"On the day after Christmas," began a 1974 Newsweek cover story, "a film called 'The Exorcist' opened in 22 cities across America. Since then, all hell has broken loose."

What an understatement. Often regarded as the greatest horror film of our modern era, if not all time, few films can claim to have generated as much controversy as The Exorcist. In the 20-odd years since it premiered to shocked audiences in December 1973, it has subsequently been banned in 5 countries (remaining so in Britain up until last year), been scorned for creating the "splatter" mentality in horror cinema, attacked from various religious quarters as being the work of the devil, yet still retains a highly-regarded critical status and remains surprisingly effective for even today's jaded audiences.

While perhaps The Exorcist the film needs little introduction, over 25 years after its initial theatrical release, this horror classic again courted controversy with the release of The Version You've Never Seen. Adding 11 minutes of new footage, updated effects and newly remastered picture and sound, the film was played once again to packed houses, already racking up nearly $100 million in profits worldwide.

With the release of the DVD of The Version You've Never Seen on December 26th, 2000, Warner Home Video invited DVDFILE to join Director William Friedkin for an open roundtable discussion on the revisiting of his modern masterpiece. As always, Friedkin was outspoken, refreshingly candid and always joyfully controversial. Read on...

» A chat with William Friedkin      
» Friedkin's "That's Bullshit!" rumor list      
» Examine the changes to 'The Exorcist'      
» 'The Exorcist' disc review