I think the biggest reason that "The Exorcist" had such a large
impact on myself was that I was so young when it first played in
theater's. I was only 11 years old, and my parents wouldn't allow me
to see it obviously because I was so young and there was so much
controversy surrounding the film. Being that I was not allowed to
see it made the suspense to see it even more overwhelming and
therefore I just had to find a way to sneak into the theater to see
it. Unfortunately I never did see "The Exorcist" on the big screen,
however, I finally got to see it when I got cable. By then, I must
have been 14 or 15 and I still had never seen a horror film with such
intensity in my life. In my opinion, when "The Exorcist" finally
came out in December of 1973 Hollywood had never really experimented
with horror films to such a degree which attracted people to see it
all the more, making people's curiosity to see it more magnified. I
truly believe that movie will go down in infamy. My only regret is
that Linda Blair (whom I had the pleasure of meeting) didn't get the
opportunity to act in any "A" films since "The Exorcist". Granted,
Linda has made many low budget "B" films, she hasn't had the
opportunity of expanding her acting ability in any other high quality
films. One thing I can say is that she was able to make her mark in
life and if it had to be via "The Exorcist", then that's okay. She
still did a remarkable job, especially for a twelve year old.
Ironically "The Exorcist" was inspired by true events that occurred
to a young boy from St. Louis, Missouri, Linda Blair was actually
born in St. Louis, Missouri. Is this an oxymoron or just
coincidental?, I guess we'll never know for sure.! But "The
Exorcist" is and will always be one of the best psychological horror
films in history.