrade railing and observe something below for
a moment or two. We HEAR O.S. SCRAPING SOUND, like a brush
against carpeting; Willie brushing cut the urine stains.

CHRIS:
(softly)
Comin’ out, Willie?

WILLIE:
Yes, madam. I think so.

CHRIS:
(slight nod)
Good.

She continues to stare for a moment more, then comes toward

CAMERA again until she reaches door to her bedroom and
enters. She closes door. A beat. Then from O.S., within
Regan’s bedroom, we HEAR METALLIC SOUNDS, like bedsprings
violently quivering. They are tentative at first, then
insistent. Then:

REGAN:
(o.s.; calling with
burgeoning apprehension
and surmise)
Mother?
 45.

Two beats. The bedspring SOUNDS. Then, much louder, and

filled with terror:

REGAN:
(o.s.)
Mother, come here! Come here!

Chris' door has already shot open, and she’s burst out into
the hall, racing for Regan's bedroom.

CHRIS:
Yes, I’m coming! All right, hon!
I’m coming!

REGAN:
(o.s.)
Mothhheerrrrrrr!

CHRIS:
Oh, my baby, what’s --

89 INT. REGAN'S BEDROOM AT DOCK - NIGHT 89

Chris bursts in, continuing as she reaches for light switch

and we HEAR MASSIVE METALLIC SOUNDS now:

CHRIS:
— wrong, hon? What is it? What's --
?

The lights are on, and as Chris stares at Regan's bed O.S.,
she breaks off, electrified.

CHRIS:
Jesus! Oh, Jesus!

P.O.V. AT REGAN

She lies taut on her back, face stained with tears and
contorted with terror and confusion as she grips at sides of
narrow beet. It is savagely quivering back and forth!

REGAN:
Mother, why is it shaking? Make it
stop! Oh, I'm scared! Make it stop!
Oh, I'm scared, Mother, please make
it stoooooooooo —

And on her elongated, fearful cry, we break it off before the

"p" sound as we:

CUT TO:
 46.

90 INT. JESUIT RESIDENCE HALL - DYER ENTERS - NIGHT 90

91 INT. CORRIDOR IN RESIDENCE HALL - NIGHT 91

Follow Dyer to Karras' room.

92 INT. KARRAS' ROOM - NIGHT 92

Dim desk lamp lighting. Dyer sits back of Karras' desk,

wearing a "Snoopy" T-shirt. Karras is sitting on edge of oot,
his eyes fixed low in haunted stare. They are red and raw
from weeping. In his hand is a cup containing a small amount
of scotch, and his eyes and voice are fogged by heavy
drinking and chronic sleeplessness. Dyer is pouring from a
bottle of Chivas Regal Into Karras' cup.

KARRAS:
Where'd you got the money for
Chevas Regal, Joe? The poorbox?

DYER:
Don't be an asshole, that would be
breaking my vow of poverty.

KARRAS:
Where did you get it then?

DYER:
I stole it.

KARRAS:
I believe you.

DYER:
College presidents shouldn't drink.
It tends to set a bad example. I
figure I relieved him of a terrible
temptation.

Karras is nodding slightly, smiling, when suddenly he bursts

into sobs.

KARRAS:
Ah, Joe.

DYER:
(with comforting
gestures)
I know. I know.

Karras cries it through, the sobbing gradually subsiding.

 47.

KARRAS:
(a whisper)
Ah, God.

Karras at last exhales an enormous sigh, closing his eyes,

outstretched on cot.

DYER:
Do you think you can sleep new,
Damien?

Karras nods head along with a throat sound of affirmation.

Dyer moves to foot of bed, undoes laces and removes Karras's

shoes.

KARRAS:
Gonna steal my shoes now?

DYER:
No, I tell fortunes by reading the
creases, Mow shut up and go to
sleep,

KARRAS:
You’re a Jesuit cat burglar,

DYER:
Listen? someone’s got to worry
about the bills around this place,
(moving softly to desk)
All you other guys do is just
rattle your beads and pray for the
hippies down on "M” Street.

Dyer flicks off desk light.

KARRAS:
Stealing is a sin.

A beat. Then, tenderly, Dyer touches a hand to Karras’

shoulder in goodnight, but as he starts to move toward door,
Karras' hand reaches out and grips Dyer's wrist, squeezing,
and giving a little shake in a gesture of gratitude and deep
friendship. At this moment, the CAMERA is TIGHT on the HANDS,
but then goes to Dyer, as he nods in acknowledgement. Then
Dyer stares down and CAMERA FOLLOWS his gaze to TIGHT at the
HANDS again, as healing sleep at last comes to Karras and his
grip slackens and his hand slowly falls.

DYER:
(o.s.; whisper)
Goodnight, Damien.
 48.

95 INT. HOLY TRINITY CHURCH - VERY EARLY MORNING 95

Only two or three worshippers in the church. Karras, in his

black vestments, is at main altar saying Mass. While washing
at small table to side of altar:

KARRAS:
"O Lord, I have loved the beauty of
Thy house and the place where Thy
glory dwelleth. Take not away my
soul, O God, with the wicked, nor
my life with men of blood...

ANOTHER ANGLE - (TIME LAPSE)

Now Karras’ eyes are moistening with tears as:

KARRAS:
"Remember also, O Lord, Thy
servant, Mary Karras ... who has
gone before us with the sign of
faith, and sleeps the sleep of
peace. To her, O Lord, and to — all
—
(he’s fighting tears)
— who rest in Christ, grant her —
we pray Thee, a place of —
refreshment — of light — and ...
(striking his breast)
To us also, Thy sinful servants ...

ANOTHER ANGLE - (TIME LAPSE)

KARRAS:
"Peace I leave you; my peace I give
you. Look rot upon my sins but upon
the faith of your church ... "

ANOTHER ANGLE - (TIME LAPSE)

KARRAS:
(hands extended)
"O Lord, I am not worthy. Speak but
the word and my soul shall be
healed."

100 INT. DR. KLEIN'S EXAMINING ROOM - DAY 100

While Klein attempts to administer an injection, Chris and

Nurse forcibly restrain a struggling, kicking Regan who is
shrieking as:

CHRIS:
 49.

Please, honey! It’s to help you!

REGAN:
I don't want it! I don't — !

Klein leans over, injects needle.

REGAN:
Son of a bitch bastard!

She spits in Klein's face.

101 INT. HALL OF KLEIN'S SUITE OF OFFICES - DAY 101

KLEIN:
Well, it's sometimes a symptom of a
type of disturbance in the chemico-
electrical activity of the brain.
In the case of your daughter, in
the temporal lobes.
(a hand to side of his
skull)
Up here, in the lateral part of the
brain. Now it's rare, but it does
cause bizarre hallucinations and
usually happens just before a
convulsion. It --

CHRIS:
(frowning over the "it")
Convulsion.

KLEIN:
(faintly evasive)
Well, the shaking of the bed. That
was doubtless due to muscular
spasms.

CHRIS:
To muscular spasms? Hey, I was on
the bed and it even shook with me
on it.

KLEIN:
Look, Mrs. MacNeil — your
daughter's problem isn't beds; the
problem is her; it's in her brain.

CHRIS:
Yeah, okay. So what causes this ...
?
(she can’t find the term)
 50.

KLEIN:
Lesion of the temporal lobe. It’s a
kind of ... well, seizure disorder.

CHRIS:
Yeah. Look, I’ll tell you the
truth, doc; I don’t understand how
her whole personality could change.

KLEIN:
In temporal lobe, that’s very
common, and can last in some cases
for several days. It isn’t rare to
find destructive, even criminal
behavior.

Chris closes her eyes and lowers her forehead onto a fist.

CHRIS:
(murmuring)
Listen, tell me something good.

KLEIN:
Nell, now, don’t be alarmed. If
it’s a lesion, in a way, she’s
fortunate. Then all we have to do
is remove the scar.

102 INT. RADIOLOGICAL LAB 102

SERIES OF SHOTS - REGAN HAVING BRAIN X-RAYED (ARTERIOGRAM)

CHRIS AND RADIOLOGIST PRESENT

THEN GO TO:

104 INT. SMALL MEDICAL LAB AND X-RAY ROOM - DAY 104

We begin CLOSE at X-RAY OF REGAN’S SKULL, then disclose Klein

and a consulting neurologist (DR. TANNEY) thoughtfully
studying several of them.

Tanney, shaking his head, removes his eyeglasses and tucks

them into breast pocket of jacket with:

TANNEY:
There's just nothing there. No
vascular distortion at all.

KLEIN:
(frowning, still studying
X-rays)
Doesn’t figure.
 51.

TANNEY:
Want to run another series?

KLEIN:
(turning away from X-
rays)
I don’t think so.

We HEAR TELEPHONE BUZZER simultaneous with:

KLEIN:
(picking up wall phone)
I’d like you to see her again.
(into phone)
Yes.

RECEPTIONIST’S VOICE:
(FLITER: urgent phone)
Chris MacNeil’s on the line! Says
it’s urgent!

106 INT. SECOND FLOOR HALL - MACNEIL HOUSE - DAY 106

The CAMERA is by door to Regan’s bedroom, from which emanates

Regan's MOANS of pain and SCREAMS of terror.

Rushing up from steps on landing is Sharon, followed by Klein

and Tanney. At door, Sharon cracks it open and calls in:

SHARON:
Doctors, Chris!

Chris immediately comes to door, opening it. She is extremely

distraught and bewildered.

107 INT. REGAN’S BEDROOM - AT DOOR - DAY 107

Karl stands beside door, staring numbly at O.S. SOUNDS, and

as the doctors enter, we HEAR O.S. SOUND OF some thing
SLAMMING ONTO BEDSPRIHGS REPEATEDLY (in addition to Regan’s
cries).

REGAN:
(o.s.; hysterical)
Mooooootheeeeerrrrr!

P.O.V. - AT REGAN
 52.

Flailing her arms, her body seems to be flinging itself up

horizontally about a foot into the air above her bed, and
then is slammed down savagely onto mattress, as if by an
unseen person, and causing wrenching of Regan’s breath. It
happens repeatedly and rapidly as:

REGAN:
Oh, Mother make him stop! Please
stop him! Stop him! He’s trying to
kill me! He's — ! Oh, please stoo
pppppppppp hiwmmmmmmmmm,
Motherrrrrrrrrrrr!

AT CHRIS AND DOCTORS

CHRIS:
Doc, what is it? What’s happening?

He shakes head, gaze fixed on Regan.

P.O.V. - AT REGAN

The up and down movements briefly; then they abruptly cease,

and Regan twists feverishly from side to side, her eyes
rolling upwards, into their sockets so that only the whites
are exposed, while her legs keep crossing and uncrossing
rapidly.

REGAN:
(moaning)
Oh, he’s burning me! I’m burning!
I’m — ! Uhh!

With this sudden SOUND of pain, Regan has abruptly jerked her
head back, disclosing a bulging, swollen throat, and she
begins to mutter incomprehensively in a strangely deepened,
guttural tone.

ANOTHER ANGLE

as the doctors approach. Reaching the bedside, Klein reaches

down to take Regan's pulse.

KLEIN:
(soothingly)
All right, now, let’s see what the
trouble is, dear. I’m just going to
—

And abruptly Klein is reeling, stunned and staggering, across

the room from the force of a vicious backward swing of
Regan's arm as she suddenly sits up, her face contorted with
hideous rage. Now, in a coarse and powerful, deep male voice:
 53.

REGAN:
The sow is mine! Mine! Keep away
from her!

AT KLEIN

He stares O.S., stunned, as Karl and Tanney kneel to his

assistance.

KLEIN:
I'm all right.

They look toward Regan as we HEAR from O.S. a yelping laugh

gushing up in her throat.

AT REGAN

Her head is tilted back. The laugh continues, demonic.

Then she falls to her back as if someone has pushed her down.
She pulls back her nightgown with:

REGAN:
Fuck me, fuck —

AT REGAN

Sitting up, she begins to caress her own arms sensually as

she croons in that guttural, coarse, male voice:

REGAN:
Ah, my flower ... my pearl ...

Abruptly she falls onto back again as if from a shove, and

cries out with a wrench of breath. Then abruptly she is
sitting up again, as if pulled by the hands, and:

REGAN:
(normal voice)
Oh, mother! Mother — !

Another sudden cry, and then she is bending at the waist,

whirling her torso around in rapid, strenuous circles.

REGAN:
(weeping)
Oh, stop him, please stop him! It
hurts! Make him s top! Make him.
stop! I can't breaaaaaath!

AT CHRIS

CHRIS
Oh, my God, oh, my — !
 54.

AT REGAN

Before she finishes her cry, she again appears to be shoved

savagely onto her back, and as Tanney comes beside bed and
observes, her eyes roll upward into their sockets and again
she begins muttering incomprehensively in that thickened
voice. Tanney leans head closer to try to make it out,
frowning.

AT KLEIN

He is by the large window overlooking steps, preparing a

hypodermic injection.

KLEIN
Sam!

He beckons Tanney over to him with move of head and continues

preparing hypo. We HEAR the O.S., fevered gibberish from
Regan. Tanney comes INTO FRAME.

KLEIN:
I’m giving her Librium. You’re
going to have to hold her.

They look quickly toward:

REGAN:
(o.s.; terrified)
Oh, no!

REGAN:
No! Captain Howdy, don’t — !

Regan slamming up and down off the bed again.

REGAN:
Mother! Mother! Motherrrrrrrrr!

QUICK CUT TO:

AT CHRIS

over Regan’s prolonged scream of pain and terror, Chris, with

fists to her temples, turns to shriek at doctors:

CHRIS:
God almighty, will you do
something! Help her! Help — !

AT DOCTORS

Klein is ready. And over:

 55.

