Not just a horror movie.

Rating: 9/10 (1 May 2015)

Since watching this movie for the first time in around 1976, I have held it up as my No.1 movie of all time, and have never wavered from that opinion. I have watched it many times since, and it never fails to , I don't know, Shock? Thrill? Scare? None of those adjectives do it justice. It affected me, and still does, at a basic, almost primal level. Melodramatic perhaps, but that's how I feel. I probably came across it at the right time, an impressionable 14 year old, having just read Stephen King's Carrie. Then the movie being banned made it even more alluring. One of the movies big strengths is the depth of character background it goes into. Almost half the movie deals with the build up to the actual possession. Father Merrin's middle east archeology, Karras' mother and his wavering faith. After over 40 years, the movie has dated some, mostly from a fashion perspective, but this never detracts from the story. The only thing that stops me from giving the movie a 10, is the feeling that the middle section of the film, Regan's transition from an innocent little girl to a fully possessed host seems rushed, when it should have been more gradual. Going through the battery of hospital and psychiatric tests just seems like a nod to trying conventional means to explain Regan's condition.I know there are time restrictions etc. but that is my only, minor criticism. A must watch movie, and not only a horror movie, BUT, the greatest horror movie of all time.