After over forty years The Exorcist (1973) is still the most loved horror film of all time. The film was based on a book by William Peter Blatty who also developed the actual script. The concept for the story was based on a true event that took place in Cottage City, Maryland in 1949. A young boy's misbehavior lead his family to believe that he was possessed by a demon. They called in a Jesuit priest, William S. Bowdern, to perform an exorcism. Several story events were changed in writing the script mainly the boy was switched to a female who was a lot younger. The reception to the film was originally mixed, Rolling Stone Magazine stated that it's nothing more than religious porn. No one disputed that it was one of the scariest films produced in years. Over the years, The Exorcist has gained critical acclaim scoring an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes. The original release garnered a domestic box office take of $66.3 million coming in number 2 for the year but after subsequent reissues, it has amassed $441 million total worldwide gross.
[Gorehor.com](http://www.gorehor.com/) ran a series of polls last month tracking which horror films their twitter followers liked best. The site has a very loyal group of horror enthusiasts according to twitter provided analytics they have an audience with a 70% interest in horror movies. One of their first polls determined that the Lost Boys (1987) was the most loved Vampire film. After a series of polls, The Exorcist (1973) was awarded best Horror Film of all time. In the previous polling rounds, other winners included Halloween (1978), Saw (2004), and Evil Dead (1981). Gorehor runs a sister site that is dedicated to promoting independent horror film projects and shorts called [HorrorInterviews.com](http://www.horrorinterviews.com/).
The editor of GoreHor has this to say about the Horror Film community, We are continually amazed by how passionate the fan base is for the Horror Genre. It was no surprise to us that The Exorcist won as the fan favorite. Our interaction with the fan community taught us to judge horror films based on how scary they are." It's possible that the most misunderstood element of the Horror niche is that it's supposed to be scary first.
When The Exorcist was first released, the audience had a very intense reaction. There were reports of people fainting. No movie ever had as many people get up and leave during a screening. There might not be a single better test of how scary a film is perceived than the number of people walking out half way through a movie. Theater owners had smelling salts on hand to wake up people who might have passed out. It's tough to imagine the impact the film had at the time because moviegoers have become more accustomed to scary films.
