Pazuzu is a fictional character who is the main antagonist in The Exorcist horror novels and film series, created by William Peter Blatty. Blatty derived the character from Assyrian and Babylonian mythology, where the mythic Pazuzu was considered the king of the demons of the wind, and the son of the god Hanbi. In The Exorcist, Pazuzu appears as a demon who possesses Regan MacNeil.
Eileen Dietz as Pazuzu superimposed over Linda Blair as Regan MacNeil
Assyrian demon Pazuzu, first millennium BCE
The Exorcist is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin from a screenplay by William Peter Blatty, based on his 1971 novel. The film stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller, and Linda Blair, and follows the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother's attempt to rescue her through an exorcism by two Catholic priests.
Theatrical release poster by Bill Gold
Blair and Burstyn as Regan and Chris MacNeil.
The image of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin that inspired Friedkin to cast von Sydow
Miller and von Sydow as Karras and Merrin