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We spoke to Father Vincent Lampert, one of only 50-odd officially sanctioned real-life exorcists working in America (he trained in Rome). He told us the truth behind the swivelling heads. 

“Some movies are better than others,” he told Yahoo! Movies. “The Exorcism of Emily Rose is pretty accurate.” 

But he admits that some of the details you see in these films are completely made up — but you’d be surprised which ones aren’t.

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How do “possessed people” actually behave?

Another famous feature of exorcism movies is how the victims of demonic passion behave — from vomiting, uttering obscenities and doing strange things with crucifixes.

Father Lampert says that he uses a four point check list (what he calls “parlour tricks of the demon”) to determine satanic possession – and these tally rather closely with what we’ve seen on screen. They are: “(1) Speaking a language otherwise unknown to the individual, (2) strength beyond the normal capacity of the person, (3) knowledge about things that should be unknown by the person, such as naming the sins of the priest or others who are present, and (4) aversion to sacred things — Bible, crucifix, holy water, etc.”

Even if many of the details in these films are actually closer to the truth than we thought, Father Lampert thinks that these movies usually miss the point.

“I think there are those people who get so caught up in the sensationalism that they become either scared or convinced they are possessed,” he said. “People need to be fascinated more with their relationship with God as opposed to the antics of evil spirits.”

He thinks the public have based their expectations about what exorcisms are like on these films, but insists that priests themselves, “stick to the official rite of the Church and don’t alibi in any way.” 

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oh-oh.

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