CHRIS:
(o.s.; continuing)
— herrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ... !

and Regan’s continuing SCREAM from O.S., Klein grimly nods to

Tanney. And as they start toward bed with both Chris and
Regan’s cries persisting we

QUICKLY CUT TO:

120 INT. MACNEIL HOUSE - SECOND FLOOR - HALL - DAY 120

Blessed silence. Chris and Sharon have heads lowered, waiting

by balustrade. Klein and Tanney exit Regan's room and
approach then. Chris dabs at nose with moist balled-up
handkerchief, her eyes red from crying.

KLEIN:
She’s heavily sedated. She'll
undoubtedly sleep right through
until tomorrow.

CHRIS:
Doc, how could she jump off the bed
like that?

DR. TANNEY:
There's a perfectly rational
explanation. Technically speaking,
pathological states can induce
abnormal strength and accelerated
motor performance. More commonly, a
ninety-pound woman sees her child
pinned under the wheel of a truck,
runs out and lifts the wheels half
a foot up off the ground. You've
heard the story. Same thing here.

CHRIS:
Yeah, okay.

DR. TANNEY:
Same principle, I mean.

CHRIS:
So what’s wrong with her? What do
you think?

KLEIN:
Well, we still think it's temporal
lobe, and —

CHRIS:
 56.

(erupting)
What the hell are you talking
about? She's been acting like some
kind of a psycho, like a split
personality! What do you — Guess
I'm all uptight. I'm sorry. You
were saying?

DR. TANNEY:
There haven’t been more than a
hundred authenticated cases of so-
called dual or split personality,
firs. MacNeil. Now I know the
temptation is to leap to
psychiatry, but any reasonable
psychiatrist would exhaust the
somatic possibilities first.

CHRIS:
Okay, so what’s next?

DR. TANNEY:
A pneumoencephalogram, I would
think, to pin down that lesion ...
outline the cavities of her brain.
It will involve another spinal.

CHRIS:
(dismayed)
Oh, Christ.

DR. TANNEY:
It’s vital. What we missed in the
EEG and the arteriograms could
conceivably turn up there. At the
least, it would exhaust certain
other possibilities.

122 INT. MEDICAL LABORATORY 122

LAB TECHNICIAN completes check of spinal fluid protein

content.

123 INT. KLEIN’S OFFICE 123

Klein is looking at lab reports and looks baffled.

KLEIN:
Dr. Tanney says the X-rays are
negative. In other words, normal.

Chris sighs, bowing head.

 57.

CHRIS:
Well, —-
(bleak murmur)
here we are again, folks.

Klein stares down, shaking head and frowning in perplexity.

Then he looks up at Chris:

KLEIN:
Do you keep any drugs in your
house?

CHRIS:
Huh?

KLEIN:
Amphetamines? LSD?

CHRIS:
Gee, no. Look, I’d tell you. Mo,
there’s nothing like that.

He nods and stares at his shoes; then looks up again.

KLEIN:
Are you planning to be home soon?
L.A., I mean.

CHRIS:
No. No, I’m building a new house
and the old one’s been sold. We
were going to Europe for a while
after Rags finished up with her
school here. Why’d you ask?

KLEIN:
I think it's time we started
looking for a psychiatrist.

125 EXT. CHRIS' CAR - NIGHT 125

as she drives back-across Key Bridge.

126 INT. CHRIS' CAR - ANGLE FROM DRIVER’S SEAT - "M" STREET AND 126
36TH
 58.

Through the windshield, dead ahead, a CROWD has gathered by

base of the steep steps beside the house, and an AMBULANCE is
pulling out into traffic. White-coated MEDICS are running
around in a panic. Police car lights are flashing. As Chris
rounds off the bridge onto Prospect, the AMBULANCE nulls out
and gets just ahead of her, SIREN VAILING. We FOLLOW
AMBULANCE for two beats, then:

CUT TO:

127 EXT. MACNEIL HOUSE - REGAN’S WINDOW - CURTAINS BLOWING 127

128 INT. MACNEIL HOUSE - AT FRONT DOOR - NIGHT 128

Chris enters despondently. Closing door behind her, she leans

back against it, looking down in thought, her hand still
clutching doorknob. A beat. The LIGHTS IN HOUSE BLINK OUT for
a beat. Chris looks up. They ELINK OUT AGAIN, this time
longer.

CHRIS:
Sharon?

The lights come back on.

CHRIS:
Shar?

Still no response. Chris starts up the staircase, frowning

apprehensively.

129 INT. SECOND FLOOR HALL MACNEIL HOUSE - NIGHT 129

The CAMERA is FIXED by door to Regan's bedroom. As Chris

reaches lancing, the LIGHTS BLINK OUT AGAIN, BRIEFLY, THEN
OH, Chris has halted, her eyes warily scanning around; then
she continues down the hall toward us, and opens door to
Regan’s bedroom.

130 INT. REGAN'S BEDROOM - FULL SHOT - NIGHT 130

Silence as Chris stands by door a moment; then she goes to

Regan's bedside, and rubs at her arms, as if from extreme
cold. She examines Regan, who is still sound asleep.

CLOSER ANGLE

at Chris hugging arms akimbo, shivering.

CHRIS:
 59.

(perplexed; whisper)
Shit!

Then she looks toward window; frowns in consternation.

THE ROOM - FULL SHOT

The window is open. Chris moves to it and stares for a

moment. She closes and looks it. But she still feels cold.
She HEARS FRONT DOOR OPENING from O.S., below, through open
door to Regan's bedroom, and turns toward the SOUND. We
FOLLOW her out into:

131 INT. SECOND FLOOR HALL - MACNEIL HOUSE - NIGHT 131

As Chris exits and softly closes Regan’s door. She starts

toward stairs.

CHRIS:
(calling softly)
Sharon?

132 INT. FOYER LIVING ROOM AREA - MACNEIL HOUSE - NIGHT 132

Sharon enters house with white paper pharmacy bag in hand.

CHRIS:
Hey, what the hell’s wrong with
you, Sharon? You go out and leave
Rags by herself? Where've you been?

SHARON:
Oh, didn't he tell you?

CHRIS:
Oh, didn't who tell me?

SHARON:
Burke. Isn't he here? Where is he?

CHRIS:
He was here?

SHARON:
You mean he wasn't when you got
home?

CHRIS:
Listen, start all over.

SHARON:
 60.

Oh, that nut. I couldn't get the

druggist to deliver. Karl and
Willie are off, so when Burke cane
around, I thought, fine, he can
stay here with Regan while I go get
the Thorazine. Guess I should have-
known.

CHRIS:
Yeah, you should've.

SHARON:
What happened with the tests?

CHRIS:
Not a thing. I'm going to have to
get Regan a shrink.

133 XNT. FOYER AREA MACNEIL HOUSE - NIGHT 133

Chris is answering the door. It is the Assistant Director

ashen-faced.

CHRIS:
Oh, Chuck. How ya doin’? Come on
in.

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR:
(stepping inside gravely)
You haven’t heard?

CHRIS:
Heard what?

Sharon enters scene, listening.

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR:
Well, it's bad.

CHRIS:
What’s bad?

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR:
Burke’s dead.

CHRIS:
Oh, no!

SHARON:
What happened?

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR:
 61.

I guess he was drunk. He fell down

from the top of the steps right
outside. By the time he hit "M"
Street, he’d broken his neck.

Chris puts a hand to her mouth stifling a sob.

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Yeah, I know.
(exiting)
See you later.

He closes door behind him, Chris leans against door crying

while Sharon moves despondently to foot of staircase.

CHRIS:
Oh, Burke! Poor Burke!

SHARON:
I can’t believe it.

Chris lowers brow into hand, leaning against door. She shakes
her head, exhales,

CHRIS:
I guess everything —

She breaks off, staring with horror at something descending

the stairs behind Sharon. It is Regan on all fours. She is
gliding, spiderlike, noiselessly and swiftly, down the
staircase, her tongue flicking rapidly in and out of her
mouth like a snake. She halts directly beside Sharon.

CHRIS:
(numbly)
Sharon?

Sharon stops, as does Regan. Sharon turns and sees nothing;

and then screams as she feels Regan’s tongue snaking out at
her ankle.

CHRIS:
Call that doctor and get him the
hell over here, Sharon! Get him
now!

135 INI. CHRIS' BEDROOM - DAY 135

 62.

Shutters are closed and room is dark. Klein stands by bureau,

watching. Chris sits on edge of bed, as does a PSYCHIATRIST.
He is swinging a bauble on a chain back and forth,
hypnotically, in front of Regan. He shines a penlight on the
bauble so that it glows in the dark. He halts, inclining the
penlight beam up, and we SEE Regan’s eyes are closed and
appears to be in trance.

He turns off penlight.

PSYCHIATRIST:
Are you comfortable, Regan?

REGAN:
(voice-soft and whispery)
Yes.

PSYCHIATRIST:
How old are you?

REGAN:
Twelve.

PSYCHIATRIST:
Is there someone inside you?

REGAN:
Sometimes.

PSYCHIATRIST:
Who is it?

REGAN:
I don’t know.

PSYCHIATRIST:
Captain Howdy?

REGAN:
I don’t know.

PSYCHIATRIST:
If I ask him to tell me, will you
let him answer?

REGAN:
No!

PSYCHIATRIST:
Why not?

REGAN:
I'm afraid!
 63.

PSYCHIATRIST:
If he talks to ma, I think he will
leave you. Do you want him to leave
you?

REGAN:
Yes.

PSYCHIATRIST:
Let him speak, then. Will you let
him speak?

REGAN:
(a pause; then:)
Yes.

PSYCHIATRIST
(firmly; new tone)
I am speaking to the person inside
of Regan, now. If you are there you
too are hypnotized and must answer
all my questions. Come forward and
answer me now: Are you there?

No response, and after three beats, we HEAR Regan’s BREATH

coning loud and raspily, like a rotted, putrid bellows. The
Psychiatrist sniffs, as if at a horrid smell, and then flicks
on laser lamp and shines it up into Regan’s face. Chris
gasps. We do not see Regan’s face, but play off reactions of
Chris and the Psychiatrist. Chris lowers her head into a
hand, the sight too unbearable for her, and she grips the
Psychiatrist’s arm with the other in a tight vise.

This causes him to extinguish the laser lamp.

PSYCHIATRIST
Are you the person inside of Regan?

REGAN:
(in that coarse and
guttural voice)
Say.

PSYCHIATRIST:
Did you answer?

REGAN:
Say.

PSYCHIATRIST:
If that’s yes, nod your head.

Regan nods.
 64.

PSYCHIATRIST:
Who are you?

REGAN:
Nowonmai.

PSYCHIATRIST:
That’s your name?

REGAN:
Say.

PSYCHIATRIST
Are you speaking in a foreign
language?

REGAN:
Say.

PSYCHIATRIST:
Are you someone whom Regan has
known?

REGAN:
One.

PSYCHIATRIST:
That she knows of?

REGAN:
One.

PSYCHIATRIST:
Part of Regan?

REGAN:
One.

PSYCHIATRIST:
Do you like her?

REGAN:
One.

PSYCHIATRIST:
Do you hate her?

REGAN:
Say.

PSYCHIATRIST:
Are you punishing her?

REGAN:
 65.

Say.

PSYCHIATRIST:
You wish to harm her?

REGAN
Say.

PSYCHIATRIST:
To kill her?

REGAN:
Say.

PSYCHIATRIST
But if Regan died, wouldn't you
die, too?

REGAN:
One.

PSYCHIATRIST:
Is there something she can do to
make you leave her?

REGAN:
Say.

PSYCHIATRIST:
Do you blame her for her parents'
divorce?

His question elides into a prolonged gasp of startled pain

and horrified incredulity as we go quickly to FULL AT REGAN,
mad, evil glee in the eyes as now the light drops from the
Psychiatrist's hand.

CLOSE AT PSYCHIATRIST

In the darkness, we SEE his mouth agape in horrible pain,,

his eyes wide-staring. What has happened is that Regan has
gripped his scrotum in a hand that is squeezing like an iron
talon.

PSYCHIATRIST:
Marc! Marc, help me!

QUICKLY AT CHRIS

leaping up and away from Psychiatrist struggling to wrench

Regan's hand away, a hand with incredible strength,

CHRIS:
Jesus!
 66.

Klein races forward toward bed; Chris is running, panicked,

for the lightswitch: Psychiatrist, in agony, struggling;
Regan "Creature" with head tilted back, is cackling
demoniacally and then howls like a wolf as Chris slaps at the
lightswitch. The lights come on and we see:

AT BED

Regan, cackling demoniacally is rolling around on bed in

savage struggle with Klein and Psychiatrist, who are still
attempting to dislodge her hand from its grip. Grimaces,
Gasps. Curses. The bedstead is quivering violently side to
side.

ANOTHER ANGLE

Regan jerks upright. Her eyes roll upward into their sockets
and she wrenches up a keening shriek of terror torn raw and
bloody from the base of her spine as her face becomes her
own. Then she falls backwards in a faint.

VIEW OF BED

Stillness. Regan unconscious. Two beats. One of the doctors

makes a small move at extricating himself from the tangle.
Chris crumples in a dead faint.

145 EXT. OUTDOOR TRACK IN HOLLOW OF GEORGETOWN U. CAMPUS - DAY 145

In shorts and T-shirt, Karras is doing laps. A portly middle-

aged man (KINDERMAN) is seated on bench at edge of track
watching him. SOUNDS of baseball practice o.s. KARRAS passes
Kinderman and shortly thereafter stops running, hands to hips
as he walks, head down and panting. Kinderman rises and moves
toward him.

KINDERMAN
(calling)
Father Karras?

