it isn't. Not even in the best 100. At least, not round where I am.

and it was totally different to my expectations. Properly scary, even now, and there would NO WAY I'd ever watch that on my own. That said, I can't even watch Doctor Who on my own. I'm 46.

I love Ellen Burstyn and Jason Miller (father of Jason Patric) who plays the spooked priest.

John Carpenter's 'Halloween' scared me more than 'The Exorcist'.

and I think it works best on those that have had a religious upbringing, even if they have rejected it in later life.

It doesn't work for me, particularly. I can appreciate it as a film.

...Exorcist in a tiny cinema where there was 20 of us mates (in a 30 seat cinema). I was 17. I was a little scared but thought it was a marvellous film.

However, no film has scared me as much as Night of the Hunter. Specifically Robert Mitchum. I saw it on my own, and cried with fear.

Although, I find that I am more easily scared and more squeamish as I get older. Is that true for lots of us?

in his excellent More4 Story of Film series has said that the best film ever made is Ozu's Tokyo Story. I've just ordered it from Lovefilm who describe it as:

"' a depiction of life's disappointments and frustrations told through the eyes of an ageing couple who go to visit their grown-up son and daughter in Tokyo"

Doesn't sound like it will contain any green vomit or spinning heads.

I thought The Exorcist was a well put together horror film, but no more than that. I am probably being unfair to Mark Kermode, and I don't know the context of his comment, but it does sound like one of those statements that critics make to be provocative and show they're standing against orthodox opinion. He's not going to create waves by praising Citizen Kane or The Battleship Potemkin.

or Batchelor Party.

Is absolutely fucking terrifying.

I'm serious.

My mate Simon got it out of the video shop for his birthday. Or perhaps his parents did. Can't quite remember.

Never did me any lasting damage... apart from my tendency to stab myself in the nuts with religious emblems and the fact that my head can turn all the way round.

as to whether "genre" films can go beyond that definition and be judged on its own merits. Broadly speaking, most "great" movies fall into Drama in most lists. The only western that regularly makes the list is The Searchers, for example, or Blade Runner from Sci-Fi.

Personally, I think The Exorcist is a very good, very effective, film but not quite "great". It does have a certain aura though and certainly this aura has proved more lasting than the mystique that attached itself to A Clockwork Orange, for example, or the execrable Easy Rider (soundtrack notwithstanding)

It is genuinely frightening, particularly the scene with the two priests in the frozen bedroom, but it's not the best film ever made (The Lord of the Rings trilogy is, of course, in case you were wondering).

It's not even the best horror film ever. For me, the most upsetting was Wolf Creek, simply for the sheer, unmitigated, unrelenting evil on display.

Most recently, I found Paranormal Activity pretty scary, especially the seemingly endless moment when the girlfriend stands beside the bed. Doesn't sound like much on paper, but it is unbelievably creepy. That timer in the corner just goes on and on and on.... Brrrrrr!

I started watching it late one night a year or two back.

I'd heard the Kermode theory before and not having seen it since the 70s thought I should see it again. I wasn't overly impressed the first time I saw it, but I'm open minded enough to give it a reappraisal.

Well I went to bed earlier than anticipated, not because I found it scary but because it was the most unbelievably tedious tosh.

In what way is this the greatest film ever? Superb plot? No, I don't think so. Crackling dialogue? If that's there it passed over my head? Riveting performances? As the script isn't there in the first place, that's a miss too. Special effects? They were risible back in the 70s.

'Exorcist 3' & Paul Schrader's 'Exorcist Dominion' are also very good

The Princess Bride is.

At the Golden Globes, The Exorcist scored four major wins, picking up awards for Best Film, Best Director (William Friedkin), Best Screenplay (William Peter Blatty) and Best Supporting Actress (Linda Blair), while the Oscars generated ten nominations including Best Picture, and two further awards; Best Screenplay (Blatty) and Best Sound.

In box office terms, The Exorcist became the biggest grossing hit in the studio's history, nearly trebling the $34m gross of the studio's previous record holder My Fair Lady in the US alone.

To this day, it remains one of the top twenty grossing movies of all time.

Better than, say, Philadelphia Story, North by Northwest, Some Like It Hot, The Third Man, The Shining, the original Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein, Stand By Me, Lawrence of Arabia, Alfie, Get Carter, just off the top of my head, and all films I can watch again and again? Having struggled through The Exorcist a couple of times, once because of word-of-mouth and once to see what I'd missed that made so many people regard it so highly, I really can't see how claiming this as the best can be any more than a look-at-me stunt-belief on Kermode's part.

