The Exorcist (film series) her review in "The New Yorker" that "Exorcist II" "had more visual magic than a dozen movies." Since "Exorcist II's" initial release, some notable critics and directors have praised the film. Kim Newman wrote in "Nightmare Movies" (1988) that "it doesn't work in all sorts of ways... However, like Ennio Morricone's mix of tribal and liturgical music, it does manage to be very interesting." Director Martin Scorsese asserted, "The picture asks: Does great goodness bring upon itself great evil? This goes back to the Book of Job; it's God testing the good. In this sense, Regan (Linda Blair) is a
The Exorcist (film) in "The New Republic", wrote, "This is the scariest film I've seen in years—the "only" scary film I've seen in years ... If you want to be shaken—and I found out, while the picture was going, that that's what I wanted—then "The Exorcist" will scare the… (shit) out of you." "Variety" noted that it was "an expert telling of a supernatural horror story ... The climactic sequences assault the senses and the intellect with pure cinematic terror." In "Castle of Frankenstein", Joe Dante called it "an amazing film, and one destined to become at the very least a horror classic.