The Exorcist is certainly not the earliest movie to center on the topic of demonic possession, but for many, it's the first to come to mind. Based on the 1971 novel of the same name, written by William Peter Blatty, the story of a pubescent girl named Regan (Linda Blair), whose dabblings with a Ouija board lead to a dark entity inhabiting her body, was adapted to film in 1973 and, 50 years later, it still lands at the top of the list in terms of scariest horror movies — and the reason for this goes beyond the innate fear of Biblical-grade evil and projectile vomit.
Ever since the story of Creation cranked through the Gutenberg press, men have been taught to fear anyone who presents themselves as a gender outside of their own. You could say "women" here. You could say "girls." But age is irrelevant, as is biology. The fear is essentially anyone who was not born with one functioning ding-dong with which to rule the world, planting seeds hither and yon. Anything beyond that, to them, is a terrifying unknown to be used as a tool for their own ego and interests or, when not that, managed and dealt with like livestock or a project car.
