While anyone who saw The Exorcist: Believer may have assumed that the demon possessing both Angela (Lidya Jewett) and Katherine (Olivia O’Neill) is Exorcist staple Pazuzu, makeup effects artists Chris Nelson and Vincent Van Dyke have confirmed that the central demon in the new film is a different entity entirely named Lamashtu. Nelson recently revealed that while an entire prosthesis of Lamashtu was created for Exorcist: Believer, only glimpses of the creature’s design are shown during the film’s climax. Van Dyke has recently shared photos of the three-eyed, winged demon via Instagram.
While speaking to Polygon, Nelson opened up about the hard work that went into the mostly unseen creature design. “You see [Lamashtu] very abstractly in the final exorcism,” he told the outlet. “But we did an entire head-to-toe prosthetic suit, harness, wings, horns, a full realization of Lamashtu, which I’m very, very proud of and was very difficult. It was five and a half hours of makeup in, about an hour and a half makeup out, including a 12-hour shoot day.” Van Dyke shared full-body images of the design of Lamashtu on social media, and it’s nothing short of frightening. Lamashtu is decrepit, with a witch-like face, a third eye, horns, and large, bird-like wings. In a caption on Instagram, Van Dyke detailed the experience of working on the demonic design:
“Unfortunately she is very very briefly seen, however she is something we are all really proud of. This was a complicated, very involved build. Lots of different depts coming together on this and a LOT of thinking 10 steps ahead. We started off with a scan of the wonderful @lizejohnston at 3D Scan LA, as well as dental casts. Out of the mouth dentures were then created by @theejasonjames while @dantiri worked on digitally preparing the core that we would sculpt the suit element on.”
Who is Lamashtu?
In folklore, Lamashtu is described as a female entity that preys on pregnant women in hopes of devouring their babies after childbirth. The demon is also said to be the nemesis of Pazuzu, so it seems possible that the already greenlit sequel to Exorcist: Believer could depict a fight between Lamashtu and the demon who once possessed Regan MacNeil.
Exorcist: Believer has already grossed over $109 million at the global box office. Check out the images of the demon down below:
via Collider