Karras turns head, squinting into sun, his breath coming in

great gulps, chest heaving. He waits for Kinderman to reach
him, then beckons him to follow as Karras resumes his walk.

KARRAS
Do you mind? I'll cramp.

KINDERMAN
Yes, of course.

KARRAS
Have we met?
 67.

KINDERMAN
No, we haven't, but they said I
could tell; that you looked like a
boxer. I'm William F. Kinderman,
Father.
(flashing I.D.)
Homicide.

GATE OF RUNNING TRACK

Karras and Kinderman walk toward the path.

KARRAS:
What's this about?

KINDERMAN:
It’s true, you do look like a
boxer. Excuse me, that scar, you
know, there by your eye? Like
Brando, it looks like, in
Haterfront. Just exactly Marlon
Brando. People tell you that,
Father?

KARRAS:
Do people ever tell you that you
look like Paul Newman?

KINDERMAN:
Always.

PATH ABOVE FOOTBALL FIELD

Karras and Kinderman continue walking.

KINDERMAN:
Look, Father, could we keep this
between us? Confidential? Like a
matter of confession, so to speak?

KARRAS:
Yes, of course.

KINDERMAN:
You know that director who was
doing the film here, Father? Burke
Dennings?

KARRAS:
Well, I’ve seen him.

KINDERMAN:
 68.

You’ve seen him. You're also

familiar with how last week he
died?

KARRAS:
(shrugging)
Well, the papers ...

KINDERMAN:
That’s part of it.

KARRAS:
Oh?

KINDERMAN:
Only part. Listen, what do you know
on the subject of witchcraft,
Father? From the witching end,
please, not the hunting.

TENNIS COURT PATH

Karras and Kinderman continue walking

KARRAS
(smiling)
Oh, I once did a paper on it.

KINDERMAN:
Really?

KARRAS:
From the psychiatric end.

KINDERMAN:
From whatever. Look, these
desecrations going on in the church
— they remind you of anything to do
with witchcraft?

KARRAS:
Maybe. Some rituals used in Black
Mass.

KINDERMAN:
And now Dennings — you read how he
died?

KARRAS:
In a fall.

KINDERMAN:
Well, I'll tell you; and please!
Confidential!
 69.

Karras nods. They stop, and continue talking.

KINDERMAN:
Burke Dennings, good Father, was
found at the bottom of those steps
down to "M" Street with his head
turned completely around and facing
backwards.

KARRAS:
(after a beat)
It didn't happen in the fall?

KINDERMAN
Sure, it's possible. Possible.
However ...

KARRAS:
Unlikely.

KINDERMAN:
Exactly.

They start walking again.

KINDERMAN:
So on the one hand a witchcraft
kind of murder, on the other, Black
Mass type desecrations in the
church.

KARRAS:
The killer and the desecrator, you
think, then, are the same?

KINDERMAN:
Maybe somebody crazy, Father
Karras; maybe someone with a spite
against the Church, some
unconscious rebellion perhaps! And
who also has access to the Church
in the middle of the night.

KARRAS:
A sick priest. Is that it?

PATH SOUTH OF DAHLGREN CHAPEL. TRACKING BEHIND KARRAS AND

KINDERMAN

As they walk.

KINDERMAN:
 70.

Listen, Father, this is hard for

you — please! — I understand. But
for priests on the campus here,
you're the psychiatrist; you'd know
who was sick at the time, who was
not, I mean, this kind of sickness.
You’d know that.

KARRAS
I really know of no one who fits
the description.

They stop and sit on the railing.

KINDERMAN:
Ah, yes; doctor's ethics. If you
knew, you wouldn't tell.

KARRAS:
No, I probably wouldn't.

KINDERMAN:
Incidentally — I mention it only in
passing — but this ethic is
recently considered illegal. Not to
bother you with trivia, but lately
a psychiatrist in sunny California,
no less, was put in jail for not
telling the police what he knew
about a patient.

KARRAS:
(slight, warm smile)
That a threat?

KINDERMAN:
Don’t talk paranoid; I mention it
in passing.

KARRAS:
I could always tell the judge it
was a matter of confession.

KINDERMAN:
(glancing at him, faintly
gloomy)
Want to go into business, Father?
(he looks away dismally)
'Father' — what 'Father'? You're a
Jew, I could tell when I met you.

Karras chuckles.

KINDERMAN:
 71.

Yes, laugh; go ahead; laugh.

But then Kinderman smiles, looking impishly pleased with

himself, and turns to Karras with beaming eyes.

KINDERMAN:
That reminds me. The entrance exam
for policemen, Father? When I took
it, one question went something
like: ”What are rabies and what
would you do for then?" Know what
some dumbhead put down for an
answer? Emis? "Rabies," he said,
"are Jew priests and I would do
anything that I could for them.”

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY. QUADRANGLE, NEAR FOUNTAIN AND GAZEBO

Karras and Kinderman walking.

KINDERMAN:
Listen, Father. Listen, doctor -
... Am I crazy, or could there
maybe be a witch coven here in the
District? Right now, I mean. Today.

KARRAS:
Oh, come on.

KINDERMAN:
So then what am I looking for.
Father?

KARRAS:
A madman. Maybe someone on drugs.

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY, QUADRANGLE-WASHINGTON STEPS TRACKING

SHOT - KARRAS AND KINDERNAN WALKING

KINDERMAN:
You like movies, Father Karras?

KARRAS:
Very much.

KINDERMAN:
I get passes for the very best
shows, Mrs. K., she gets tired,
though; never likes to go.

KARRAS:
That's too bad.

KINDERMAN:
 72.

It's too bad; yes, I hate to go

alone. You know, I love to talk
film; to discuss; to critique.
Would you like to see a film with
me? I've got passes for the Crest.
It's Othello.

KARRAS:
Who's starring?

KINDERMAN:
Debbie Reynolds, Desdemona, and
Othello, Groucho Marx. You're
happy?

Karras smiles. They have halted at entry to Jesuit residence

hall.

KINDERMAN:
Listen, Father, one more time ~-
you can think of some priest who
fits the bill?

KARRAS:
Oh, come on, now.

KINDERMAN:
Just answer the question, please,
Father Paranoia.

KARRAS:
(leaning closer; looking
grave)
Look, Lieutenant, can I tell you
who I really think did it?

KINDERMAN:
No, who?

KARRAS:
Dominicans.

KINDERMAN:
I could have you deported, you know
that?

KARRAS:
What for?

KINDERMAN:
A psychiatrist shouldn't piss
people off.
(as Karras chuckles)
 73.

Plus also the goyim, plainly

speaking, would love it. Who needs
it? A priest who wears sneakers and
T-shirts!

Karras turns and walks away toward entry to residence hall.

Calling out after him:

KINDERMAN:
I lied! You look like Sal Mineo!

159 EXT. ESTABLISHING - BARRINGER CLINIC - DAY 159

160 INT. ROOM IN BARRINGER CLINIC - DAY 160

(1) Regan in another fit, in bed and restrained by straps.

Clinic Director is in the room with other doctors observing.
They are baffled.

(2) Hospital corridor. Nurse walking to door to Regan’s room.

Pauses outside as hears curious rapping sound from within.
She enters room. Dim nightlight illumination. The rappings
have ceased. Regan is sleeping. Nurse checks her pulse, then
frowns in wonderment as she spots something on Regan’s chest.

She parts Regan’s pajama top to sea better, and as she leans
closer, she looks mystified. We now see that on Regan’s
chest, faintly, the letter "L", followed by a separation,
then the letter "M", having risen up in blood-red, light bas-
relief lettering on her skin.

162 INT. CLINIC DIRECTOR'S OFFICE - DAY 162

The room is glass enclosed on two sides, so that we have a

view in b.g. or a traffic of DOCTORS AND NURSES.

Clinic Director and two of the Doctors from earlier clinic

scenes are present. Chris sits in chair, taut and drawn. In
the room, A CLOSED CIRCUIT TV MONITOR SHOWING REGAN IN THE
HOSPITAL ROOM, IN A FIT, as:

CLINIC DIRECTOR:
People with very, very sensitive
skin can just trace with a finger,
and then a little while later it
shows up. Not abnormal. Why an "L"
and an "M", of course, we don’t
understand. In the meantime ....

ANOTHER ANGLE - (TIME LAPSE)

 74.

CLINIC DIRECTOR:
It looks like a type of disorder
that you rarely ever see any mere,
except among primitive cultures. We
call it somnambuliform possession.
Quite frankly, we don’t know much
about it except that it starts with
some conflict or guilt that
eventually leads to the patinet’s
delusion that his body's been
invaded by an alien intelligence; a
spirit, if you will. In times gone
by, the entity possessing the
victim is supposed to be a so-
called demon, or devil.

FULL AT TV MONITOR - (TIME LAPSE)

CHRIS:
Look, I’m telling you again and
you’d better believe it, I’m not
about to put her in a goddamn
asylum!

CLINIC DIRECTOR:
It’s —

CHRIS:
I don’t care what you call it! I’m
not going to put her away!

CLINIC DIRECTOR:
Well, I’m sorry.

CHRIS:
Yeah, sorry, Christ, eighty-eight
doctors and all you can tell me
with all of your bullshit....

ANOTHER ANGLE - (TIME LAPSE)

CLINIC DIRECTOR:
There is one outside chance of a
cure, I think of it as shock
treatment. As I say, it’s a very
outside chance. But then since
you're so opposed to your daughter
being hospitalized —

CHRIS:
Will you name it, for God’s sake?
What is it?

CLINIC DIRECTOR:
 75.

Have you any religious beliefs?

CHRIS:
No, I don’t.

CLINIC DIRECTOR:
And your daughter?

CHRIS:
Why?

CLINIC DIRECTOR:
Have you ever heard of exorcism,
Mrs. MacNeil?

CHRIS:
Come again.

CLINIC DIRECTOR:
It’s a stylized ritual in which
rabbis and priests try to drive out
a so-called invading spirit. It’s
pretty much discarded these days,
except by the Catholics who keep it
in the closet as a sort of
embarrassment. It has worked, in
fact, although not for the reason
they think, of course. It was
purely the force of suggestion. The
victim's belief in possession
helped cause it; and in just the
same way this belief in the power
of exorcism can make it disappear.

CHRIS:
Jesus! Are you telling me to take
her to a witch doctor?

168 EXT. STREET IN FRONT OP MACNEIL HOUSE - FULL SHOT - DAY 168

A limo has pulled up and Karl is exiting driver's seat and

opening rear door while Sharon exits on right rear side. Karl
reaches in and picks up a small figure (Regan) wrapped in a
blanket from Chris in back seat.

While Karl carries Regan toward door of MacNeil house where

Willie is standing, anxiously watching, Chris exits car in
deep depression.

169 INT. REGAN’S BEDROOM - DAY 169

 76.

Regan is faced to side. Sharon is adjusting Sustagen flask

used for a naso-gastric feeding. Karl is affixing a set of
restraining straps to bed. Chris enters, standing by door and
observing. Karl lets straps hang loose, nods to Sharon.
Sharon starts out of room, pausing for a moment by door to
look at Chris.

Chris moves slowly forward to bedside and looks down at

Regan, WE SER now that Regan’s face is torn and bloated with
numerous scratch marks and scabs. Projecting hideously from
her nostrils is the naso-gastric tubing. Karl has finished
adjusting straps. He, too, now looks down at Regan. Two
beats. He looks up at Chris.

KARL:
She is going to be well?

CHRIS:
(after a beat)
I don’t know.

ANOTHER ANGLE

A beat. Then Chris leans and tenderly adjusts Regan’s pillow.

In the process, she discovers a crucifix under it made of
white bone. She lifts it out, examining it, frowning. Then,
at Karl:

CHRIS:
Who put this crucifix under her
pillow?

172 EXT. HOUSE - BEHIND KINDERMAN LOOKING UP TO REGAN’S WINDOW 172

173 INT. KITCHEN MACNEIL HOUSE - DAY 173

Sharon, her coat still on, listless sorts through a mound of

mail and messages. Willie is slicing carrots for a stew.
Chris enters with crucifix.

CHRIS:
(to Sharon)
Was it you put this under her
pillow?

SHARON:
(fuddled)
Whaddya mean?

CHRIS:
You didn’t?
 77.

SHARON:
Chris, I don’t even know what
you’re talking about. Listen, I
told you ...

CHRIS:
(interjecting)
Yeah.

SHARON:
I’ve ever said to Rags is
maybe "God made the world,” and
maybe things about —

CHRIS:
Fine, Sharon. Fine, I believe you,
but —

WILLIE:
Me, I don’t put it.

CHRIS:
This fucking cross didn’t just walk
up there, dammit! Now —

She is interrupted by the entrance of Karl.

KARL:
Please, madam, there is man here to
see you.

CHRIS:
What man?

174 INT. ENTRY HALL - MACNEIL HOUSE - DAY 174

Kinderman stands waiting with hat in hand as Chris
approaches. He shows I.D.

KINDERMAN:
I’d know that face in any lineup,
Mrs. MacNeil.

CHRIS:
Am I in one?

175 INT. KITCHEN - MACNEIL HOUSE - DAY 175

Chris and Kinderman. On the breakfast table sits Regan’s
sculpt of the bird. It is set among the salt and pepper
shakers and is now a decorative piece.
 78.

KINDERMAN:
(at Chris)
Might your daughter remember if
perhaps Mr. Dennings was in her
room that night?

CHRIS:
(vague apprehensiveness)
Why do you ask?

KINDERMAN:
Might your daughter remember?

CHRIS:
Oh, no she was heavily sedated.

KINDERMAN:
It’s serious?

CHRIS:
Yes, I’m afraid it is.

KINDERMAN:
May I ask ... ?

CHRIS:
We still don’t know.

