If This Is The Scariest Movie Ever Made, No Others Hold Any Terror For Me

The day before Halloween I finally watched The Exorcist for the first time. This was mostly a fairly major letdown after 51 years of buildup. I was already familiar with all of the scary parts including the ending via clips seen over the years or things said or written by others. The rest of the movie seemed slow and talky in a lot of places. As with many movies, certain things have to be explained by someone who has read the book. I guess it was well made, at any rate, it isn't some poorly constructed, thrown-together horror movie and it doesn't disappoint the audience by having a logical explanation, quite the opposite. It is well acted and artistically filmed. The shot of the priest arriving outside the house at night is instantly recognizable even by people who have never seen the movie, in fact, it was so quick I kind of expected it to last longer. Only one scene has the power to still shock and horrify after all these years, which I would term the crucifix scene (widely known by another and less appropriate name). If you know, you know. I heard of a couple of young female viewers who went into a theater to laugh off the movie and were stopped in their tracks by that scene, which is awful and leaves one wondering if the possessed girl suffered permanent physical damage. Due to violence and language the movie is not for kids. At the time it came out, kids were leaving the theater convinced they were possessed. I made a point of seeing the original version and not the revised scarier version. After hearing all the stories of the original audience members screaming, vomiting, fainting, rushing from the theater in a panic, sorry, I was let down and didn't find it that scary. I was much more frightened and traumatized by Stephen King's Creepshow when I saw that in the theater.