In 1973 The Exorcist first appeared in theaters. Unlike anything else at the time, the movie shocked, offended and terrified audiences. The film was a massive success, both artistically and commercially, and earned two Academy Awards. Yet, almost fifteen minutes of footage had been deleted from the movie. This deleted footage became legendary, contributing to the movie's mystique even more. Now twenty-seven years later this missing footage has been restored, in The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen Before.

The story remains the same: twelve-year-old Regan becomes possessed by a demonic force, and the Exorcist-Father Merrin (played by Max Von Sydow) is called into save her. Assisting him is Father Damien Kerras, who is currently undergoing a crisis of faith brought on by the death of his mother. Then things go horribly wrong: during the exorcism Father Merrin dies of a heart failure, and Kerras must face the demon on his own.

This version of the movie follows more closely William Peter Blatty's novel from which the book was based. Many of the deleted scenes Blatty wanted to keep, yet director William Friedkin insisted that they be cut. Chief among the scenes was the final one, in which Father Dyer and Inspector Linneman discuss what has just happened. It wraps the movie up and lets the viewer know that good has indeed triumphed over evil, despite the cost. It was for this reason that Friedkin had the scene cut: he wished to leave audiences hanging.

Also among the restored footage is the infamous "spider walk" scene. In it, demon possessed Regan, played by Linda Blair, contorts over and crawls down the steps like a spider. Once she gets to the bottom, she opens her mouth and spits blood. It's freaky, and the audience didn't say a word after they saw it. Despite its horrifying nature, the scene was deleted because the effect didn't look convincing enough; you could clearly see the wires Blair was suspended from. Yet, thanks to digital technology, the producers were able to re-master the scene so the wires couldn't be seen, and thus the scene was restored.

So does all this added footage enhance the movie? In the case of the ending and the spider walk scene, yes. The rest of it is mostly exposition; certain scenes make more sense with the new footage. A good example of this is a particular scene in which Regan's mother takes her to the doctor to see what ails her, and it is here that she begins manifesting signs of the possession. This part was cut from the original. In my opinion, one could watch the movie without the new scenes and still enjoy it.

The producers also have added background music to scenes, which was absent from the original. I'm not sure if it was deleted from the original, or merely added later; yet this does enhance certain scenes a little, but, again, if it wasn't there, nothing would be lost.