Was William Friedkin actually making a joke by naming the heavy metal band in this episode Exorcist?

“Don’t be cool. Greetings poison girls. Are you ready to rock and roll? Good. Then slip into your gore jacket and prepare to sing along. Can’t carry a tomb? That’s okay. I’m just playing by ear myself. Tonight’s terror tune concerns a young headbanger who lets a woman get a little too far under his skin. I call this decomposition “On a Deadman’s Chest.””

Danny Darwin (Yul Vazquez) is the lead singer of that outfit, along with Richard Danielson as his drummer, Paul Hipp as guitarist Nick Bosch and Rudy Sarzo as the bass player. Steve Jones is their roadie and Gregg Allman is the owner of the place they’re playing. Danny hates his guitarist’s wife, Scarlett (Tia Carrere), thinking that they she will break the band up. So for some reason he gets a huge chest tattoo of her from Farrouche (Heavy D) under the advice of groupie Vendetta (Sherrie Rose, Mary Jo from American Rickshaw).

Another episode written by Larry Wilson, who wrote four other episodes, as well as Beetlejuice and The Little Vampire, this one is a lot of fun. You have to love a tattoo that comes to life and ruins someone’s life.

This is based on “On A Dead Man’s Chest!” from The Haunt of Fear #12. It was written by Al Feldstein and William Gaines and drawn by Johnny Craig.