"I'm telling you that 'thing' upstairs isn't my daughter." When sinister facial expressions and subtle storytelling are not enough, ain't nothing wrong with some head-spinning, green-spewing, levitating fun. Linda Blair portrayed the possessed 12 year old; first as the innocent little girl who has a game with a ouija board, then developing into, well, the devil himself. Maybe. The film may suffer from the odd moment of unintentionally humorous bad dubbing, but as a whole, it's still pretty intense. Like The Bad Seed, the real horror lies not in being a victim of a murderous child, but in being one of her parents. Regan's mother Chris (Ellen Burstyn) is stuck with the prospect of a demon for her daughter and nobody who can offer her any help or even a rational explanation. Linda Blair was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar; unfortunately it emerged that between Mercedes McCambridge providing the demonic voice, and Eileen Dietz acting as a stunt double for the more violent and icky scenes, Linda's contribution was questionable. However, she did manage to startle Max von Sydow with her depraved lines while shooting the exorcism scenes, so all was not lost. It's not subtle, but it is one of the best horror films ever made, and Regan (and pals) created not only the scariest child in the movies, but quite possibly the scariest single character of all time. Wowser!