This landmark horror picture from director William Friedkin may be more serious-minded than most of the devil flicks that followed (Bless the Child, Stigmata), but it is still essentially a religious exploitation piece (although poor little Linda Blair – required to urinate, swear and vomit on cue as the possessed adolescent – is exploited more than anything else). There is an underlying theme in which a psychiatrist-priest struggles with his allegiances to both science and faith, but that is really just window dressing for the cheap shock tactics. The Exorcist is provocation at its ugliest.
