Still one of the greats

Rating: 9/10 (24 September 2000)

You must see this in a real movie theater if you get the chance. I saw the revised rerelease today and was chilled by it all over again! The overwhelming skill of the film is the affection it creates in you for the characters. No one is perfect, but everyone loves one another very much, and you grow to love them too. Merrin says in the book (and touches upon it in one of the new restored scenes) that is the Devil's key: to destroy this love in this family, and make us despair of being lovable. One restored scene could have been done away with; it's shocking but doesn't add much. The new ending is OK, but it does set up the relationship that grows between Dyer and Kinderman in LEGION (which is the TRUE sequel to EXORCIST, so you can just skip that EXORCIST II piece of trash!). 9/10