Simply Doesn't Live Up To The Hype

Rating: 2/10 (3 July 2005)

Over the years, I've often found it curious that this movie always rates so highly on people's film lists (to say nothing of horror film lists). I've always thought it one of the most tedious pictures I've ever had to sit through. It really doesn't have much more than shock value going for it, and the strength of that has faded a great deal in the thirty-odd years since its release. The psychological aspects of the picture are about on the level of Dr. Phil (I thought Exorcist III was much more engrossing in this area). To be perfectly honest, I found this film so boring when I first saw it that I fell asleep during the exorcism! I put "The Exorcist" right at the top of my "Emperor's New Clothes" list of excessively hyped movies.