What is your favorite movie?

I’m sorry, but any top 100 list that puts Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump, Fargo and The Sixth Sense above The Exorcist should be completely disregarded. Nobody has watched those films since the first year of their release, whereas The Exorcist has withstood repeated viewings for 35 years. The Exorcist resonates due to very real, seriously presented human characters and is expertly crafted. It’s lame that the attempt to cowtow to modern movies and be ‘hip’ overrides staying power and effectiveness. Nobody watches Sixth Sense more than twice. The Exorcist can be viewed annually, and still maintain genuine reactions. 10 years later, and the list is still a joke.

This movie is the best for me for a lot of reasons: great visual efects, wonderful music (tubular bells) great acting, great scenes (for its time were shocking). The botom line: a movie that never old.

The Exorcist, the greatest movie of all time!!!

The Exorcist is not only the greatest horror film of all time, but I put it as my favorite because of the underlying themes of good and evil (which are at the heart of all great movies), and one in which good ultimately triumphs (not without sacrifice, though). The acting is superb, the story is riveting, and it holds your attention from beginning to end. In my mind, one of the greatest films of all times. It deserves a spot on AFI’s Top 100!!

I cant see how the top 100 films can leave out this classic.

12 year child of an actress is possessed by the Devil and a priest, questioning his own faith, is called upon to perform an exorcism.

For the love of the horror genre, no other movie is as mesmerizing, spellbinding, frightenly disturbing as THE EXORCIST. Release in 1973, THE EXORCIST shocked millions around the world…frightful images that never leave the public’s psyche. Truly the scariest movie ever made. A very well-made, thought-provoking, jolting experience one can never shake off after the lights come on in the theater. Horror at its very best indeed!
By: Frank Rodriguez

Maybe there is a little devil in all good works.

As a young man, this is one of the movies that first introduced to me the concept that the world can be a harrowing and scary place. As I matured as a creative person and inspiring actor/writer, I often found myself revisiting the film, appreciating the craft and technical effort put in from the creators, from the masterful performances, to the amazing direction. It’s story, told with craft, skill and an inherent love of movies. It gives the viewer the ability to see what is horrific and at the surface and also, what is subtle and understated. How often in life we find ourselves having the same connection in our cerebral and emotional experience. It profoundly moved me then and it still does. It’s a rollercoaster and today, when I still think the world can be harrowing and scary, I pull out so many other things from the film that I also see in the world: The power of faith, redemption and great story-telling. At any age, it’s still fun and exhilarating to be frightened and informed. And maybe there is a little devil in all good works.
By: Matthew Burns

The Exorcist is the ultimate story of good vs. evil. For good to prevail over evil, a sacrifice must be done. The cast were amazing- the best casting in a film. Linda Blair deserved an Oscar.

It is basically the ultimate good vs. evil story. The movie is so touching. What makes the film so scary is not so much of the exorcism itself but the fact that this is happening to a little girl and she has done nothing remotely wrong. These events can happen to us and its freighting. The actual horrific scenes happen thirty minutes close to the end. The real movie or the build up is an hour and a half before when you get to know the characters and see this little girl gradually get sick to the point where her only salvation is God. It showed us that we need God to survive. The Devil is deliberately killing a young child for his own pride and as humans we can not do anything about it but rely on God. It teaches us the power of faith and that there is a God. We are all accountable for our sins and sometimes if we are not careful, the people we love end up cleaning for the sins we made. In life there are repercussions- good and bad, and for Regan to go through something so horrid it gave Damien and Chris McNeil wake up call and an understanding that there is a higher power. That is incredible to just put all of that in a film. We see in the last ten minutes of the film Father Damien Krass finally realizing that God is the ultimate Divine Being and in order for good to prevail there needed to be a sacrificed. He sacrificed his life for of Regan. The film was shocking and original and everything pales to comparison. I love films and as a screen writer and actress myself, I love seeing films that give purpose and meaning. I always add a metaphor- a story behind the actual story. My first published script is called The Arts of Chaos. It is about three teenagers amidst their inner war fight against a girl who gradually in the film becomes this Hitler. As you read it, and understand the villain Kirsten, there is that understanding that she is not bad. People do crazy things when they are in love. Her only crime was that she fell in love with a boy, Ethan. In his rejection, she throws herself to destroy everything he loves including her best friend Vanessa. She replaces them with Jackie who defies her as well. Basically the film is a metaphor for World War II because just like those heroes fighting for the world, these heroes in their own rights fought against Kirsten to save the world from the hypocrisy and shame. The tagline is synonymous with both the generation of World War II and Vanessa, Ethan, and Jackie. “They Didn’t Ask For the Glory. They Defined It.” The teens did not want to do it, they did it because they had to do it, and if not there would not be a salvation in this world. It was their destinies to shed their blood for mankind to be relinquished of the pain and tyranny of the villain. The villain’s only punishment was to die in her prophecy to take down with her, the soldiers; the voices of the generation. Hitler did that, he died but he took down with him our men. It is films like The Arts of Chaos that I owe a thank you to William Peter Blatty and William Freidkin for inspiring to create a movie like my own. The Exorcist taught me an important value in screenwriting and that is to write with meaning, do not write for the sake of writing. The Exorcist was not just a horror film; it is an institution of great films in which we should respect. It is the greatest film and its morals on good and power of the Divinity still holds truth years after its impact. True films are those who shock you and resonate through. It has to inspire you to do something and The Exorcist does that. There are not enough films of this caliber being made today. The Exorcist was horror’s crowning achievement.
By: Jennifer Fumero