Is The Exorcist really ‘the scariest horror movie ever made’?
When cinematic legend William Friedkin died in August, most of the mournful obituaries focused on tributes to his eclectic body of work. Affectionately nicknamed “Hurricane Billy” for his force of personality and towering stature among the New Hollywood filmmakers, Friedkin produced a respectable, wide-ranging filmography, from Academy Award-sweepers like The French Connection to reappraised gems like the box-office bomb turned classic Sorcerer. Still, critics elevated one title over all the rest, one film that, even 50 years later, still has a firm grasp on popular culture: The Exorcist, which bears the tagline “the scariest movie of all time.”
That’s what critics dubbed it upon its thunderous release in 1973. The Exorcist shocked the nation with its sordid but gripping tale of an actor (Ellen Burstyn) who turns to a pair of Catholic priests to exorcise her possessed daughter. Retrospective reviews have since echoed the “scariest movie ever” claim, and critics still hold The Exorcist to be the single most provocative and petrifying film in the annals of horror cinema. It’s so firmly considered the genre’s gold standard that critics have since praised modern thrillers like A24’s Hereditaryas the “scariest film since The Exorcist.” That reputation has kept The Exorcist’s legacy alive, in spite of a series of sequels ranging from mediocre to infamous, with the exception of the 1990 cult classic Exorcist III.
The Exorcistbrand has remained so strong that Blumhouse greenlit an entire trilogy of sequels from Halloweendirector David Gordon Green, timed to land around the original movie’s 50th anniversary. The first, The Exorcist: Believer, brings Ellen Burstyn back to the franchise to reprise her role as Chris MacNeil, just as
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