KINDERMAN:
Watch out for drafts. A draft in
the fall when a house is hot, is a
magic carpet for bacteria.

CHRIS:
Why are you asking all this?

KINDERMAN:
 79.

Strange ... strange ... so

baffling. The deceased comes to
visit, stays only twenty minutes
without even seeing you, and leaves
all alone here a very sick girl.
And speaking plainly, Mrs. MacNeil,
as you say, it’s not likely he
would fall from a window. Besides
that, a fall wouldn't do to his
neck what we found except maybe a
chance in a thousand. My hunch? My
opinion? I believe he was killed by
a powerful man: point one. And the
fracturing of his skull — point two
plus the various things I have
mentioned, would make it very
probable — probable, not certain —
the deceased was killed and then
afterwards pushed from your
daughter's window. But no one was
here except your daughter. So how
could this be? It could be one way:
if someone came calling between the
time Miss Spencer left and the tine
you returned.

CHRIS:
(hoarsely; stunned)
Judas priest, just a second.

KINDERMAN:
The servants? They have visitors?

CHRIS:
Never. Not at all.

KINDERMAN:
You expected a package that day?
Some delivery?

CHRIS:
Not that I know of.

KINDERMAN:
Dry cleaning, maybe? Groceries?
Liquor? A package?

CHRIS:
I really wouldn’t know. Karl
handles all of that.

KINDERMAN:
Oh, I see.
 80.

CHRIS:
Want to ask him?

KINDERMAN:
Never mind, it's remote. You've got
a daughter very sick, and — well,
never mind.

Chris rises.

CHRIS:
Would you like another cup of
coffee?

Kinderman acknowledges in the affirmative. They move to

Kitchen.

177 INT. MACNEIL KITCHEN 177

Kinderman follows Chris toward Sharon’s working area.

He notices Regan's artwork.

KINDERMAN:
Cute ... It’s so cute. Your
daughter? She’s the artist?

Chris nods. Then:

KINDERMAN:
Incidentally, just a chance in a
Trillion, I know; but your daughter
— you could possibly ask her if she
saw Mr. Dennings in her room that
night?
CHRIS:
Look, he wouldn’t have a reason to
be up there in the first place.

KINDERMAN:
I know that; I realize; that’s
true; very true. But if certain
British doctors never asked "What’s
this fungus?", we wouldn’t today
have penicillin. Correct?

CHRIS:
When she’s well enough. I’ll ask.

KINDERMAN:
Couldn’t hurt. In the meantime ...
 81.

(they have come to the

front door and Kinderman
falters, embarrassed)
Look, I really hate to ask you;
however ...

CHRIS:
(tensing)
What?

KINDERMAN:
For my daughter ... you could maybe
give an autograph?

He has reddened, and Chris almost laughs with relief.

CHRIS:
Oh, of course. Where’s a pencil?

KINDERMAN:
Right here!

He has whipped out the stub of a chewed-up pencil from the

pocket of his coat while he dipped his other hand in a pocket
of his jacket and slipped out a calling card.

KINDERMAN:
She would love it.

CHRIS:
What’s her name?

Chris presses the card against the door and poises pencil
stub to write. There follows a weighty hesitation.

KINDERMAN:
(eyes desperate and
defiant)
I lied. It's for me.
(fixes gate on card and
blushes)
Write 'To William F. Kinderman' —
it's spelled on the back.

Chris eyes him with a wan and unexpected affection, checks

the spelling of his name and writes on card as:

KINDERMAN:
You know that film you made called
“Angel?” I saw that film six times.

CHRIS:
If you were looking for the
murderer, arrest the director.
 82.

KINDERMAN:
You're a very nice lady.

CHRIS:
You're a very nice man.

Kinderman exits. Chris leans against the door, thoughtful,

for a moment. Then she moves on. Walking by door to basement
we HEAR washing machine O.S.. Chris halts, then opens door
and calls down:

CHRIS:
Willie.

No response. She starts down the stairs.

179 INT. BASEMENT PLAYROOM - DAY 179

Chris comes down the stairs. Willie is working in the service

area.

CHRIS:
Willie.

WILLIE:
Oh, yes, Madam.

CHRIS:
Look, never mind dinner tonight.
I’m not hungry, and if anyone —

Her eye has fallen to a book that is lying open, face down,
on top of the dryer. IN AN INSERT WE SEE THE TITLE: "A
HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT." Picking it up?
CHRIS:
You reading this?

WILLIE:
I try, but very difficult. Madam.

CHRIS:
Some illustrations.

WILLIE:
I find in Kiss Regan bedroom.

Chris looks up at her. Dryer stops spinning and Willie turns

away to take out the clothes. Chris resumes thumbing through
the book. Abruptly she FREEZES, turning ashen. She holds gaze
on book for a beat; then, numbly:

CHRIS:
 83.

Willie — you found this in Regan’s

bedroom?

WILLIE
Yes, Madam. Under bed.

Still numb, Chris runs a finger along edge of right hand

page, and in an INSERT, we see that a narrow strip — in the
manner of Burke Dennings — has been surgically shaved from
along its length.

ANOTHER ANGLE

Willie and Chris look up at SOUND from above, in Regan’s

bedroom, of a blow, of someone staggering across the room, of
someone crashing to wail and falling heavily to ground. This
is followed, as Chris races upstairs, by an at first
indistinct altercation between a tearful and terror-stricken
Regan, and someone else — a man — with a powerful and
incredibly deep bass voice. Regan is pleading; the man
commanding in obscene terms.

ANGLE AT CHRIST FROM TOP OF STEPS (SECOND FLOOR)

Rushing up, frenzied, while Willie and Sharon stare up from

bottom of steps. We HEAR:

REGAN:
(o.s.)
No! Oh, no, don't! Don’t — !

DEEP BASS VOICE:

(o.s.)
Do it, damned piglet! You'll — I

REGAN:
(o.s.)
No! Oh, no don't! Please, don’t —

And in this manner, the VOICES continue — and never

overlapping — while CAMERA TRACKS with Chris to door to
Regan's bedroom.

183 INT. REGAN’S BEDROOM - DAY 183

Chris bursts in, then stands rooted in shock, as we HEAR

SOUND OF BED SHAKING VIOLENTLY, and the continuation of
dialogue between Regan and the thundering deep MALE VOICE.

REGAN:
(o.s.)
Please! Oh, please don’t m(-ake) —
!
 84.

MALE VOICE:
(o.s.)
You’ll do as I tell you, filth!
You’ll — !

Chris has turned head to stare at:

P.O.V. AT KARL

Blood trickling down from forehead, he lies unconscious on

floor near bureau. The CAMERA GOES TO BED disclosing Regan
sitting up in a SIDE VIEW TO CAMERA, her legs propped wide
apart and the bone-white crucifix clutched in rawknuckled
hands that are upraised over her head. She seems to be
exerting a powerful effort to keep the crucifix UP, away from
her vagina, which we cannot (AND WILL NOT) see, her nightgown
pulled up to precisely that point. We see that her FACE
ALTERS EXPRESSION to match each voice in the argument, BOTH
OF WHICH ARE COMING FROM HER! When the deep male voice speaks
through her mouth, the features instantaneously contort into
a demonic grimace of malevolence and rage. Blood trickles
down from Regan’s nose. The nasogastric tubing has been
ripped out. During the above:

REGAN:
Oh, no don’t make me! Don’t!

REGAN-DEMONIC:
You’ll do it!

REGAN:
No! NO, — !

REGAN-DEMONIC:
Do it, stinking bitch! You’ll do
it! You’ll do it or I’m going to
kill you!

REGAN:
Nooooo!

REGAN-DEMONIC:
Yes, do it, do it, do- !

QUICK CUT TO:

CLOSE DOWN ANGLE - AT REGAN

showing nothing from the waist down as with eyes wide and
staring she seems to be flinching from the rush of some
hideous finality, her mouth agape and shrieking in terror as
she stares up at the upheld crucifix.
 85.

Then the shriek ends as the demonic face once again takes
over her features, and the piercing cry of terror elides into
a yelping, gutteral laugh of malevolent spite and rage
triumphant as the crucifix is plunged down and out of sight
at Regan’s vagina.

The demonic face looks down, and we HEAR Regan-Demon roaring

in that coarse deafening voice as the crucifix is repeatedly
brought up and plunged down again, blood now spotting it as:

DEMON:
Yes, now you’re mine, you stinking
cow! You're mine, you're mine,
you're — !

Chris has raced in, screaming, grappling to take hold of the

crucifix. We see blood on Regan's thighs, but NEVER THE
VAGINA. The Demon first turns on Chris with a look of
mindbending fury. Then:

DEMON:
Ahhh, little pig mother!

The Demon pulls Chris* head down, rubbing her face sensually
against pelvic area, then lifts head and smashes Chris a blow
across the chest that sends her reeling across room and
crashing to a wall with stunning force while Demon laughs
with bellowing spite. Chris crumples against wall near Karl.

Willie arrives, staring in confusion and horror.

Chris begins to pick herself up. She stares toward bed, her
head bloodied, and begins to crawl pain fully toward it.

DEMON:
Ah, there’s my pearl, my sweet
honey piglet!

MOVING SHOT - AT BED - CHRIS' P.O.V.

as she crawls closer. Regan now has back to CAMERA, looking

down, and we know the crucifix is being used for
masterbation.

DEMON:
Ahh! Yes, mine, you are mine, you
are — !

It breaks off and the Regan-Demon thing abruptly looks over

shoulder at CAMERA (and Chris), which halts at the sight. The
features of Regan’s face seem to be those of Burke Dennings.
Then it sneaks in the British-accented giggly VOICE of the
dead director.
 86.

REGAN-DENNINGS:
Do you know what she did, your
cunting daughter?

CLOSE AT CHRIS - SCREAMING IN HORROR

QUICK CUT TO:

190 EXT. 35TH STREET BRIDGE & CANAL AREA - DAY 190

Chris. She wears oversized dark glasses and is leaning over

bridge railing.

ANOTHER ANGLE

as Chris sees a large, powerfully built wan wearing khakis,

sweater and sturdy, scuffed white tennis shoes approaching
her. She quickly looks away. Though she doesn’t recognize
him, we see it is Karras. Coming up beside her:

KARRAS:
Are you Chris MacNeil?

CHRIS:
Keep movin', creep.

KARRAS:
I'm Father Karras.

She reddens, jerks swiftly around.

CHRIS:
Oh, my God! Oh, I’m — ! Jesus!

She is tugging at her sunglasses, flustered, and immediately

pushing them back as the sad, dark eyes probe hers.

KARRAS:
I suppose I should have told you
that I wouldn't be in uniform.

CHRIS:
Yeah, it would've been terrific.
Got a cigarette, Father?

KARRAS:
(reaching into pocket of
shirt)
Sure.

She lights up. After a deep exhalation of smokes

CHRIS:
 87.

How'd a shrink ever get to be a

priest?

KARRAS:
It’s the other way around. The
Society sent me through medical
school and psychiatric training.

CHRIS:
Where?

KARRAS:
Oh, well, Harvard; John Hopkins,
Bellevue, then —

CHRIS:
(over him)
You’re a friend of Father Dyer’s,
that right?

KARRAS:
Yes, I am.

CHRIS:
Pretty close?

KARRAS:
Pretty close.

CHRIS:
Did he talk about the party?

KARRAS:
Yes.

CHRIS:
About my daughter?

KARRAS:
No, I didn’t know you had one.

CHRIS:
Yeah, she’s twelve. He didn’t
mention her?

KARRAS:
No.

CHRIS:
He didn’t tell you what she did?

KARRAS:
He never mentioned her.
 88.

CHRIS:
Priests keep a pretty tight mouth,
then; that right?

KARRAS:
That depends.

CHRIS:
On what?

KARRAS:
On the priest.

CHRIS:
I mean, what if a person, let’s
say, was a criminal, like maybe a
murderer or something, you know? If
he came to you for help, would you
have to turn him in?

KARRAS:
If he came to me for spiritual
help, I’d say, no.

CHRIS:
You wouldn’t.

KARRAS:
No, I wouldn’t. But I’d try to
persuade him to turn himself in.

CHRIS:
And how do you go about getting an
exorcism?

KARRAS:
Beg pardon?

CHRIS:
If a person’s possessed by some
kind of a demon, how do you go
about getting an exorcism?

KARRAS:
Well, first you'd have to put him
in a time machine and get him back
to the sixteenth century.

CHRIS:
(puzzled)
Didn’t get you.

KARRAS:
 89.

Well, it just doesn’t happen

anymore, Miss MacNeil.

CHRIS:
Since when?

KARRAS:
Since we learned about mental
illness; about paranoia; dual
personality; all of those things
that they taught meat Harvard.

CHRIS:
You kidding?

KARRAS:
Many educated Catholics, Miss
MacNeil, don’t believe in the devil
anymore; and as far as possession
is concerned, since the day I
joined the Jesuits I’ve never met a
priest who’s ever in his life
performed an exorcism. Not one.

CHRIS:
Oh, really?
(a shaking hand to her
sunglasses)
Well, it happens, Father Karras,
that someone very close to me is
probably possessed. She needs an
exorcism. Will you do it?

She has slipped off the glasses and Karras feels momentary,
wincing shock at the redness, at the desperate pleading in
the haggard eyes.

CHRIS:
Father Karras, it’s my daughter!

KARRAS:
(gently)
Then all the more reason to forget
about exorcism and —

CHRIS:
(outburst in a cracking
voice)
Why? God, I don’t understand!

He takes her wrist in a comforting hand.

KARRAS:
 90.

To begin with it could make things

worse.

CHRIS:
But how?

