Customer Reviews
Not scary just weird - By: Langdon Ulder, 23 Aug 2008 
I watched The Exorcist 2 weeks ago & everyone I knew said it was terrifying so before watching I expected to get scared, well I didn't. I barely jumped.
I understand that The Exorcist scared the hell out of people when the film was releasedin 1973 as the special effects were advanced for the time, but now they look dated & there almost laughable.
I'm not saying The Exorcist isn't a good film because it is good but it's just weird, not scary.
STILL THE BEST - By: Mr. L. N. Taylor, 09 Aug 2008 
Just watched this again on TNT & a thought struck me. It's 35 years since this film was made, & despite all the talented writers, directors, actors & FX experts out there, nobody has even come close to bettering this movie. Question is, with all those resources out there, WHY??
Not for the faint hearted. Not for the weak minded. - By: KPA Lowe, 26 Jun 2008 35 years on & this film still has the power to shock. Often panned by critics, this story of good vs. evil is gripping from beginning to end, if one can bare to persist with the graphic depictions of vomit, bile, urine, & the foul language & hardcore blasphemy coming from the mouth of a 12 year old girl complete with vulgar acts performed with a crucifix! These depictions are far from subtle & the viewing experience can hardly be described as comfortable.
The main character, a priest (Jason Miller) is faced with a huge test of faith, one that he admits that he may be loosing partway through the film. Of course, the most important thing to note is that good triumphs over evil, although unfortunately at the sacrifice of our main character. Max von Sydow (the exorcist), performs his role to the level of perfection that can be seenin all his performances. The young Linda Blair is dynamic & does not always receive the credit she deserves due to the fact that it is not always her that we see playing Regan. However, when she is on-screen, she skilfully convinces us that this is not a girl who is simply mentally disturbed, but a girl truly possessed by an evil force.
Not a pleasant film & despised by many, but it has to be said that this Oscar-winner was one of the most important landmarksin cinema history.
DONT BUY THIS VERSION - By: Mr. Ms. Tait, 16 Feb 2008 
Ive always been a big fan of this movie,and couldn't wait to see the directors cut. Unfortunatly ive come to find this version irritating because of the silly optical effects of demons included which look like something you see on a ghost train, & not the least bit scary. They even mess up the famous spiderwalk sequence,in the original she comes down the stairs, tounge flicking & chases after the nanny, which is creepier than what they do instead, which is her stopping on the stairs with a blood red mouth & going AHH!(Probably filmed recently) So Why is her mouth red? She's not Dracula. Oh & the extra scenes are boring & slow the film down. Perhaps ive seen this film too many times but if youve seen the original you might agree with me.
Longer but not better - By: Trevor Willsmer, 22 Dec 2007 The Exorcist - The Version You've Never Seen is also the version you probably shouldn't have, adding almost nothing to a fine original but running time, some clumsy additional `subliminal' images digitally grafted on with all the subtlety of a 1980s New Romantic music video & a poor new sound mix that adds music cues & sound effects far less effective than the original mix. Most of the restored footage is taken up by an extended additional medical tests sequence that feels a little out of place since Regan hasn't been acting particularly oddly at that pointin the film, as well as the odd bit of paddingin the run-up to the exorcism & a redundant scene of Karras listening to a tape recording of a pre-possession Regan. Worst of the new additions by far is the infamous spider walk, a scene abandoned during shooting & here accounting for two rather laughable shots that take the film too far too soon. Other additions are somewhat more esoteric - a brief pretitle shot of the Georgetown house & street, Father Dyer keeping the St Christopher at the end after Chris hands it back & the disastrous addition of a screeching airplane sound effectin the segue from Iraq to Georgetown that makes you think Pazuzu must have travelled to Washington by Pan-Am (although this does echo Lalo Schifrin's far more effective rejected scoring for the sequence). What's most curious is what's still missing: despite including the weak Hollywood ending with Kinderman & Father Dyer, the exchange with Chris over whether she still doesn't believein God is gone. The big bone of contention between Blatty & Friedkin, the idea that if you believein the Devil because of all the terrible things that happen, you must also believein a God even if he, unlike the horned one, doesn't advertise, seems the only justification for extending the section at all, but as if to spite the writer it's still pointedly removed. Only the brief discussion about the Devil's motives for possessing Reganin a breakin the exorcism feels like it adds any substance to the proceedings (although it could be said the possession is more disturbingly arbitrary if left unexplained), the rest being motivated purely by the need for a marketing hook to secure a US reissue.
The end result is a film that feels much longer & slower but still eventually grips. Aside from the overlength, the strengths & weaknesses are much the same: the at times almost documentary style of film-making grounds the eventsin a recognisable real world, the shock effects are fairly sparingly used & only after a long build-up, the characters well-drawn & their despair convincing: the real horrorin the film doesn't residein its special effects or horrific set pieces, butin a mother's anguish over being powerless to help her child.
Few extras, but the widescreen transfer is good.
