This film contains one of the best creepy-sequence-followed-by-a-shock scenes ever made, some good performances and an often effective atmosphere. However it's also heavily compromised by studio meddling that forced Blatty to make cuts to the movie and insert more explicit call-backs to the original film. The major problems I have with the film: uneven pacing, scenes which don't make sense, a cheesy exorcism and the unnecessary switching back-and-forth of Brad Dourif and Jason Miller to play the same part are products of this interference, and I hope that a director's cut can be released at some point.

It's still a lot better than the insultingly bad Exorcist II, the events of which are ignored, although this film is actually careful not to outright contradict it.

Some brilliantly terrifying moments, I really wish it wasn't so frustratingly uneven.

Its kind of a mess, but its a fascinating mess. Won't deny that it's a very atmospheric movie with some memorable scares. Worth watching at least once in my opinion.