The Exorcist

Ten-time Academy Award nominee, The Exorcist has inspired generations of filmmakers, but never has anyone done it better than in William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist. The film still stands with Rosemary’s Baby and an extremely small handful of others as a horror film that won an Oscar.

Christmas-time 1973 delivered a major present for horror fans wrapped in a big pukey bow. The Exorcist premiered December 26, and changed the face of movie making while dividing critics, enraging some moviegoers, and causing a great debate within the MPAA ratings system.

While William Friedkin isn't primarily known as a "genre" director, he did make what is arguably one of the scariest movies ever with The Exorcist. And even though the movie is now nearly 40 years old, I still always find discussions about it to continue to be fascinating.

 

There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt. – Audre Lorde