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 series) the screen before.” However, Vincent Canby, writing in "The New York Times", dismissed "The Exorcist" as “a chunk of elegant occultist claptrap…[A] practically impossible film to sit through…it establishes a new low for grotesque special effects...” Andrew Sarris complained that “Friedkin’s biggest weakness is his inability to provide enough visual information about his characters…whole passages of the movie’s exposition were one long buzz of small talk and name droppings…"The Exorcist" succeeds on one level as an effectively excruciating entertainment, but on another, deeper level it is a thoroughly evil film.” Writing in "Rolling Stone", Jon Landau felt the film was,