KARRAS:
The ritual of exorcism is
dangerously suggestive. And
secondly, Miss MacNeil, before the
church approves an exorcism, it
conducts an investigation to see if
it's warranted. That takes time. In
the meantime, your —

CHRIS:
Couldn't you do the exorcism
yourself?

KARRAS:
look, every priest has the power to
exorcise, but he has to have church
approval, and frankly, it’s rarely
ever given, so -

CHRIS:
Can't you even look at her?

KARRAS:
Well, as a psychiatrist, yes, I
could, but -

CHRIS:
She needs a priest! I've taken her
to every goddamn fucking doctor
psychiatrist in the world and they
sent me to you! Now you send me to
them!

KARRAS:
But your -

CHRIS:
(shrieking)
Jesus Christ, won't somebody help
met

She crumples against Karras' chest, moaning, with convulsive

sobs.

CHRIS:
Help her! Help her! Oh, somebody
...
 91.

The final "help" elides into deep, throaty sobbing.

195 INT. MACNEIL HOUSE STAIRCASE - DAY 195

Chris and Karras are ascending staircase, Karras frowning in

consternation at O.S. SOUND, from Regan's bedroom, of the
demonic Voice threatening and raging.

When they reach door to Regan's bedroom, we pick up Karl

leaning against opposite wall, arms folded, head bowed.

KARL:
It wants no straps, still.

Karras stares at him; looks at door; exchanges looks with

Chris. Then he grasps doorknob and starts to open door. He
reacts, as to a noxious odor; then steels self.

196 INT. REGAN’S BEDROOM - DAY 196

Reining back his revulsion, Karras enters slowly, scanning

room; then freezes in horror. Arms held down by double set of
restraining straps, it seems no longer Regan but the demonic
entity that now lies on the bed, turning head to stare at
Karras. The eyes bulge wide in wasted sockets, shining with
mad cunning and burning intelligence, seething in a face
shaped into a hideous mask of evil. The hair is tangled and
thickly matted, and Regan’s legs and arms are spider-thin, a
distended stomach jutting up grotesquely. Karras reacts, then
closes door and strives for an affable, conversational tone.

KARRAS:
Hello, Regan.
(fetching a chair to
bedside)
I’m a friend of your mother's. I'd
like to help you.

Regan tugs up wrists revealing double set of restraining

straps. Her voice is a deep, male bass, thick with menace and
power.

REGAN-DEMON
You might-loosen these straps,
then.

KARRAS:
Are they uncomfortable for you?

REGAN-DEMON
Extremely.
 92.

KARRAS:
I’m afraid you might hurt yourself.
Regan.

REGAN-DEMON:
I am not Regan.

KARRAS:
Oh, I see. Well, then, maybe we
should introduce ourselves. I'm
Damien Karras. Who are you?

REGAN-DEMON:
I'm the devil. New kindly undo
these straps.

KARRAS:
If you're the devil, why not just
make the straps disappear?

REGAN-DEMON
That's much too vulgar a display of
power, Karras.

KARRAS:
Where's Regan?

REGAN-DEMON
She is in here with us, my friend;
we are Legion.

KARRAS:
Show me Regan and —

CLOSE AT REGAN

The features are her own, now, and the eyes are filled with
terror, her mouth gaping open in a soundless, electrifying
shriek for help. But then quickly the Regan identity is
replaced by a remolding of Regan's features into those of
Denning's and we HEAR:

DENNINGS' VOICE
Won't you take off these straps,
please? They're hurting me! Really!

And now Regan's face instantaneously is remolded back to the

demonic.

REGAN-DEMON
(in the VOICE of the
derelict in subway scene)
Couldjya help an old altar boy,
Faddah? I'm Cat'lie.
 93.

AT KARRAS — REACTING

as we HEAR the O.S. MOCKING LAUGHTER of the demon.

ANOTHER ANGLE

REGAN-DEMON
Incidentally, your mother is here
with us, Karras. Do you wish to
leave a message? I will see that
she gets it.

And Karras is suddenly dodging a projectile stream of vomit/

leaping out of his chair so that only his hand and portion of
his sweater are hit. The demonic entity laughs mockingly.

KARRAS:
If that is true, then you must know
my mother’s maiden name? What is
it?

Regan hisses at him, mad eyes gleaming/ and her head gently
undulating like a cobra’s.

KARRAS:
What is it?

Regan, in an angry bellow that shivers through the walls of

the room, begins to low like a steer. Her eyes then roll
upwards into their sockets, exposing whites only. For a time,
Karras watches, ashen, as the bellowing continues.

201 INT. CHRIS’ BATHROOM AND HALL OFF BEDROOM - LATE DAY 201

Karras' sweater is craped over shower pole as he washes hands

at sink. Chris sits on edge of tub, anxiously fidgeting with
towel in lap as she watches Karras, From down the hall, O.S.,
we HEAR varied ANIMAL SOUNDS.

KARRAS:
But your daughter doesn’t say she's
a demon, Mrs. MacNeil; she says
she's the devil himself and if
you've seen as many psychotics as I
have, you'd know that’s like saying
you’re Napoleon Bonaparte.

CHRIS:
 94.

Look, I’ll tell you something.

Father; you show me Regan’s
identical twin: Same face, same
voice, same smell, same everything
down to the way she dots her i’s,
and still I'd know in a second that
it wasn't really her! I’d know it!
I’d know it in my gut and I'm
telling you I know that thing in
there is not my daughter!
(she leans back drained)
Now you tell me what to do. Go
ahead: You tell me that you know
for a fact there’s nothing wrong
with my daughter except in her
head; that you know for a fact that
she doesn’t need an exorcism; that
you know it wouldn't do her any
good. Go ahead! You tell me! You
tell me what to do!

For long troubled seconds, the priest is still. Then he

answers softly:

KARRAS:
Well, there’s little in this world
that I knew for a fact.

Chris stares at him a brief beat, then rises and moves

quickly out of bathroom. Karras frowns, hearing REGAN howling
like a wolf. Chris returns with a framed photo of Regan and
shows it to him.

CHRIS:
That’s her. That's Regan. That was
taken four months ago.

Karras is deeply affected.

KARRAS:
Look, I'm only against the chance
of doing your daughter more harm
than good.

CHRIS:
But you’re talking now strictly as
a psychiatrist, right?

KARRAS:
 95.

No, I’m talking now also as a

priest. If I go to the Chancery
office to get permission to perform
an exorcism, the first thing I’d
have to have is a pretty
substantial indication that your
daughter’s condition isn't a purely
psychiatric problem. After that,
I'd need evidence the Church would
accept as signs of possession.

CHRIS:
Like what?

KARRAS:
(continuing)
Well, like her speaking in a
language that she’s never known or
studied.

CHRIS:
And what else?

KARRAS:
I don’t know. I’m going to have to
look it up,

CHRIS:
I thought you were supposed to be
an expert.

KARRAS:
You probably know more about
demonic possession right now than
most priests.

205 EXT. MACNEIL HOUSE - NIGHT 205

Chris opens door for Karras. He steps out onto stoop carrying
the witchcraft book and a slender box containing a tape
recording.

KARRAS:
Did your daughter know a priest was
coming over?

CHRIS:
No, No, nobody knew but me.

KARRAS:
Did you know that my mother had
died just recently?
 96.

CHRIS:
Yes, I’m very sorry.

KARRAS:
Is Regan aware of it?

CHRIS:
Why?

KARRAS:
Is she aware of it?

CHRIS:
No, not at all.

He nods.

CHRIS:
Why’d you ask?

KARRAS:
(shrugging)
Not important. I just wondered.

He studies her for a moment without expression; then quickly

moves away. Chris watches from the doorway.

Karras crosses the street. At the corner, he drops the book

and stoops quickly to retrieve it, then rounds the corner and
vanishes from sight. Chris closes the door.

And now the CAMERA DISCLOSES Kinderman observing house from

an unmarked car parked a little down the street, toward
campus library.

207 EXT. PROSPECT STREET - NIGHT 207

Kinderman frowns in puzzlement as he sees something: in the

window of Regan’s bedroom (the shutters are partially open),
a suggestion of a slender figure (Regan?) quickly ducking
away from, sight. We go back to Kinderman, thoughtful. He
does not see the shutter slowly pulled shut.

208 EXT. G. U. LANGUAGE LAB - NIGHT 208

Karras enters.

209 INT. LANGUAGE LAB - NIGHT 209

Karras sits before a tape recorder, wearing earphones.

 97.

We HEAR TAPE HISS at first. Then:

REGAN’S VOICE:
(normal)
Hello ...

Whining feedback.

CHRIS VOICE:
(hushed in b.g.)
Not so close to the microphone,
honey. Hold it back.

REGAN’S VOICE:
Like this?

CHRIS: VOICE:
No, more.

REGAN'S VOICE:
Like this?

CHRIS VOICE:
Yeah, okay. Go ahead, now. Just
talk.

REGAN’S VOICE:
(muffled giggling; then:)
Hello, Daddy? This is me.
(giggling; then a
whispered aside)
I can't tell what to say.

CHRIS VOICE:
Oh, just tell him. how you are,
Rags, and what you’ve been doin'.

Karras' look grows more and more haunted as he listens.

REGAN’S VOICE:
Umm, Daddy — well, ya see; I mean I
hope you can hear me okay and —-
let's see. Umm, well, first we're -
No, wait, now ... See, first we’re
in Washington, Daddy, ya know? It’s
— No, wait, now; I better start
over. See, Daddy, there's ...

211 EXT. DAHLGREN CHAPEL ON C. U. CAMPUS - DAWN 211

Karras enters.
 98.

212 INT. DAHLGREN CHAPEL - DAWN 212

Karras vests in vestment room. We follow him into church.

ANOTHER ANGLE - (TIME LAPSE) - KARRAS AT ALTAR

KARRAS:
"Thou Shalt turn again, O God, and
quicken us. And Thy people shall
rejoice in Thee. Show us Thy mercy,
O Lord, and grant us Thy salvation.
O Lord, hear my prayer. And let my
cry come unto Thee."

ANOTHER ANGLE - (TIME LAPSE)

Karras lifts the Communion Host in consecration. It trembles

in his fingers with a hope he dares not hope.

KARRAS:
"The day before he suffered he took
bread in his sacred hands and
looking up to heaven, to you, his
almighty Father, he gave you thanks
and praise. He broke the bread,
gave it to his disciples, and said:
Take this, all of you, and eat it:
For this is my body."

Then:
When supper ended, again he gave
you thanks and praise, gave the cup
to his disciples and said: Take
this all of you and drink from it.
This is the cup of my blood, the
blood of the new and everlasting
covenant, the mystery of faith. It
will be shed for you and for all
men so that sins may be forgiven.
Do this in memory of me.

213 INT. REGAN’S BEDROOM - DAY 213

CLOSE at tape recorder. A full reel is just beginning to wind

onto empty reel. A microphone is propped in position.

Karras sits at foot of bed. He is in his clerical robes.

REGAN-DEMON:
Hello, Karras. What an excellent
day for an exorcism. Do begin it
soon.
 99.

KARRAS:
(puzzled)
You would like that?

REGAN-DEMON:
Intensely.

KARRAS:
But wouldn’t that drive you out of
Regan?

REGAN-DEMON:
It would bring us together.

KARRAS:
You and Regan?

REGAN-DEMON:
You and us.

Karras stares and then reacts as he feels something cold and

unseen at his neck. Then he jerks his head around at a loud,
sudden banging sound. O.S. a bureau drawer has popped open,
sliding out its entire length.

The demon bursts into hysterical, gleeful laughter.

KARRAS:
You did that?

REGAN-DEMON
Assuredly.

KARRAS
Do it again.

REGAN-DEMON
In time, in time. But mirabile
dictu, don't you agree?

KARRAS:
(startled)
You speak Latin?

REGAN-DEMON
Ego te absolvo.

The demon chuckles.

KARRAS:
(excitedly)
Quod nomen mihi est?

REGAN-DEMON:
 100.

Bon jour.

KARRAS
(persistent)
Quod nomen mihi est?

REGAN-DEMON
Bon nuit. La plume de ma tante.

The demon laughs full and mockingly. Karras holds up a small

vial of water that he has had cupped in his hand.

The demon abruptly breaks off the laughter.

REGAN-DEMON:
(warily)
What is that?

KARRAS:
Holy water.

Karras has uncapped the vial and now sprinkles its contents
over Regan. Instantly, Regan (Demon) withes to avoid the
spray, howling in pain and terror.

REGAN-DEMON:
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! It burns me! It
burns! It burns! Ah, cease, priest,
bastard! Cease! Ahhhhhhhh!

Karras looks disappointed. The howling ceases and Regan's

head falls back onto pillow. Regan's eyes roll upward into
their sockets, exposing the whites. Regan-Demon is now
rolling head feverishly from side to side muttering an
indistinct gibberish:

REGAN-DEMON:
I‘drehtellteeson. Dobetni tee siti.
Leafy. Tseerpet reef. Emitsuvig.

Karras is intrigued and moves to side of bed. He turns up

volume on recorder, then lowers his ear to Regan's mouth to
pick it up. He listens. The gibberish ceases and is replaced
by deep and raspy breathing. Karras straightens up.

KARRAS:
Who are you?

REGAN-DEMON
Nowonmai... Nowonmai ...

KARRAS:
Is that your name?
 101.

The lips move. Fevered syllables, slow and unintelligible.

Then it ceases.

KARRAS:
Are you able to understand me?

Silence. Only the eerie sound of breathing. Karras waits a

little; then he shakes head, disappointed. He grips Regan’s
wrist to check her pulse; then he draws back Regan’s
nightgown top and looks with pained expression at the sight
of her skeletal ribs. He shakes his head.

217 INT. MACNEIL HOUSE - STUDY 217

Chris is at bar. Karras enters.

