The Exorcist Returns

After nearly 15 years of being unavailable on video, the British Board Of Film Classification has finally granted The Exorcist an 18 certificate - with no cuts. The release comes after Andreas Whittham Smith, the launch editor of The Independent newspaper, took over the classification hotseat from the outgoing BBFC head James Ferman. Since the 1984 Video Recordings Act there existed a tacit agreement between the film's distributor Warner Bros and Ferman that the film would not be re-submitted for BBFC video classification. Although the film was never officially "banned", it was understood that if re-submitted it would be. The movie was originally suppressed owing to a number of supposed cases of hysteria among young women on the film's original release as well as worries that the film may cause severe emotional problems among those who believed in the reality of demonic possession. "It must be acknowledged that there is little hard evidence known to the BBFC that The Exorcist, in its video form, caused actual harm to viewers," admitted Whittham Smith. "The recent re-release of the film version by Warner Bros has been accompanied by none of the hysteria or audience disturbance which occurred in the 1970s." Speaking at the Empire Awards where he received the Movie Masterpiece Award, the film's director William Friedkin said: "I can totally understand the reason behind banning it. I am against censorship, but I understand the reasoning behind the desire to keep it from under age children. "The only difference to me, though, was that I always thought it should be the choice of the parent to not have it in the house for the child to see. The censor here was saying that the British public was incapable of making that determination for themselves and that they needed some sort of high potentate to decide what was suitable and what was not. And it's very clear that it's the parents' decision or choice. I'm not recommending that anyone run it for anyone under 16 years of age." Whittham Smith said that part of the reason that the video had finally been classified was that the BBFC must also, "apply the requirements of Article 10 of the European Convention Of Human Rights". These force the board and other public bodies to preserve freedom of expression. More controversially, Whittham Smith justified his decision to pass the film because, "while it is still a powerful and compelling work, it no longer has the same impact as it did 25 years ago." Given that on its re-release the film rocketed to number one at the UK box office and made over