20 Movies That Prove That The 1970s Was The Best Decade For Film

9. The Exorcist

'Something beyond comprehension is happening to a little girl on this street, in this house. A man has been called for as a last resort to try and save her. That man is The Exorcist.' Jaws may have been the first blockbuster, but The Exorcist certainly set the ball in motion two years earlier in 1973. The Exorcist, like Jaws, was also base on a best-selling novel and made on a modest budget ($12m). It grossed over $400m at the box-office, launching director William Friedkin onto the A-list and creating a pop culture phenomenon. Let's face it, everything has parodied The Exorcist at some point. The film had a troubled shoot, with the tyrannical Friedkin doing his best to scare or piss off everyone that he could (he fired a gun next to Jason Miller's head and slapped a priest to get the right reactions for a scene). There have also in the years since been claims that the production was cursed, as an unusually high amount of people associated with the film died and other spooky things went one. The film was a hit with critics and audiences, amassing ten Academy Award nominations and becoming the first horror film to be directed for Best Picture (it lost to The Sting). The Exorcist, an expertly made film, is one of the scariest of all time and still has the power to frighten when watched today.