KARRAS:
I’m not hopeful I could ever get
permission from the Bishop.

CHRIS:
Why not?

He holds up the empty vial.

KARRAS:
I just told her this was holy
water; when I sprinkled it on her,
she reacted very violently.

CHRIS:
And so?

KARRAS:
It’s just ordinary tap water.

CHRIS:
Christ, who gives a shit! She’s
dying! What's the difference
between holy water and tap water,
anyway?

KARRAS:
Holy water is blessed.

CHRIS:
Oh, Christ!

KARRAS:
Where’s her father?

CHRIS:
In Europe.
 102.

KARRAS:
Have you told him what's happening?

CHRIS:
No!

KARRAS:
Well, I think it would help if he
were here. It’s —

CHRIS:
(over him)
I've asked you to drive a demon
out, goddammit, not ask another one
in! What the hell good is Howard
right now? What's the good?

KARRAS:
There's a strong possibility that
Regan's disorder is caused by her
guilt over —

CHRIS:
(mysterical)
Guilt over what?

KARRAS:
It could —

CHRIS:
Over the divorce? All that
psychiatric bullshit?

KARRAS:
It’s —

CHRIS:
She's guilty 'cause she killed
Burke Dennings! She killed him! She
killed him and they'll put her
away!

218 INT. LANGUAGE LAB - NIGHT 218

Karras and Language Lab Director FRANK, are listening to

tail-end of recording of Karras' last session with Regan.
Karras is tense.

KARRAS
Well, all right, is it a language
or not?

FRANK
 103.

Oh, I’d say it was a language all

right. It’s English.

KARRAS:
It’s what?

Frank is threading another tape onto the recorder.

FRANK:
I thought you were putting me on.
It’s just English in reverse. I've
pulled your questions, flipped the
responses, and respliced them in
sequence.
(pushing playback button)
Here, you just play it backwards.

220 INT. KARRAS' ROOM - NIGHT 220

Karras sits in front of tape recorder listening to an eerie,

unearthly series of various WHISPERED VOICES.

TAPE RECORDER:
(First Voice)
Let her die!
(Second Voice)
No, no, sweet! It is sweet in the
body! I feel!
(Third Voice)
Fear the priest.
(Second Voice)
Give us time.
(Third Voice)
He is ill.
(Fourth Voice)
No, not this one. The other. The
one who will -

Second Voice interrupting;

(Second Voice)
Ah, the blood! Feel the blood! How
it sings!
(Karras' Voice)
Who are you?
(First Voice)
I am no one.
(Karras' Voice)
Is that your name?
(Second Voice)
I have no name.
(First Voice)
I am no one.
(Third Voice)
 104.

Many.
(Fourth Voice)
Let us be. Let us warm in the body.
(Second Voice)
Leave us.
(Third Voice)
Let us be, Karras.
(First Voice)
Merrin ... Merrin.

PHONE RINGS. Karras leaps for it.

KARRAS:
(urgently)
Hello, yes? ... Be right over.

222 EXT. PROSPECT STREET - NEAR THE HOUSE - NIGHT 222

Very late. No traffic noise. Karras is hastily crossing,

throwing on a sweater.

223 INT. ENTRY OF MACNEIL HOUSE - NIGHT 223

Sharon, wearing sweater and holding a flashlight, has the

door open, waiting as Karras comes up step. At door, she puts
a finger to her lips for quiet. She beckons him in and closes
door silently and carefully.

SHARON:
(whispering)
I don’t want to wake Chris. I don’t
think she ought to see this.

She beckons him to follow.

225 INT. SECOND FLOOR HALL - BY REGAN’S DOOR - NIGHT 225

The house is darkened. Karras and Sharon are silently

approaching. Sharon carefully opens door, enters, and beckons
Karras into room.

226 INT. REGAN'S BEDROOM - AT DOOR - NIGHT 226

As he enters and Sharon closes door, Karras reacts as if to

extreme cold. His breath, like Sharon's is frostily
condensing in the chill air of the room. He looks at Sharon
with wonder.

ANOTHER ANGLE
 105.

as Karras and Sharon approach the bedside. The room is dark

except for a night light glow. Sharon has flash light on now,
trained low. They stop by bed. Regan seems to be in coma, the
whites of her eyes glowing eerily in the dim light. Heavy
breathing. Karras takes her wrist to check her pulse. The
naso-gastric tube is in place, Sustagen seeping into Regan's
motionless body.

Beads of perspiration on Regan's forehead. Sharon is bending,

gently pulling Regan's pajama tops wide apart, exposing her
chest. Karras wipes a little perspiration off Regan’s
forehead, then stares at it on his fingers, rubbing them
together with deeper consternation. Then he looks up at
Sharon, feeling her gaze upon him.

SHARON:
(whispering)
I don’t know if it’s stopped. But
watch. Just keep looking at her
chest.

Karras follows her instruction. One beat. Two. Then, flipping

flashlight beam onto Regan's chest:

SHARON:
(whispering)
There! There, it's coming!

Karras leans face closer to observe, then halts, shooked at:

P.O.V. - REGAN'S CHEST

Rising up slowly on her skin in blood-red, bas-relief script

are two words:

help me

CLOSE AT SHARON AND KARRAS REACTING

228 INT. EEALY BUILDING HALLNAY, GROUND FLOOR - DAY 228

Karras walks down Hallway toward stairs.

229 INT. HEALY BUILDING MAIN STAIRWAY - DAY 229

Karras climbs stairs and enters Cardinal's outer office.

230 INT. CARDINAL’S OFFICE - DAY 230

In the room, Karras and the Cardinal.

 106.

CARDINAL:
You're convinced that it's genuine.

Karras looks down thinking for a moment.

KARRAS:
I don't know. No, not really. But
I've made a prudent judgment that
it meets the conditions set forth
in the Ritual.

CARDINAL:
You would want to do the Exorcism
yourself?

Karras nods.

CARDINAL:
How's your health?

KARRAS:
All right.

CARDINAL:
Well, we'll see, It might be best
to have a man with experience.
Maybe-someone who's spent time in
the foreign missions. Let's see
who's around. In the meantime I'll
call you as soon as I know.

231 INT. GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT'S OFFICE - DAY 231

PRESIDENT:
Well, ha docs know the background.
I doubt there's any danger in just
having him assist. There should be
a psychiatrist present, anyway.

CARDINAL:
And what about the exorcist? Any
ideas? I'm blank.

PRESIDENT:
Well, now, Lankester Merrin*s
around.

CARDINAL:
Merrin? I had a notion he was over
in Iraq. I think I read he was
working on a dig around Nineveh.

PRESIDENT:
 107.

That’s right. But he finished and

came back around three or four
months ago, Mike. He's at
Woodstock.

CARDINAL:
What’s he doing there? Teaching?

PRESIDENT:
No, he’s working on another book.

CARDINAL:
Don't you think he’s too old,
though, Tom? How's his health?

PRESIDENT:
Well, it must be all right or he
wouldn't be running around digging
up tombs, don’t you think?

CARDINAL:
Yes, I guess so.

PRESIDENT:
And besides, he's had experience,
Hike.

CARDINAL:
I didn't know that.

PRESIDENT:
Maybe ten or twelve years ago, I
think, in Africa. Supposedly the
exorcism lasted for months. I heard
it damn near killed him.

233 EXT. PROSPECT STREET IN FRONT OF HOUSE - NIGHT 233

A cab pulls up to house in LONG SHOT. Out from the cab steps
a tall, old priest (MERRIN) , carrying a battered valise. A
hat obscures his face. As the cab pulls away Merrin stands
rooted, staring up at second floor of MacNeil house like a
melancholy traveler frozen in time.

234 INT. REGAN'S BEDROOM 234

Regan is apparently unconscious, her features recomposed into

her own in the normal state, (as happens whenever she's
unconscious). Sharon is winding sphygmanoneter wrappings
around Regan's arm while Karras pinches Regan's Achilles
tendon, checking her sensitivity to pain. During this;
 108.

SHARON:
Four hundred milligrams in less
than two hours! That’s enough to
put an army out!

Karras nods; silently takes Regan’s blood pressure.

KARRAS:
90 over 60.

235 INT. ENTRY TO MACNEIL HOUSE - NIGHT 235

Chris opens doer, disclosing Merrin, face still shaded by

hat, and Roman collar by coat buttoned at top.

CHRIS:
Yes?

MERRIN:
(reaching for hat)
Mrs. MacNeil? I'm Father Merrin.

And now we SEE it is the OLD MAN in Khaki from opening

sequence.

CHRIS:
(flustered)
Oh, my gosh, please come in! Oh
come in!

Suddenly, Chris flinches at a SOUND from above: the voice of

the Demon, booming, yet muffled, like amplified premature
burial.

REGAN-DEMON:
(o.s.)
Merriiiinnnnnnnnn!

CHRIS:
God almighty!

REGAN-DEMON:
(o.s.)
Merriiinnnnnnn!

Karl steps incredulous from the study and Karras comes out
from the kitchen. Merrin turns and puts hand out to Karras.

MERRIN:
(warmly; serene)
Father Karras.

KARRAS:
 109.

Hello, Father. Such an honor to

meet you.

Merrin takes Karras’ hand in both of his, searching Karras’

face with a look of gravity and concern while upstairs the
demonic laughter segues into vicious obscenities directed at
Merrin.

MERRIN:
Are you tired?

KARRAS:
No, Father.

MERRIN:
I should like you to go quickly
across to the residence and gather
up a cassock for myself, two
surplices, a purple stole, some
holy water, and your copy of "The
Roman Ritual." The large one. I
believe we should begin.

KARRAS:
Don’t you want to hear the
background of the case, first?

MERRIN:
Why?

236 EXT. RESIDENCE HALL AREA - NIGHT 236

Karras, in his cassock, is crossing swiftly toward house

carrying a cardboard laundry box.

237 EXT. MACNEIL HOUSE - NIGHT 237

Karras enters.

238 INT. STUDY OF MACNEIL HOUSE - NIGHT 238

Karras and Merrin are dressing in vestments taken out of

laundry box.

MERRIN:
 110.

Especially important is the warning

to avoid conversations with the
demon. We may ask what is relevant,
but anything beyond that is
dangerous. Extremely. Especially,
do not listen to anything he says.
The demon is a liar. He will lie to
confuse us; but he will also mix
lies with the truth to attack us.
The attack is psychological,
Damien. And powerful. Do not
listen. Remember that. Do not
listen.
(as Karras hands him
surplice)
Is there anything at all you would
like to ask now?

KARRAS:
No. But I think that it might be
helpful if I gave you some
background on the different
personalities that Regan has
manifested. So far, I'd say there
seem to be three.

MERRIN:
(haunted expression)
There is only one.

239 INT. SECOND FLOOR LANDING - AT STAIRS - NIGHT 239

Merrin and Karras, fully vested, Roman Rituals in their

hands, slowly come to stairs and ascend in single file,
Karras back of Merrin.
ANGLE DOWN HALL FROM OUTSIDE ROOM

as the priests approach. Chris and Sharon, bundled in

sweaters, watch them. The priests halt by them; look at them
a moment, then:

MERRIN:
What is your daughter's middle
name?

CHRIS:
Teresa.

MERRIN:
What a lovely name.

He nods; then looks to door. The others follow suit.

 111.

MERRIN:
(continuing; nods to
Karras)
All right.

Karras opens door, disclosing Karl sitting in corner wearing

a heavy hunting jacket, a look of bewilderment and fear on
his face as he looks toward us. Merrin hangs motionless for a
moment.

241 INT. REGAN’S BEDROOM 241

Merrin, just outside the door, staring in at:

REGAN-DEMON

lifting head from pillow, staring at Merrin with burning

eyes.

ANOTHER ANGLE

as Merrin steps into the room, followed by Karras, Chris and

Sharon. Karras sees door is open, closes it.

Merrin goes to side of bed while Karras moves to its foot.

They halt. (NOTE: "The room is freezing. Breath is condensing
throughout.) A beat. Regan licks a wolfish, blackened tongue
across dried lips with a SOUND like parchment being smoothed
over. Then:

REGAN-DEMON:
Proud scum! This time you are going
to lose!

Regan tilts back head and laughs gleefully. Merrin traces the
sign of the cross above her, then repeats the gesture at
Karras and Karl, and as he plucks the cap from holy water
vial in his hand, the demonic laughter breaks off. Merrin
begins sprinkling the holy water on Regan, and she jerks head
up, mouth and neck muscles trembling as she bellows
inchoately with hatred and fury. Then:

MERRIN:
Be silent!

The words have flung forth like bolts. Karras has flinched
and jerked his head around in wonder at Merrin, who stares
commandingly at Regan. The demon is silent, returning his
stare with eyes now hesitant, blinking and wary. Merrin caps
the holy water vial routinely and returns it to Karras, who
slips it in his pocket and watches as Merrin kneels down
beside the bed and closes his eyes in murmured prayer:
 112.

MERRIN:
'Our Father, who art in...'

Regan spits and hits Merrin in the face with a yellowish glob
of mucus that oozes slowly down the exorcist's cheek. His
head still bowed, Merrin plucks a handkerchief out of his
pocket and serenely, unhurriedly wipes away the spittle as:

MERRIN:
' ... heaven, hallowed by Thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,
on earth, as it is in heaven. Give
us this day, our daily bread, and
forgive us our trespasses, as we
forgive those who trespass against
us. And lead us not into
temptation.'

KARRAS:
'And deliver us from the evil one.'

Karras briefly looks up. Regan’s eyes are rolling upwards

into their sockets until only the whites are exposed. Karras
looks uneasy, then returns to his text to follow as Merrin
now stands, praying reverently:

MERRIN:
‘God and Father of bur Lord Jesus
Christ, I appeal to your holy name,
humbly begging your kindness, that
you may graciously grant me help
against this unclean spirit now"
tormenting this creature of yours;
through Christ our Lord,'

KARRAS:
'Amen.'

