The Exorcist is described as the scariest film ever made, I could name countless colleagues of mine who had been traumatized by the film.

To call The Exorcist a horror film is something I'm not comfortable with because the film isn't conventional in its approach. The Exorcist features supernatural parts, it does have sequences where you could cut the tension with a knife and you couldn't find a more frightening figure to the possessed Regan McNeil. However The Exorcist is very clinical in its narrative, the suspense isn't as widespread and the issue of faith is as central to the plot as the possession.

Yet it is William Friedkin's choice not to direct The Exorcist as a conventional horror film (I remember William Friedkin once saying he didn't see The Exorcist as horror) which gives The Exorcist a special edge. It is more about the thrill of scaring viewers, it offers something to discuss after the initial shock. I'm prone to those type of films.

Too silly to be a "serious" horror film, but too serious to be cheesy B-horror fun, it doesn't know what it wants to be.

>>2
There's nothing cheesy or silly about the exorcist. Were you born after the year 2000 by any chance?

>>3
No.

>>4
What parts did you consider cheesy and silly? (if you care to elaborate on your post).

>>5
Pretty much anything involving possessed Lina Blair. Did you honestly keep a straight face during this?:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSxuXQCEC7M

when it was first released it was the scariest film ever made especially if believe in God and the Devil. How ever people today are desensitized to horror.

I completely agree. Faith plays a essential part to one's reaction. I have friends and family members who are very religious and they will not see The Exorcist because of the trauma of seeing it for the first time. If I even mention a scene of the film, they will go berserk.

what i do not get is when christians get upset God wins in the end

It's a Drama.

The interesting thing is one of its sequels - Exorcist III, which is more of a spinoff than a sequel - is one of the most underrated horror films of the last 30 years.

Fully agree. Exorcist III always worked for me much, much better. An incredibly well made film, gripping from start to finish, packed with fantastic dialogue, incl. One of the scariest scenes of all time (hospital).

>>12

One of the scariest scenes of all time (hospital).

I remember seeing that scene for the first time and chills that went down my spine. You don't get that a lot in movies today.

Friedkin has maintained that it isn't a horror movie, it's a drama in which Good triumphs over Evil.

Fortunately, in order to do that, it had to become (and was) the most terrifying moving picture up to its time. If it no longer shocks, it's only because the last half century of bloody slasher movies has been far more graphic and sickening than the 1973 film.

To those who saw in when it was new (and I am one), it still has the ability to tingle the nerves and inspire the soul. The fact that we are still discussing it all these years later is a testament to its power.