When people ask me my favorite movie of all time or what I believe is the greatest movie ever, I usually go with the easy albeit truthful answer of “The Godfather” I and II, with the caveat that I love dozens of movies just as much or nearly as much as I cherish Francis Ford Coppola’s classic.
When I’m asked about the scariest movie I’ve ever seen, there’s no asterisk, no hesitation, no wavering: It’s “The Exorcist.” I’ve never been as mesmerized, as terrified, as ain’t-no-way-you’re-sleeping-tonight shocked, as I was when I first saw William Friedkin’s demonic, head-turning, supernatural horror film at the Dolton Theater in the spring of 1974. (Warner Bros. actually released the film on Dec. 26, 1973 — the day after Christmas, how about that — but I had to wait for a second-run showing with the more user-friendly $1 admission price.)