As Merrin continues reading, Karras again glances un as he

hears Regan hissing, sitting erect with the whites of her
eyes exposed while her tongue flicks in and out Karras
doesn’t hear it, a beat.

MERRIN:
Damien.

Karras turns to Merrin. We SEE him eyeing Karras serenely as

he motions with his head at copy of the RITUAL in Karras’
hands.

MERRIN:
The response, please, Damien.

Karras, still dumbfounded, glances again to the bed.

 113.

Then he collects himself and looks down at his text.

KARRAS:
(excited)
"And the son of iniquity be
powerless to harm her.'

MERRIN:
’Lord, hear my prayer.'

KARRAS:
‘And let my cry come unto Thee.'

Here Merrin reaches up his hand in a workaday manner and

traces the sign of the cross unhurriedly three times on
Regan's brow while:

MERRIN:
(continuing to read
ALOUD)
'... Almighty Rather, everlasting
God, who sent your only begotten
Son into the world to crush that
roaring lion ...'

The hissing ceases and from the taut-stretched "O" of Regan’s

mouth comes the nerve-shredding lowing of a steer, growing
shatteringly louder and louder as:

MERRIN:
(continuing)
'... snatch from ruination and from
the clutches of the noonday devil
this human being made in your
image.'

Merrin reaches his hand up again (still reading aloud) and

presses a portion of his purple stele to Regan's neck.

Abruptly, the bellowing ceases and in the ringing silence a

thick and putrid greenish vomit begins to pump from Regan's
mouth in slow and regular, sickening spurts that 002e like
lava ever her lip and flow in waves onto Merrin's hand, which
he does not move as we now HEAR:

MERRIN:
(continuing)
 114.

'God and Lord of all creation, by

whose might Satan was made to fall
from heaven like lightning, strike
terror into the beast now laying
waste your vineyard. Let your
Mighty hand cast out this cruel
demon from this creature. Drive out
this persecutor of the innocent
...'

The bed begins to rock lazily, and then to pitch, and then
suddenly is violently dipping and yawing. During this, the
vomit still pumping from Regan’s mouth, Merrin routinely
makes adjustments, keeping the stole firmly to Regan’s neck.

During the latter part of the prayer, the bed has ceased its
movements and floated with a cushioned thud to the rug, and
Karras now stares mesmerized at Merrin's hand buried under
the thick and mounded vomit.

MERRIN:
Damien?

Karras turns to him blankly.

MERRIN:
'Lord, hear my prayer.'

KARRAS:
(turning to bed)
'And let my cry come unto Thee.'

Now Merrin takes a step back and jolts the room with the lash
of his voice as he commands:

MERRIN:
'I cast you cut, unclean spirit,
along with every satanic power of
the enemy! Every spectre from hell!
Every savage companion! It is
Christ who commands you, He who
flung you headlong from the heights
of Heaven! You robber of life! You
corrupter of justice! You investor
of every obscenity!
 115.

Regan has ceased vomiting. Karras moves slowly around to

bedside and reaches down, checking Regan's pulse. She is
silent and unmoving. Into icy air, thin mists of vapor waft
upward from the vomit like a reeking offering. And now Karras
lifts his eyes, staring, as with nightmare slowness, a
fraction at a time. Regan's head turns toward him, swiveling
like a mannequin's and creaking with the sound of a rusted
mechanism until the dread and glaring whites of the eyes are
fixed directly on Karras. And now Karras glances up warily as
the lights in the room begin flickering, dimming, then fade
to an eerie, pulsing amber. Regan turns back toward Merrin,
and now a muffled POUNDING jolts the room; then another; and
another, and then steadily, the splintering sound of
throbbing at a ponderous rate like the beating of a heart
that is massive and diseased.

MERRIN
(o.s.)
'Why do you stand and resist,
knowing as you must that Christ the
Lord brings your plans to nothing.
He has already stripped you of your
powers and laid waste your kingdom.
He has cast you forth into the
outer darkness. To what purpose do
you brazenly refuse? For you are
guilty before almighty God, whose
laws you have transgressed. You are
guilty before his Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ, whom you dared to
nail to the cross. You are guilty
before the whole human race.'

MERRIN:
(oblivious)
‘Depart, you monster! Your place is
in solitude! Your abode is in a
nest of vipers! Get down and crawl
with then! It is God Himself who
commands you ...'

Merrin continues and now the poundings begin to come steadily

louder, faster, until Sharon cries out, pressing fists
against her ears as the poundings grow deafening and now
suddenly accelerate to a terrifying tempo. And then abruptly
the poundings cease and Merrin's prayer comes through in the
silence.

MERRIN:
'Oh, God of Heaven and earth, God
of the angels and arch angels...’

OVER the continued recitation, we HEAR the return of the

demon as the flickering haze grows gradually brighter.
 116.

REGAN-DEMON:
(raging at Merrin)
Hypocrites!

MERRIN
(o.s.)
'God who has power to bestow life
after death and rest after toil.'

REGAN-DEMON
Liar! Proud bastard! Go back to the
mountain top and speak to your only
equal!

MERRIN:
(o.s)
'I humbly entreat you to deliver
this servant of yours, Regan
Theresa MacNeil, from the unclean
spirit.'

AT MERRIN

MERRIN:
'I adjure you, ancient serpent, by
the judge of the living and the
dead, by your ...'

ANGLE AT REGAN

As Merrin continues, O.S. (remainder of material in

appendix), Regan begins to emit various animal noises, and
Karras, a hypodermic syringe in one hand, moves to bedside,
nodding for Chris and Sharon to approach. As he does, the
Dennings personality takes over in Regan, turning to plead
with Karras:

REGAN-DENNINGS:
What the hell are you doing,
Karras? Can’t you see the littbe
bitch should be in a hospital? She
belongs in a madhouse! It’s —

The entity breaks off, jerking head toward Chris, as Chris

and Sharon cone to bedside.

REGAN-DEMON:
Ah, the mother of piglet! Yas, come
see your handiwork, sow!

While Sharon and Chris pin Regan’s arms, Karras administers

the injection.

REGAN-DEMON:
 117.

(continuing; at Chris)
See the puke! See the murderous
bitch! Are you pleased! It is you
who has done it! Yes, you with your
career before her, before husband,
before — !

And now the Demon has jerked its head around to Karras, eyes
bulging with fury.

REGAN-DEMON:
And you, bastard! You!

Chris has swabbed Regan’s arm and as Karras flicks the needle
into wasted flesh:

KARRAS:
(at Chris)
Now get out!

As Chris flees the room we are:

AT DEMON

REGAN-DEMON:
Yes, we know of your kindness to
mothers!

AT KARRAS

His head is lowered as he extracts the needle, and we HEAR

O.S. mocking LAUGHTER of the Demon. Karras blanches and for a
moment does not move.

ANOTHER ANGLE

MERRIN:
(continuing adjuration)
"The mystery of the Cross commands
you! The faith of the saints and
the martyrs commands you! The blood
of Christ commands you! The prayers
of — "

Merrin breaks off and looks up at hearing the demon cry in

sudden pain, as well as anger. He repeats the line that
produced this effect:

MERRIN:
"The blood of Christ commands you!"

Same reaction; greater.

MERRIN:
 118.

"The blood of Christ commands you."

Midway through the word "command", however, a prolonged howl

of pain and rage from:

REGAN-DEMON:
Daaaammmm youuuuu, Merrrriiinnnn!

But the cry of "Merrin" gives way to a prolonged exhalation

of breath, almost as in death. And now from Regan comes the
slow, lilting singing — in a sweet clear voice like a
choirboy’s — of a hymn sung at Catholic benediction: “Tantum
Ergo."

AT REGAN DEMON

The whites of the eyes are exposed. The singing.

A FULL ANGLE - REGAN, KARRAS

as Merrin appears with a towel. He wipes the vomit from

Regan’s face with tender, weary movements. Sharon enters room
and comes to bed. She takes the towel from Merrin’s hands.

SHARON:
I’ll finish that, Father.

Karras checks Regan’s pulse.

KARRAS:
(at Sharon)
Clean her up, please, and give her
half of a 25 milligram Compazine
suppository.

253 INT. HALL OUTSIDE REGAN’S BEDROOM 253

In the dimness, Merrin and Karras lean against wall, their

faces numb with shock as they stare at door to Regan's room.
O.S. SINGING continues.

KARRAS:
Father, what’s going on in there?
What is it? If that’s the Devil,
why this girl? It makes no sense.

MERRIN:
I think the point is to make us
despair, Damian — to see ourselves
as animal and ugly — to reject our
own humanity — to reject the
possibility that God could ever
love us.
 119.

It has an impact. Karras thinks. Then:

MERRIN:
Excuse me.

Merrin

hurries down hall cut of sight of Karras, then takes out a

pill box, extracts a nitro-glycerin tablet and places it
under his tongue. Karras turns to door as Sharon emerges with
bundle of fouled bedding and clothing.

Karras takes a deep breath and enters.

256 INT. REGAN'S BEDROOM - NIGHT 256

Regan sleeps but Karras' frosty breath tells us the air in

the room is still icy. He shivers. Then he walks to the
bedside, reaches down and grips Regan’s wrist to take her
pulse. As he stares at sweepsecond hand of wristwatch, we are
CLOSE AT KARRAS and we HEAR THE VOICE OF KARRAS' MOTHER.

REGAN-MOTHER:
(o.s.)
You leave me to be priest, Dimmy.
Send me institution. Why? Why you
do dis?

Karras is almost trembling with the effort to keep from

looking at Regan's face. And now the VOICE grows frightened
and tearfully imploring.

REGAN-MOTHER:
You always good boy, Dimmy. Please!
I am ’fraid! Please don't chase me
outside, Dimmy! Please!

KARRAS:
(vehement whisper)
You*re not my mother!

REGAN-MOTHER:
Dimmy, please!

KARRAS:
You’re not my — !

INTERCUT - REGAN - KARRAS

as the Demonic entity now returns, raging:

REGAN-DEMON:
 120.

Won't you face the truth! You

believe what Merrin tells you? You
believe him to be holy? Well, he is
not! And I will prove it! I will
prove it by killing the piglet!
(grinning)
Feel her pulse, Karras! Feel it!

Karras looks down at the wrist still gripped in his hand.

REGAN-DEMON
Somewhat rapid, Karras? Yes. But
what else? As, yes, feeble.

As Karras leans quickly to his medical bag and extracts

stethoscope:

REGAN-DEMON:
(a laugh; then as Karras
puts instrument to chest)
Listen, Karras! Listen! Listen,
well!

Karras looks very worried. Demon laughs. Then, as Merrin

enters:

REGAN-DEMON:
I will not let her sleep!

The Demon puts its head back in prolonged, hideous laughter,

Karras staring numbly. Merrin comes to bedside and looks at
Regan, then at Karras' stunned expression.

MERRIN:
What is it?

KARRAS:
Her heart’s begun to work
inefficiently, Father. If she
doesn’t get rest soon, she’ll die
from cardiac exhaustion.

MERRIN:
(alarmed)
Can’t you give her drugs?

KARRAS:
No, she might go into coma. If her
blood pressure drops any more ...

260 EXT. SUNRISE SHOT AT HOUSE ACROSS POTOMAC 260

 121.

262 INT. REGAN’S BEDROOM 262

Merrin is fighting sleep. Regan is grunting like a pig,

whites of eyes exposed. Karras is checking Regan’s heartbeat,
and then her pulse, and then wraps black sphygmomanometer
cloth around Regan’s arm to take a blood pressure reading.
Both priests have blankets draped over their shoulders. Their
breath is condensing in the frosty air of the room.

REGAN-MOTHER
I not good to you, Dimmy? Why you
leave me to die all alone?

Merrin is at his side, clutching at his arm and trying to

draw him away, Karras resisting, his gaze fixed trancelike on
the O.S. face.

MERRIN:
Damien!

REGAN-MOTHER:
Why, Dimmy?

MERRIN:
Go and rest for awhile!

AT REGAN

The features and eyes are subtly reminiscent of Karras1

mother, but vividly evident is the large, circular mole that
the mother had on her right cheek.

REGAN-MOTHER
Dimmy, please!

MERRIN:
Go and rest!

Reluctantly, Karras leaves. Merrin, after a beat, turns to

Regan, the demonic entity reappears.

REGAN-DEMON:
(seething whisper)
You will lose!

265 INT. MACNEIL HOUSE - KITCHEN - LATE DAY 265

Chris is sitting at breakfast nook looking at an album of

photographs. She's on the verge of tears. Karras enters
kitchen, pauses as he sees Chris.

CHRIS:
(a sniffle)
 122.

There's coffee there, Father.

Chris moves quickly past Karras with her face averted.

CHRIS:
Excuse me.

She exits kitchen. Karras' gaze shifts to album. We see that

these are candid photos of Regan. In one photograph, she is
blowing out candles on a birthday cake. In another, she is
sitting on a lake-front dock in shorts and T-shirt with "Camp
Brown Ledge” stencilled on the front. Karras is deeply
affected, close to a breakdown, he puts a trembling hand to
brow, with a fervently whispered, desperate:

KARRAS:
God... God help...

CAMERA FOLLOWS him as he leaves kitchen. Passing the living

room, he HEARS sobbing from within. Looking in, he sees Chris
on sofa convulsively weeping. Sharon, beside her, is
comforting her.

267 INT. MACNEIL HOUSE - FOYER 267

Chris hears the front door CHIMES. She reacts; waits.

They RING again. She goes to answer, She opens door,

disclosing Kinderman.

