Telling the terrifying story of a younger woman being possessed by the satan as her determined mom turns to 2 monks for assist, The Exorcist is broadly regarded to be the scariest horror film of all time in addition to among the finest movies ever made. Along with seeing it grow to be an iconic hallmark of horror, the petrifying brilliance of the 1973 movie has additionally spawned a legacy sequel with Ellen Burstyn returning for The Exorcist: Believer.
One other factor it has spawned is a litany of hilarious parodies, with the whole lot from animated comedy sequence to spoof film sagas discovering methods to poke enjoyable on the Oscar-winning horror. So, within the title of horrifying hilarity as Halloween nears, let the pea soup fly and the laughter by no means cease as you get pleasure from a contented – and humorous – spooky season.
9 ‘Household Man’ (1999-)
Household Man has by no means been shy of parody all through its 22-season run. Its playful teasing of The Exorcist wasn’t a lot a full-fledged mocking as a lot because it was a referential jab, showing within the season three episode “Screwed the Pooch” when Brian (Seth MacFarlane) lands in some bother after impregnating the prize-winning greyhound of Lois’ (Alex Borstein) disdainful father.
The state of affairs resulted in a custody battle in court docket with Brian adamant that he needs to assist elevate the puppies. As an apart through the courtroom scene, there’s a second the place a possessed Regan MacNeil (really voiced by Linda Blair) sits within the room along with her head spinning and projecting inexperienced vomit.
8 ‘The Boondocks’ (2005-2014)
Operating for 4 seasons, The Boondocks grew to become a sleeper hit sequence for Grownup Swim with the animated comedy following a dysfunctional black household as they transfer right into a predominantly white suburban neighborhood. Exhibiting the stark tradition conflict, the present was usually as stunning because it was satirical, and there have been no punches pulled when it parodied The Exorcist within the season two episode “Stinkmeaner Strikes Again”.
With Tom (Cedric Yarbrough) possessed by the spirit of the antagonistic Colonel H. Stinkmeaner (Yarbrough), the boys flip to Uncle Ruckas (Gary Anthony Williams) to assist them carry out an exorcism. The parody has nice enjoyable with Ruckas and his demeanor as he conducts the exorcism, mixing demonic horror with the present’s trademark type and humorousness.
7 ‘French & Saunders’ (1987-2017)
A British sketch comedy sequence by famend comedians and frequent collaborates Daybreak French and Jennifer Saunders, French & Saunders was famend for its parody of movies in addition to its satire of popular culture, celebrities, and society. The third episode of their third season noticed the comedy duo parody The Exorcist, meshing their quaint comedy type with the horror aesthetic of the movie to amusing impact.
Moments just like the give attention to Saunders’ character’s fluffy pink slippers as she dramatically walks up the steps, or her underwhelmed, irritated expression when French’s possessive demon begins rattling the mattress undercut the horror tone in a grounded but efficient method. It additionally used meta-comedy to be hilariously self-referential as nicely with the duo combating over who would get the final shot of the skit.
6 ‘Repossessed’ (1990)
Repossessed noticed Linda Blair return to spoof her personal efficiency along with her look as Nancy Anglet, a younger girl who was possessed by a demon as a baby and finds herself possessed once more. Spoof film legend Leslie Nielsen stars as Father Mayii, the priest who practically misplaced his life performing the exorcism on the younger Nancy and initially refuses to have any half in exorcising her once more, at the same time as it’s set to be televised dwell on an evangelical community.
Regardless of its wonderful pedigree in spoof motion pictures and horror, the movie really struggled to make a mark with audiences and hasn’t been capable of have a lot of a lingering impression since. The disgrace in that’s the movie parodies a number of components from The Exorcist fairly nicely, options Nielsen doing what he did greatest, and even has sufficient time to spare to lampoon the televangelist scandals of the Nineteen Eighties as nicely.
