The Exorcist: The Version You’ve Never Seen! (1973)

Director: William Friedkin

Writer: William Peter Blatty

Tagline: Something beyond comprehension is happening to a little girl on this street, in this house. A man has been called for as a last resort to try and save her. That man is The Exorcist.

Actors: Linda Blair, Jason Miller, Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Jack MacGowran, Reverend William O'Malley

Runtime: 2h 12m

Category: Book Adaptation, Demon, Possession, Religious

Synopsis: Regan MacNeil is a fun-loving teenager who lives with her mother Chris. Lately, Regan has been acting strangely, and her mother is not sure what to do. A myriad of doctors all come up with the same conclusion, Autism, but Chris is not so sure. One night Regan begins screaming in her room only for her mother to find her flailing about viciously. Knowing autism is not the problem she enlists the help of clergy members Father Karras and Father Merrin. Regan only gets worse as it is undeniable now…she is possessed by an evil spirit! Forcing her to hurt herself, and others, the spirit comes and goes without warning. Can Father Karras and Father Merrin save Regan before the demon inside eventually kills her?

Review: This version is slightly different from the original 1973 version. This version, released in 2000, has some extra scenes not shown during the original airing. I never saw all of the original movie but had to own this version. As a horror fan, I could not, in good conscience, skip out on the scariest movie ever made! Yes…I said it…THIS IS THE SCARIEST MOVIE EVER MADE!! I have a friend, who doesn’t scare easily, that says this is the only movie that ever scared him and that he will never watch it again. Multiple sites about horror movies will say the same thing. The acting was superb and the concept was horrific. Not exactly something you would want to make a movie about. I never read Blatty’s novel so I don’t know how close the two coincide. But this movie is the greatest of the greats.

Rating: 25. Yes, one more of the few 25’s you’ll see here. Apart from being the best horror movie, it is full of terrific cinema: The head-spinning, the crab-walk downstairs and the projectile vomiting were just some of the things that made this movie so awesome. If you only plan on seeing one horror movie in your lifetime…make it this one! (25of25).