I remember going to the theater as a kid to see the 1973 classic horror movie, The Exorcist.  This “R” rated movie traumatized me so much that to this day, I will not see another horror film. For months, I thought that I, too, would be possessed by Satan.

The premise of the story is, at first, straight-forward.  A young girl, played by actress Linda Blair, exhibits bizarre and erratic behavior. The doctors diagnose schizophrenia. However, the girl’s worried mother,  portrayed by Ellyn Burnstyn, believes there is a much deeper dimension affecting her daughter.  What science cannot treat, religion does. The plot thickens when two priests visit the girl and believe the young girl is possessed by Satan and will need, you guessed it, an exorcism.

The film, by today’s standards, looks dated. Its special effects seem silly rather than scary.  I may be a scaredy-cat because I was terrified by the girl’s full-circle head turn, her torturous, thrusting demon possessed body, and the expletives  that poured out of her mouth faster than the thick pea soup bucket of vomit.

On a deeper level, the film explores theological, philosophical, and psychological issues that will satisfy viewers looking for more plot than a simply scary movie.  Rotten Tomatoes gives the movie a 4.5 out of 5 stars – not bad for a movie that is over forty years old and one that is continually listed on any critics top horror film list.