One critic has called director William Friedkin's controversial chiller 'the best film of all time' and it isn't, of course, but it is a sharply focused sizzler that, silly flares and Seventies haircuts apart, stands the test of time.

Ellen Burstyn's on dazzling form as an actress mom told by a priest (Jason Miller) that her daughter (Linda Blair) is possessed by the devil and needs an exorcist (Max von Sydow).

With its Oscar-winning script by author William Peter Blatty, this is still brilliantly scary stuff that exerts a strong hold as it sends shivers down the spine.

The succession of sequels that followed simply do not hold a candle to this - even the most recent Exorcist: The Beginning fails to find the levels of fear that William Friedkin expertly subjects us to here.