5 ‘Pos Eso’ (‘Possessed’) (2014)
A Spanish, stop-motion animation that focuses on the shattering of a household whereas parodying The Exorcist, Pos Eso (Possessed) is actually distinctive. It primarily follows Trini (Anabel Alonso), a well-known flamingo dancer who offers up her profession when her husband’s demise sees her slip right into a deep despair which is compounded when her 8-year-old son is possessed by darkish spirits.
Having exhausted all different choices, Trini’s ultimate hope comes within the type of a defrocked priest whose personal religious disaster might jeopardize all the exorcism. The animated comedy-horror toed a troublesome line between parodying a longtime, iconic movie and attempting to have one thing to say for itself nevertheless, if nothing else, its presentation of The Exorcist with clay characters was imbued with its personal sense of weird hilarity.
4 ‘This Is The Finish’ (2013)
A wild and energetic apocalyptic comedy which noticed a few of Hollywood’s greatest comedian actors go to nice lengths to lampoon themselves, This Is The Finish was a pleasant horror-comedy movie even because it emphasised its gags greater than its story. It tracks Hollywood celebrities like Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel as they attend a housewarming get together at James Franco’s home when the world begins to finish, leaving a small band of actors alive to outlive the top of days.
Amid assaults from mysterious monsters and loads of hilarious in-fighting, the movie actually begins to ratchet up the stakes when Jonah Hill is possessed by a demon. The following exorcism try is an ideal mixing of sharp parody and the actors taking part in to their strengths as Hill’s possessed being questions Jay if the facility of Christ actually is all that compelling.
3 ‘Scared Shrekless’ (2010)
A really great medley of horror spoofs, Scared Shrekless consisted of three quick segments compiled right into a 26-minute featurette to be launched forward of 2010’s Halloween. Utilizing characters audiences got here to like from the Shrek movies, it contained ‘The Bride of Gingey’ which parodied The Bride of Frankenstein, ‘Boots Motel’ which made enjoyable of Psycho, and lastly ‘The Shreksorcist’ which lampooned The Exorcist with hilarious outcomes.
Following Shrek (Mike Myers) as he should babysit a misbehaving Pinocchio (Cody Cameron), the amusing quick packs loads of parody enjoyable into its very temporary runtime. It mimics the arrival of the priest, numerous the creepy interactions characters had with the possessed Regan (Linda Blair), and even Father Karras’ (Jason Miller) falling down the steps.
2 ‘The Simpsons’ (1989-)
All through its staggering run consisting of 35 seasons and counting, The Simpsons has parodied a variety of well-liked motion pictures from Terminator 2: Judgment Day to The Planet of the Apes. Horror motion pictures normally get their flip to affix in on the enjoyable with the beloved “Treehouse of Horror” episodes. Curiously, it took till 2017 for the animated sequence to set its sights on the basic horror film with “Treehouse of Horror XXVIII” operating a section titled ‘The Exor-sis’.
After Homer buys a pazuzu pondering it was a pizza, Maggie is left with the traditional relic the place she finally ends up possessed by the demon it incorporates and wreaks havoc on the cocktail get together the Simpsons are internet hosting. The episode not solely parodied The Exorcist however poked enjoyable on the Catholic Church as nicely.
1 ‘Scary Film 2’ (2001)
With 5 Scary Film movies being made, every one in all them casting a large web by way of their parody targets, there’s seldom a horror film that hasn’t been mocked by the franchise. Nonetheless, its ripping on The Exorcist was actually one of many sequence’ most memorable bits, serving because the introduction to Scary Film 2 as Father McFeely (James Woods) travels to carry out an exorcism.
Woods’ penchant for comedy was on full show as he grasped the parody of The Exorcist’s dramatic tone with aplomb whereas leaning into the Scary Film franchise’s urge for food for gross-out humor and smut as nicely. With Natasha Lyonne additionally showing because the possessed Megan Voorhees, the scene succeeded at being a wildly inappropriate and infrequently grotesque parody.