KINDERMAN:
I’m so sorry to dis —

He halts, eyeing her bruise. She knows what he’s staring at.
She puts a hand to the bruise. He stares for a beat. Then:

KINDERMAN:
Look, I’m sorry to disturb you at
this hour of the night, but I’m
afraid that I’m going to have to
talk to your daughter, Mrs. NacNeil
and I’d like to take a look at her
room, if you don’t mind.

CHRIS:
Regan's bedroom?

KINDERMAN:
Yes, immediately, please. I have a
warrant.

CHRIS:
 123.

Oh, please, not now! She's gotten

worse, Lieutenant. Please! Please,
not now:

268 INT. SECONF FLOOR HALL - MACNEIL HOUSE - NIGHT 268

Karras enters Regan's bedroom and walks wearily to the chair

where he had been sitting beside Merrin. During the above
moves:

REGAN-DEMON:
(o.s.)
... would have lost! Would have
lost and you knew it, Merrin!
Bastard!

REGAN ON BED - MERRIN

Limp and disjointed, Merrin lies sprawled face-down on floor

on far side of bed and beside it. Regan-Demon cranes head
over side of bed at him, croaking inchoately with rage and
frustration.

ANOTHER ANGLE

as Karras rushes to Merrin, kneeling beside him, and turning

him over, disclosing bluish coloration of Merrin's face.

REGAN-DEMON:
(o.s.)
Die, will you? Die? Karras, heal
him! Heal him! Bring him back that
we may finishhhhhh itttttt!

And now inchoate croakings and moans of rage and frustration

from o.s., as Karras feels for Merrin's pulse and in a
wrenching, stabbing instnat of anguish realizes that Merrin
is dead. Groaning in whisper:

KARRAS:
Ah, God no!

Karras sags back on his heels, an aching moan of grief rising

up in his throat as he shuts his eyes fiercely and shakes his
head in despair. Then:

KARRAS:
No!

Karras' eyes fix on something on the floor around Merrin: the

pill box and a scattering of nitroglycerin pills.
 124.

Karras begins to gently and tenderly place Merrin's hands on

his chest in the form of a cross. An enormous, mucoid glob of
yellowish spittle hits the dead man's eye,

AT REGAN-DEMON

REGAN-DEMON:
(mocking)
The last rites!

Then it puts back its head and laughs long, and wildly
through:

KARRAS:
You son-of-a-bitch! You murdering
bastard!

A projectile stream. of VOMIT from O.S. strikes his face but

he is oblivious.

KARRAS:
Yes, you‘re very good with
children! Well, come on! Let's see
you try something bigger!

Karras has his hands out like great fleshy hooks, beckoning,
challenging.

KARRAS:
Come on! Try me! Take me! Come into
me!

AT REGAN-DEMON

In the demonic features now, a trembling, wild-eyes rage; a

fearsome struggle over some irresistibly tempting decision
that the Demon is fighting against.

KARRAS

as he breaks off, his body jerking as if seized suddenly by

some inner force alien to him. Yet his features do not change
as his hands go to his throat and he struggles to his feet.
His actions are those of a man who either has been possessed
by or thinks he has been possessed by the Demon, but who also
is f fighting for control of his own organism. And now here,
suddenly, on a move toward the bed and Regan (who, if she is
In SHOT, is unconscious, her face in shadow), Karras'
features briefly contort into those of the demon Pazuzu; but
then return to normal again on a backward jerk by Karras as;

KARRAS:
No!
 125.

The Demon — in Karras' body — had moved to kill Regan; but

Karras has won control now long enough to reach the window,
rip the shutters off their hinges and leap out.

274 EXT. KARRAS HURTLING OUT WINDOW - NIGHT 274

ANGLE FROM NEAR REGAN’S BEDROOM DOOR

as Chris, Sharon and Kinderman rush toward us.

276 INT. REGAN’S BEDROOM AT DOOR - NIGHT 276

Chris, Sharon and Kinderman burst in, halt. Sharon rushes

forward toward window.

AT MERRIN

as Chris rushes to him, kneels down by him, then reacts with

shock.

CHRIS:
Sharon! Cone here! Quick, come — !

AT SHARON AND KINDERMAN

staring down from window. Hands to sides of face, Sharon is

screaming.

P.O.V. - AT KARRAS IN STREET BELOW.

ANGLE TO INCLUDE CHRIS AND KINDERMAN

as Sharon runs toward door.

CHRIS:
Shar, what is it!

SHARON:
(running out)
Father Karras!

Chris rises and runs trembling toward the window.

AT CHRIS AND KIRDERMAN FROM EXTERIOR WINDOW

Looking down, Chris freezes at what she sees. Then from

behind her, in a small, wan voice calling tearfully:

REGAN:
(o. s.)
Mother?
 126.

(Chris half turns her-

head)
Mother, what’s happening?

AT CHRIS AND KINDERMAN FROM INTERIOR ROOM

as they turn toward Regan.

REGAN
(o.s.)
Oh, please! Please, come here!

AT REGAN

The real Regan, weeping in helpless confusion and fear.

REGAN:
Mother, please! I’m afraid!

ANOTHER ANGLE

as Chris rushes forward to Regan, arms outstretched, and

weeping:

CHRIS:
Rags! Oh, my baby, my baby!

She is on the bed and embracing her daughter.

279 EXT. "HITCHCOCK” STEPS AREA ON "M” STREET - NIGHT - AT 279

GATHERING OP PASSERSBY

at an accident scene. Policeman shepherds them back.

DYER, followed by Sharon, is frantically pushing through as:

FIRST PASSERBY:
What happened?

SECOND PASSERBY:
Some guy fell down the steps.

POLICEMAN:
Come on, now, move it back, folks.
Give him air. Let him breathe.

Dyer has pushed through almost to Policeman.

DYER:
Let me through, please! Coming
through! Coming — !

P.O.V. - AT KARRAS
 127.

He lies crumpled and twisted in a pool of blood. Dyer kneels

to him.

AT DYER - KARRAS - LOW ANGLE

DYER:
Damien ... Can you talk?

Karras slowly and painfully reaches out his hand to Dyer’s

wrist and grips it, briefly squeezing. Fighting back the
tears, Dyer leans his mouth close to Karras' ear.

DYER:
Do you want to make your confession
now, Damien?

Karras squeezes Dyer’s wrist.

DYER:
Are you sorry for all of the sins
of your life and for having
offended almighty God?

A squeeze. And now Dyer leans back and slowly traces the sign
of the cross over Karras, reciting the words of absolution:

DYER:
Ego te absolve in nomine Patris, et
Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

AT DYER

as he again leans over with his mouth close to Karras' ear.

DYER:
Are you — ?

He halts, slightly turning his head toward his wrist.

CLOSE AT DYER'S WRIST

gripped by Karras. The grip slackens, the hand slowly

opening, then falling limp.

ANGLE AT DYER KARRAS

Slowly and tenderly, Dyer slips the eyelids down as we HEAR

the WAILING SIREN of approaching ambulance. Dyer weeps ...

SLOWLY FADE OUT:

FADE IN
 128.

286 EXT. FULL SHOT PROSPECT STREET FEATURING THE HOUSE - DAY 286

Sharon exits house carrying a suitcase which she places in

trunk of limo parked in front of house.

287 INT. MACNEIL HOUSE - CHRIS' BEDROOM - DAY 287

Chris is folding a final item into a suitcase open on her bed

as Karl stands by. She closes lid.

CHRIS:
Okay, Karl, that's all of it.

Sharon enters, something clasped in one hand.

SHARON:
Chris, what about those stereo
earphones?

CHRIS:
Storage.

Karl, who has closed up suitcase, exits.

SHARON:
Okay, we're all set then. Dulles
Airport's pretty far, Chris. You'd
best allow an hour.

CHRIS:
Gonna miss you.

SHARON:
Same here, Chris.

CHRIS:
You won't change your mind?

SHARON:
(slight shake of head)
People change.
(she unclasps hand,
disclosing Karras* medal
and chain which she holds
up to Chris)
Here, I found this in her room. It
belonged to Father Karras.

Chris, after a pause, takes it from her.

SHARON:
(again glancing at watch)
You'd better hurry.
 129.

288 INT. SECOND FLOOR HALL - MACNEIL HOUSE - DAY 288

Chris is coming toward Regan’s bedroom.

CHRIS:
(calling)
Hey, Rags, how ya comin’?

289 INT. REGAN’S BEDROOM 289

Looking a little van and gaunt, dark sacs beneath her eyes,
Regan stands by her bed, holding two stuffed animals in her
grip as she stares down with indecision and a child’s
discontent at an over-packed, open suitcase.

CHRIS:
How ya comin’, hon? We’re late.

REGAN:
There’s just not enough room in
this thing!

CHRIS:
Well, ya can’t take it all, now,
sweetheart. Just leave it and
Willie’ll bring it later on. Come
on, babe, we've got to hurry or
we’re going to miss the plane.

DOORCHIME SOUND

REGAN:
(mildly pouting)
Oh, okay.

CHRIS:
Atta’ girl.

Chris exits SCENE, heading for stairs. Regan sighs with

resignation, looking down at the animals.

291 INT/EXT. FRONT DOOR AREA - MACNEIL HOUSE - DAY 291

Chris is opening door, disclosing Dyer in cassock and Roman

collar saying goodbye to Sharon, latter going to limo at curb
and getting in as Chris steps outside and:

CHRIS:
Oh, hi, Father.

DYER:
 130.

Hi, Chris. Just came by to say ’so

long,'

CHRIS:
I was just about to call. We're
just leaving.

DYER:
Going to miss you.

CHRIS:
Me too.

DYER:
How's the girl?

CHRIS:
Oh, she's great, really great.

Karl passes between them with two suitcases heading for

Chris' car which is parked in front of house. Dyer nods a
little glumly.

DYER:
I'm glad.

CHRIS:
She still can't remember,

DYER:
Well, that's good.

CHRIS:
Funny. He never even knew her.

Dyer looks up, and then so does Chris, their gazes meeting.

DYER:
What do you think happened. Do you
think she was really possessed?

CHRIS:
Oh, yeah, you bet I do. I mean, if
you're asking if I believe in the
Devil, the answer is yes — yeah,
that I believe.

DYER:
But if all of the evil in the world
makes you think that there might be
a Devil — then how do you account
for all of the good?

Chris' reaction reveals that this is a telling point.

 131.

Then into SCENE comes Regan, dressed to go.

REGAN:
Okay, I finished.

CHRIS:
Honey, this is Father Dyer.

REGAN:
Hi, Father.

DYER:
Hi.
(tousles her hair)
All set to go.

Regan, has begun to stare oddly up.at Dyer’s Ronan collar,

some tugging remembrance in her eyes. Willie passes them with
Ragan’s luggage, which she takes to car to load in trunk.

KARL:
Ready, Mizzes?

CHRIS:
Okay, Karl.
(taking Dyer’s hand)
Bye, Father. I’ll call you from
L.A.

DYER:
Goodbye, Chris.

Suddenly, impulsively, in a quick and unexpected move, Regan

reaches up to Dyer, pulls his head down and kisses his cheek;
a quick stack. Then, locking puzzled herself at what she has
done:

REGAN:
Goodbye.

DYER:
Goodbye, dear.

Chris remembers the medal still in her hand. She offers it to

him.

CHRIS:
Oh, I forgot. Here.

Dyer, who instantly recognizes the medal, stares at it a

moment. Then:

DYER:
Why don't you keep it?
 132.

A beat. Dyer sees that Chris* eyes are clouding with tears.

DYER:
It’s all right, Chris. For him,
it's the beginning,

Chris holds his gaze, then nods.

CHRIS:
C’mon, Rags. Gotta hurry.

As Chris and Regan leave FRAME, CAMERA STAYS ON DYER, turning

to watch them. Then:

CHRIS:
(o.s., calling)
Bye, Father!

P.O.V. - AT CAR PULLING AWAY

and moving quickly down Prospect Street.

AT DYER WATCHING

Willie goes back inside house. O.S. SOUND OF SQUEAL OF CAR

BRAKES.

P.O.V. - AT SQUAD CAR

Kinderman is emerging, hurrying toward Dyer.

KINDERMAN:
I came to say goodbye.

DYER:
You just missed them,

Kinderman stops. A beat. Then:

KINDERMAN:
How's the girl?

DYER:
She seemed fine.

KINDERMAN:
Ah, that's good. Very good. Well,
that's all that's important. Back
to business. Back to work. Bye now,
Father.

He turns and takes a step toward the squad car, then stops
and turns back to stare speculatively at Dyer.
 133.

KINDERMAN:
You go to films, Father Dyer?

DYER:
Sure.

KINDERMAN:
I get passes.
(hesitates for a moment)
In fact, I’ve got a pass for the.
‘Crest' tomorrow night. You'd like
to go?

DYER:
What’s playing?

KINDERMAN:
‘Wuthering Heights.’

DYER:
Who’s in it?

KINDERMAN:
Heathcliffe, Jackie Gleason, and in
the role Catherine Ernshaw, Lucille
Ball.

DYER:
(expressionless)
I've seen it.

Kinderman stares limply for a moment, then looks away.

KINDERMAN:
(murmuring)
Another one.

Then Kinderman steps up to the sidewalk, hooks an arm through

Dyer's and slowly starts walking him down the street. CAMERA
TRACKING FRONT.

KINDERMAN:
(fondly)
I’m reminded of a line in the film
Casablanca. At the end Humphrey
Bogart says to Claude Rains, 'Louie
— I think this is the beginning of
a beautiful friendship.'

FIXED REAR SHOT

As Kinderman and Dyer walk away from us*

DYER:
 134.

You know, you look a little bit

like Bogart.

KINDERMAN:
You noticed.

TO BLACK

TITLES

THE END