This film has a 86% percent positive rating on Rotten
Tomatoes. Novelist William Peter Blatty based his best-seller on
the last known Catholic-sanctioned exorcism in the United States. Blatty
transformed the little boy in the 1949 incident into a little girl named Regan,
played by 14-year-old Linda Blair. Suddenly prone to fits and bizarre behavior,
Regan proves quite a handful for her actress-mother, Chris MacNeil (played by
Ellen Burstyn, although Blatty reportedly based the character on his next-door
neighbor Shirley MacLaine). When Regan gets completely out of hand, Chris calls
in young priest Father Karras (Jason Miller), who becomes convinced that the
girl is possessed by the Devil and that they must call in an exorcist: namely,
Father Merrin (Max von Sydow). His foe proves to be no run-of-the-mill demon,
and both the priest and the girl suffer numerous horrors during their
struggles.