It's a bit dated in terms of special effects and, of course, the story line is so familiar now it has lost its horror impact over the years. But all great movies should be considered in the context of the time in which they were made. Blatty's novel was powerful stuff at the time and mainstream cinema audiences had never before seen such a dramatic portrayal of so called demonic possession in a child. When I watch it now I still enjoy the superb acting performances, not least from young Linda Blair, Lee J Cobb, Max Von Sydow and especially Ellen Burstyn going out of her mind. It really is early 1970s cinema at its finest.

nor am I likely to. Scared does not equal entertainment for me, that includes roller coasters or any kind if thrill ride, bungie jumping, parachuting etc. Nope, choosing to be scared is for brave or stupid people, I am neither but I will confess to being terribly dull.

but Mrs LB and I still talk, with genuine fear, about the time we watched The Ring and just as it ended, the phone rang.

There's no such thing as a best film ever made.

There are only favourites.

Kermode is on the money about Local Hero and Slade In Flame, but The Exorcist is cold porridge.

It should be pointed out that the films Friedkin made before and after (The French Connection and Sorcerer) are pretty trucking good.

But he's right about his other favourite film.

Local Hero.

Almost perfect.

Can't believe that no-one's mentioned Ben Dover's Anal Spunkfest yet, though.

scared me.... 'cos these were guys who were my age then, fighting for their lives whilst I was working in an office wondering who had nicked my parker pen.

But this is the Damon Albarn Best ever musician blog all over again.

Hmm, demons and Damons??

I saw The Exorcist on video back in the early 80s before the ban - I enjoyed it but didn't find it that scary. Then I went to the cinema to see the re-release in the 90s - and the audience were laughing. It got me thinking that audiences in the 90s weren't as horrified by the sight and sound of a potty mouthed pre-teen as they were in the 70s.

"Yes you're all welcome to your opinions, mine just happens to be right."

The documentary he made about it 'The Fear Of God' finally released almost uncut on the Blu Ray edition is bloody marvellous however

The Exorcist is actually a flawed film. One example - In terms of cinematography and visual impact alone, it has been exceeded many times. Kermode seems to have a very narrow interest, and always judges movies based on that narrow set of criteria.

This is true. I saw the Exorcist at my local cinema (the ABC Bexley Heath) in August 1974, in the week that "Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends" was released. In those days, movies ran for a week. An exception was obviously made for The Exorcist, for it ran for two.

I saw it during the first week. We had a very giggly audience, who laughed a lot during the bits you weren't supposed to laugh at and we came away wondering what all the fuss had been about.

I saw it again during the second week. This time the audience did not laugh and it was a very, very different film. People were actually being led out of the auditorium in a state of shock and the St Johns people (yes, that bit of the legend actually is true) seemed to be doing a roaring trade. Seems almost unreal now, but those were very different times.

About a week after I had a nightmare directly inspired by the movie. In it, I became possessed. Blimey. Now I have nightmares wondering if I'm still going to have a job next year. Tempus fugit, eh?

It's genuinely hilarious. Try it out.

If you watch it in a foreign language with no subtitles, it loses all the subtlety, and so its just shoddy 1970s special effects all the way through and people in dodgy French accents. Comedy value, right there.

Sadly even watching Blair Witch Project in French couldn't save it. It's 4 people sniffing into a camera for 80 minutes and then it ends. Yawn.

As for the most genuinely unsettling films and therefore scariest, I think you can't really beat The Grudge. What could be more sinister than a little boy in make-up? Absolutely nothing. Terrifying.

The scariest part / the most haunting (and reason I had to sleep with the light on for two nights running - at the age of 23) is about 1 min in this clip, with Sarah Michelle Gellar being pursued, and especially when she gets to the bottom of the stairs still makes me feel unsettled now. Is it a "better" film? If you want a horror to scare you, then for me, you can't better it. If you want warm 70s nostalgia, fine, Kermode, but don't try and convince others it makes The Exorcist a better film.

I haven't watched it yet! I need a cold night when I'm home on my own, the wind is howling outside, and there are unexplained noises outside the window...

I confess, the first time I saw the Exorcist, I fell asleep (admittedly, because of many of the ponderous early scenes, and because it was shown last at a horror all-nighter at Uni - whose great scheduling idea was that one?)

But the end sequence in itself, has much to admire, the genuine feeling of fear and threat, how entirely satanic poor Linda Blair looks, and the final denoument, but a lot of the film is, well, boring.

If I were to choose a favourite horror film, it wouldn't even be in my top five.

I don't know if the rosbif (as itfc1959) massive agree, but I'd choose...

5: The Shining - atmospheric, unsettling, and you really fear for for Shelley Duvall as Jack Nicholson's character loses his mind.

