"The Exorcist" stands as a testament to an era when horror could still claim innocence, when audiences could approach the supernatural with genuine, unironic terror. What we're watching isn't just a film about possession – it's a window into our collective past, when the mere suggestion of evil could send moviegoers fleeing from theaters.

Based on the last documented case of sanctioned exorcism in America, William Friedkin's masterwork transplants the story from a possessed boy to young Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), daughter of actress Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn). When medicine fails to explain her daughter's grotesque transformation, Chris turns to Father Karras (Jason Miller), a priest wrestling with his own demons of doubt. Enter Father Merrin (Max von Sydow), whose weathered face carries the memory of a previous battle with the ancient demon Pazuzu.

What unfolds is not merely an exercise in shock value, though the film's infamous scenes – the rotating head, the pea-soup vomit, the spider-walk down the stairs – have become part of our cultural vocabulary. Instead, Friedkin crafts a meditation on faith, innocence, and the price of confronting absolute evil. The 1973 release sent shockwaves through American cinema, spawning countless imitators but few equals.

Modern viewers, raised on a diet of CGI monsters and calculated jump scares, might find themselves immune to some of "The Exorcist's" more dated elements. But beneath its supernatural veneer lies a more profound horror: the story of a mother watching her child transform into something unrecognizable. It's also, perhaps unintentionally, a powerful metaphor for puberty and family dissolution – the demon Pazuzu might as well be hormones and divorce papers.

What makes "The Exorcist" endure isn't its ability to shock (though it still can), but its unwavering commitment to treating its subject matter with grave seriousness. Unlike today's horror films, which often wink at their audience, Friedkin's film never breaks character. It believes in its own terrors completely, and that conviction remains its most powerful special effect.

Four stars. This is one of the great ones.

For movie information visit The Exorcist (1973) post at Cinemunch
This movie is available on Amazon - The Exorcist: Director's Cut (Extended Edition) or Download via iTunes - The Exorcist - William Friedkin
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This is a part of Fright Cinema 2015, a list of the best horror movies handpicked in no particular order by The Wandering Klutz. It features ten (10) films every year just in time for the scariest season of the year.