Worth seeing (contains spoilers)

Rating: Null/10 (8 October 2000)

...the re-release, that is. Around fifteen minutes were added to the original version of this movie. Not very much new material to see, but it was great to see this movie on the big screen (especially for someone like me who was born after this movie's original theatrical release). I consider "The Exorcist" the scariest movie ever made. No other horror movie has been able to top it. Perhaps it's the subject matter of the movie that makes "The Exorcist" so scary. I was eight years old when I saw this movie for the first time and it scared the daylights out of me. I wasn't as scared now, seeing the re-release. I was more focused on seeing the added scenes and improvements that were made to the movie. The print has been cleaned up (no grainy appearance). The new sound is great--it helps to make the movie scarier. Plus, you get to see Linda Blair's scene of a "spider walk" down a flight of stairs, which was not included in the original version of the movie. The "spider walk" down the stairs caught me by surprise because it was spooky and it occurred at an unexpected moment in the movie. I've seen this movie several times before, and believe it or not, I found some of the more graphic scenes in the movie amusing. I laughed during the crucifix-masturbation scene. However, the scenes of the actual exorcism had my eyes glued to the screen. It's still shocking to see the possessed Regan rise in the air, and then later seeing her sitting on the corner of the bed, giggling mischievously after she has just killed Father Merrin. And of course, seeing Father Karras forcefully jump out of the bedroom window, down the flight of stairs is more shocking. Even if you've seen "The Exorcist" many times before, I highly recommend seeing the re-release, especially if you're a young person who has never seen this movie on a theater screen.