High-camp tag lines, but little more

Rating: 3/10 (31 July 2001)

I suppose the special effects were state-of-the-art at the time. Yay. Linda Blair's head spins around, the bed does the Mashed Potato, etc., etc., and it's all very lovely. Too bad it doesn't make up for a jumpy storyline which really doesn't flow well.
The Iraq sequence is pretty to look at, I admit; but it is in no way relevant to the rest of the story. The only connection I found was the image of that fertility statue appearing in a particularly poor special effect. I guess we're supposed to draw the conclusion that the evil fertility god possessed Regan. That fifteen minutes wasted on Iraq could have been much better used to develop Regan's possession, perhaps making Captain Howdy more than a sideline?
Overall, I was singularly unimpressed by this film. I realize that, in the early 70s, many things done/said by Regan were shocking . . . but nowadays, if I want to see someone masturbate with a crucifix, I'll watch a Madonna video.