The Exorcist (film) Siskel placed it in the top five films released that year. BBC film critic Mark Kermode believes the film to be the best film ever made, saying: "There's a theory that great films give back to you whatever it is you bring to them. It's absolutely true with The Exorcist—it reflects the anxieties of the audience. Some people think it's an outright horror-fest, but I don't. It was written by a devout Catholic who hoped it would make people think positively about the existence of God. William Peter Blatty, who wrote the book, thought that if there are demons then
The Exorcist (film) been released: In 1998, Warner re-released the digitally remastered DVD of "The Exorcist: 25th Anniversary Special Edition". The DVD includes the BBC documentary, "The Fear of God: The Making of The Exorcist," highlighting the never-before-seen original non-bloody variant of the spider-walk scene. To appease the screenwriter and some fans of "The Exorcist", Friedkin reinstated the bloody variant of the spider-walk scene for the 2000 theatrically re-released version of "The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen". In October 2010, Warner released "The Exorcist (Extended Director's Cut & Original Theatrical Edition)" on Blu-ray, including the behind-the-scenes filming of the spider-walk scene. Linda