"What the devil got into that girl?"

Rating: 8/10 (26 November 2009)

I don't believe I've ever watched the original cut, only the "version you've never seen before", of this. You will have to look elsewhere for comparisons; from what I understand, not all of the new is positive, however. I guess the big question that anyone who has not yet caught this is: Is it true? Meaning: Is this really the *scariest film ever*? And the answer must be "it depends". Because if you do not believe in what this depicts, and even worse, if you take this completely out of its chronological context(translation: If you don't consider that this was made in the early 70's, since some norms have changed since then), frankly, several of the things can inspire laughter rather than fear(!). And with that said... this is quite well-made, and for such a potentially sensationalistic subject, it respects cinematic language and contains proper, gradual build-up, as any well-told story does. The acting is great, including Blair's performance. Plot develops nicely throughout. The characters are credible and consistent. A scene or two just... stop, ending at an exciting time instead of resolving the conflict. The direction is effective, and Friedkin does what he can to terrify us, and no matter if you think it's real or not, most of it is unsettling, to say the least. Also, there is no doubt that this inspired later horror movies. There is a lot of strong and outright explicit language, as well as bloody violence and disturbing content in this. I recommend this to any fan of thrillers, especially supernatural ones. 8/10