The indispensable link between the Catholic-inflected piety of Golden Age Hollywood and the world of latter-day horror, The Exorcist reflected deep unease in uncharted cultural waters. Loss of faith, casual dabbling in the occult, divorce and the therapeutic culture are all indicted in the growing nightmare of a bubbly, increasingly troubled girl whose single mother promises, “You just take your pills and you’ll be fine, really,” as if science and medicine were the answer to everything.
—Steven D. Greydanus