Certification: 18 uncut
This film is based around a young girl who gets possessed by a demon and was submitted to the BBFC at the beginning of 1974. They considered that 'The Exorcist' was suitable for an X certificate to be issued without cuts. Although this created a massive problem in the UK when the film was released, it did extremely well at the box office. However this did not stop the local authorities from banning the film in their areas, which only added to the reputation of the film.
The BBFC decided to take another look at the film in 1979 to see whether some of the scenes involving the young actress, Linda Blair, might be vulnerable under the new 'Protection of Children Act (1978), which made the distribution of 'indecent' images of children illegal. This lead the film to continue its screening.
Before the 'Video Recording Act' In 1981, the film was released on video by Warner Home Video, as one of their first UK releases. Nevertheless when the 'Video Recording Act' was introduced in 1984, the film needed to gain a certificate for video release from the BBFC.
Although the film was rated 18, there was worry that since the protagonist of the film was aged 12 it may appeal to under aged viewers which caused the video to be removed from the shelves in 1988.
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