Parents Guide for
The Exorcist (1973) More at IMDbPro »

Sex and Nudity: 6

We see the possessed 12-year-old girl violently and repeatedly stick a cross into her crotch in a masturbatory fashion (we do not see the actual penetration but do see a lot of blood afterwards).

She then pushes a woman's face down to her crotch.

Some sexual innuendo and several instances of very explicit, obscene and often religiously profane sexual invitations and other utterances spoken by the possessed 12-year-old girl.

A religious statue has what look like bloody horns sticking out of the chest and crotch areas.

Some cleavage, and during a medical examination the top of a girl's bare breasts are visible.

A homicide detective invites a priest to be his guest at a feature film, lamenting that his wife doesn't like to talk films. The priests asks about the film, and through his answer the detective reveals he knows nothing about it. The priest declines the invitation and suggests the detective try the Dominicans. As he is leaving, the detective reminds the priest that he could be deported.

Violence & Gore: 8

There are many very intense and scary scenes: the possessed 12-year-old girl's face becomes increasingly pale and streaked with bloody lacerations, and her eyes begin to redden and sometimes roll back (in a later scene we realize that her whole body has been affected); her voice becomes very low and scratchy, she develops a large lump in her throat and makes eerie sounds.

During one scene she goes down a flight of stairs backwards -- she looks like a giant spider.

During other scenes she is violently thrown back and forth on her bed; she levitates; her head spins all the way around; she spits yellow phlegm at a man; blood comes out of her mouth; she vomits green goo, projecting it on several bystanders and covering their faces; she urinates in public (we see urine trickle to the floor); and, the words "Help Me" appear on her body (presumably from the real person trapped within).

A bloody gash appears on her leg when she's sprinkled with holy water.

Strange noises and demonic-looking or monstrous faces are evident in a few scenes, and household furnishings become animated: candles flare up, pictures fall off walls, a bed starts to shake vigorously.

A room shakes and walls and doors crack and split, the temperature drops suddenly, and stuff flies around by itself.

In one scene furniture flies toward a woman.

The possessed 12-year-old girl attacks several people: she hits or slaps several, grabs a man by the crotch and pushes him down; a man grabs her, throws her down, punches her several times and tries to choke her.

A man commits suicide by jumping out of a window and tumbling down several steps.

A person gets an injection, blood is drawn for testing and a catheter is inserted on a person's neck (some blood is evident).

Several dogs are shown fighting each other.

Two men get into a scuffle and have to be separated.

We are told that a man died when he was pushed down some steps and that his head was turned backwards.

We see a dead body, and a pool blood next to a body.

Profanity: 10

13 F-words and F-word derivatives. 14 in the regular version

Several of which are used as raw sexual invitations and are uttered by the possessed 12-year-old girl.

A few scatological and anatomical terms. 2 uses of c-nt. 3 in the director's cut.

Several religious exclamations and many very explicit religious profanities

Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: 5

At the beginning, some people are drinking what could be alcoholic, but we don't know what it is.

There are adults socially drinking at a dinner party.

The mother is shown drinking alcohol to cope with the situation.

The mother smokes cigarettes, as does a priest.

In one scene, a visibly intoxicated man is shown.

A 12 year old child is injected with sedatives against her will.

A reference to marijuana.

A 12 year old child is injected in the neck with contrast fluid during a hostpital procedure.

The drugs Ritalin and Thorazine are referenced.

Two priests share a drink from a bottle stolen from another priest.

A priest takes pills he carries in a pill case. It is heart medicine.

Frightening/Intense Scenes: 10

STRICTLY NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PEOPLE LESS THAN 18 AND FAINT HEARTED.

This is agreed one of the scariest movies ever made.

The crucifix scene is extremely disturbing.

The arteriogram scene is tough to watch

The demon in Regan's body has a VERY eerie voice.

After Regan was possessed by Pazuzu, her face became EXTREMELY scary, her face became more and more scary as the movie progresses.

The face of the demon (Eileen Dietz) appears very quickly, almost subliminally in a few scenes. His face is pale white with redish eyes and pointy yellow teeth. Very disturbing. May scare some viewers.

The exorcism scene near the ending is VERY disturbing.

The ending scene of the exorcism is the SCARIEST scene in the movie.

Total explicit content: 36/50, not recommended for people under 18 or anyone offended by vulgar language or easily disturbed!