The Exorcist is still ranked highly among the scariest movies of all time, but one scene is the scariest of all despite having nothing to do with demons or possession. Based on William Peter Blatty’s eponymous novel, the 1973 chiller was directed by William Friedkin and was an instant international sensation. Making headlines for causing audience members to supposedly faint or run screaming from the theater, The Exorcist set a new standard for what horror movies could be. Besides being utterly terrifying, the movie succeeds because it is a brilliant piece of cinema in all aspects of its production.
As is often the case with horror films, it didn’t take too long for Hollywood to demand a sequel to The Exorcist, and one eventually materialized in the form of 1977’s Exorcist II: The Heretic. The convoluted follow-up was a tremendous failure, and the horror franchise was put on ice for more than a decade. The Exorcist III came in 1990, and is still the only good sequel to the classic 1973 film. More films followed in the ensuing decades, but none have captured the essence of the original, largely because they don’t manage to be nearly as frightening.
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The Exorcist is one of the most iconic and celebrated horror movies of all time, and it also carries a deeper meaning that’s somewhat easy to miss.
The Hospital Scenes In The Exorcist Are The Most Haunting Part Of The Movie
The Realism Makes It The Scariest Scene In The Whole Film
Whether its reputation as the scariest movie of all time is earned or not, The Exorcist is undeniably terrifying. The sequences featuring a possessed Regan are some of the most iconic moments in horror history, and The Exorcist is one of the rare horror films to transcend its own genre and leave a mark on cinema as a whole. However, they are overshadowed by a scene that happens much earlier in the film, and has nothing to do with demons. Right after Regan begins exhibiting odd behavior, she is whisked to the hospital where she undergoes a battery of tests.
Medical procedures are a frightening prospect in general, but the fact that a young girl is being subjected to such dehumanizing tests is an absolutely harrowing idea.
With its harsh lighting and sterile white environs, the hospital has a nightmarish quality that is more reflective of real life than any of the supernatural horrors shown later. Regan squirms in anguish as a catheter is inserted into her neck, and the subtle use of gore is enough to churn the stomach. Medical procedures are a frightening prospect in general, but the fact that a young girl is being subjected to such dehumanizing tests is an absolutely harrowing idea. Her mother looks on, but she’s unable to help as the doctors try to figure out what’s wrong with Regan.
Ultimately, they find nothing wrong with her, and the entire ordeal only serves to make Regan more miserable. The point of the scene is to establish that medical science can’t help her, which eventually leads to the exorcism at the heart of the film. The movie could have easily made that scene less intense, but director William Friedkin cleverly used the hospital sequence as an opportunity to scare the audience in another way, and force them to reckon with deep-seated fears. Most people will never be possessed by a demon, but almost anyone can relate to the hospital scenes.
The Exorcist was a box office smash, grossing $430 million against an $11 million budget (via Box Office Mojo).
Is The Exorcist Still The Scariest Movie Ever Made?
It Certainly Deserves To Be Near The Top Of The List
The history of horror movies was rather slow-moving before the 1970s, and the intensity of classic horror rose incrementally across the decades. Because of strict censorship rules in the Golden Age of Hollywood, horror films were somewhat restricted, but that eventually changed. Some movies before The Exorcist had pushed boundaries and included copious violence and gore, but the William Friedkin classic was one of the first studio films to deliver such an intense experience. However, it does so without having to rely on a lot of cheap tricks, and that’s one of the biggest reasons it’s so scary.
The Exorcist series includes:
| Exorcist Movie | Release Year | Rotten Tomatoes Score |
|---|---|---|
| The Exorcist | 1973 | 78% |
| Exorcist II: The Heretic | 1977 | 10% |
| The Exorcist III | 1990 | 58% |
| Exorcist: The Beginning | 2004 | 11% |
| Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist | 2005 | 29% |
| The Exorcist: Believer | 2023 | 22% |
The Exorcist doesn’t have copious jump scares and aggressive violence, but it does have creeping terror and a powerful payoff during its climax. The makeup on Linda Blair is some of the best in movie history, and the use of clever audio techniques lends an otherworldly sound to the possessed little girl. Underneath it all is the idea of The Exorcist, and that is really the most frightening part. The fact that a young child is the victim of the demon’s possession makes it much worse, and there is an existential dread that underlies every scene.
The only reason that The Exorcist might not be considered the scariest movie of all time anymore is because of the ground that was broken back in 1973. The demonic possession movie opened the door for filmmakers to push things to new heights in their horror films, but few have matched the intensity. Age has done little to diminish the impact of the film, and a first-time viewer is likely to be just as scared today as someone who was The Exorcist more than fifty years ago.
9/10
Release Date
December 26, 1973
Runtime
122 minutes
Director
William Friedkin
Writers
William Peter Blatty
Prequel(s)
Exorcist: The Beginning, Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist
