The Exorcist author William Peter Blatty reflects on how the 1973 film holds up

The Exorcist author William Peter Blatty sat down with WFAA to look back and talk about the 1973 film The Exorcist.
Watch more of WFAA's archived interviews with movie stars here: • WFAA Vault: Old movie ...

[@arcanuslosanara2823]

Great thinker!

[@MrCarpen7er]

Disagree. The theatrical version is as realistic if not more than the 2000 version, since it didn´t have so many included imagery of the demon in walls. It´s also scarier since it doesn´t have an happy ending but an ambiguous one, so typical of Friedkin´s cinema. What the 2000 version has improved was its sound and picture quality.

[@billyz5088]

~~ agreed - the editing and pacing of the original theatrical release was practically flawless - for the audience, the sense of anxiety, dread & doom builds up relentlessly - step by step - and the 2000 version disrupts that pacing. The spider walk scene is a perfect example - Friedkin wanted it cut because he felt it could not be placed where it had to be without disrupting the pace of the dreadful events ..

[@AnaLipton-r4g]

@@billyz5088 No he cut it because the wires showed, and he could not fix it. No computer graphics in 1973!