4: The Omen - a schlocky Exorcist-lite rip-off as far as some people are concerned, or rather a souped-up pacey version where the devil wins...It's got some great ideas, well executed, and some jaw-dropping deaths. And I'm still a little bit scared of rottweilers because of it. And Gregory Peck is great in it. (And you can see where the Final Destination franchise got some of its ideas)

3: Evil Dead - No rhyme nor reason to why Ash and his mates fall victim to demonic possession, but really scary for such a cheapo flick, especially the final camera shot at the end, from the demon point of view, ending with a closeup of Ash's terrfied face (Bruce Campbell, what a guy)

2: Alien - genuinely different horror flick when it came out. What an inspired idea it was to get HR Giger to design the Alien. It genuinely looks like a phallic, semi-human nightmare, and let's not forget it's truly disgusting life-cycle, involving the horribly sexual looking facehugger. It still amazes me to this day.

1: Ringu. Scared the living crap out of me. And I don't scare easily. Genius idea, and the moment the vengeful ghost climbs out of the TV is still terrifying to this day. If you scare easily, look away now.

But you know, I'd argue that there are lots of films that could be described as the "best film ever made" for lots of resaons.

I'd actually argue that "The Godfather" is a perfect moment in cinema history. When a director came together with a uniformly excellent cast, with great plotting, pace, dialogue and great story, to produce an almost perfect film.

Similarly, "Goodfellas" falls into the same category as far as I'm concerned.

And yet, I would also throw Disney-Pixar's "Up". a story of a man and his floating house, with two septugenarians in the lead roles, a talking dog (...squirrel!)and a chubby but determined little korean boy scout, not forgetting that opening sequence that left many grown men and women in tears...It's possibly the most perfect, yet strange film ever made...

..and I could go on with many other examples of other films. In short then, the Exorcist is admirable, but Mr Kermode is wrong. Its not the best film ever made.

as I've been on a bit of a horror movie bender for a few weeks, catching up on many I've missed over the last decade.

Kermode's worshipping of The Exorcist has the air to me of a proclamation made when he was much younger that he now feels compelled to stick by.

I watched it again recently and felt that it a) wasn't scary and b) has the production and acting qualities of a 70s made-for-TV movie. I think Grant made a good point above: I am an atheist/agnostic, and the whole concept of gods and demons is ludicrous rather than scary. This is why I find Omen a scarier movie, as the entire film can be viewed as one man's paranoia.

Of the recent batch I've seen, I particularly liked the [REC] (the Spanish film, not the US remake). Genuinely creepy.

I've always found Rosemarys Baby more disturbing and a lot more fun than The Exorcist.. I can still watch it today and enjoy it.. Tried getting thru Exorcist a few years back and gave up.. just doesn't pack a punch any more.

Totally agree about Night of the Hunter.. that is one movie that does not diminish.

As many have suggested it's a bit too wedded to now-outdated 'shock and disgust' effects to be as effective as it once was. But it created an entire genre of horror film, so it shouldn't be discounted.

I would put The Godfather as my greatest ever film.

Candyman.

Still gives me nightmares every time I look in the mirror (insert joke here)!

needs 6 things
1)Cliff Richard
2)AEC Regent "RT" double-decker London Bus
3)Una Stubbs
4)The Shadows
5)A Boy who turns out to be a Girl.
6)The Leading man, in a string vest, singing whilst walking near the Acropolis
If only there was such a film.

The Exorcist transcends the horror genre/ If you go there looking for scares n come away "I ain't frightened" then you've missed the point. There is something deeper going on.

Its legend has sort of spoilt that for anyone approaching it today. Its genuinely unnerving and sinister and its ordinariness in the way it is shot only adds to that atmosphere. Comparing it to other horror films is redundant cos its aim is not to shock or scare but to make us look deep within ourselves

This is Dr Kermode signing off......oh damn!

Fear is entirely subjective, as is sense of humour or sexual preferences. (Ever had someone try to explain a nightmare they had to you? Usual reaction: "What??")

So I tend to admire horror films without finding them particularly scary. The Exorcist, The Blair Witch Project, Alien, The Shining - all well made, none of them particularly disturbing, for me at any rate. As a big fan of the good Doc, I respect his choice of favourite. I'm a Jaws man myself - looks like it was filmed yesterday, give or take the odd haircut or a shark that clearly has 'Made in Taiwan' printed on the side. It's great fun still. Probably not as well made as Citizen Kane or The Searchers or Gone With The Wind, but I didn't see them at the age of 11 with a room full of 500 strangers laughing and screaming and cheering at the right moments.

By the way, for fans of The Omen (for my money a pile of dung, but each to his own), watch out for the shot of Gregory Peck pushing through the horrified extras after the justly celebrated beheading scene. There's a priceless close-up of a goateed bystander clearly having the time of his life standing in Rome alleyways watching hapless photographers getting topped. Well worth a look.

No

Yes

Just for balance