Being a theology/religion student myself, I don't remember being scared stiff (I was 20 when I saw it, though) so much as 'pumped' or 'psyched'. I had never seen the struggle between pure good and pure evil portrayed so compellingly.

There does seem to be a challenge unique to religiously-themed horror, though: how to avoid letting what I call the 'intrinsically compelling' nature of the subject matter make the writer lazy about characterization, plot, dialogue, etc. How many truly great explicitly religious horror films are there, with compelling characters and story as well as serious theology? Um, The Exorcist...On the other hand is everything else, like the lesser "Exorcism of Emily Rose", "The Reaping", etc.

NEVER seen "The Exorcist." Never plan to either.

My aunt, who at one time was trying to get accepted in a nun convent, told me she worked in a movie theatre when this show was being played in the 70s, and its reception caused quite the rue with the audience; freaked people out like no other movie before or after.

So in that reguard this movie bears SOME merit. But having been arround Christians who actually performed exorcism on people who were DEMON OPRESSED and them telling me later about what actually happened just seeing bits and pieces of "The Exorcist" makes me shake my head with contempt at it.

Demon possession is NO JOKE, it's actually quite serious, and has MAJOR consequences on how a person lives their life.
If I remember right according to the prayer meeting deliverance of one lady, you'd NEVER suspect would be involved with demonic activity, hissed and writhed on the ground like a snake, when the people who treating her where in process of getting the demon out.

And I remember praying for a guy in a group setting once, who stiffened out and started talking with another voice when we prayed for him. It was VERY WIERD.

Even in the bible when Jesus delivered a few demon possessed people, the manifestions were pretty chilling. What I'm getting at is, demon posessiona and opression is a condition that shouldn't be taken lightly and off handely dismissed -- it's real.

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

Get off yer high horse, E.C. THE EXORCIST is a classic because it takes the subject of demonic possession absolutely seriously and treats it with documentary-like realism. What makes you think it approaches the subject like a joke or dismissively? That was SCARY MOVIE 4 (or maybe 3, not sure). Your comments show you have no understanding of what THE EXORCIST are about - try watching it.

For my own part, I saw it when it was rereleased in the late 70s, I was about 12 or 13. Pretty frightening, and it's actually gotten scarier over the years. One reason is although I'm not a parent, I'm closer to the mother's age now and get more what she's going through. Plus the implications about lost faith and good and evil eluded me when I was younger.