When the late William Peter Blatty’s novel The Exorcist was first released, it freaked some people out so bad that they thought that the book itself was cursed. British advertising executive Dave Trott tells a story about his boss being so unsettled by the book, he declared it “evil” and threw it off of Brighton pier. And what did Trott do? As he writes, “So I went to the bookshop. I bought another copy. Then I ran it under the tap. And left it in his desk drawer. For him to find.” That’s a solid prank right there.
The soundtrack to the film is pretty unsettling as well, and today reissue label Waxwork Records announced that it’s giving the spooky sounds of The Exorcist unholy new life with a deluxe vinyl reissue. There’s not much detail on the release just yet, like whether it will include composer Lalo Schifrin’s unused original score for the film or simply the final soundtrack—anchored by Mike Oldfield’s now-infamous “Tubular Bells,” originally released in 1973 as just a regular old New Age instrumental and given scarring new life later that year.
We might not have details on the track listing, but Waxwork has released the cover art for the reissue by Toronto-based designers Phantom City Creative, and it’s pretty nightmare-inducing all on its own:
Just buy two, in case you end up throwing one off of a pier.