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The Exorcist (1973)
The Exorcist (1973) poster
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4.0

The Exorcist (1973)

Horror • 2h 2m

Overview

When a charming 12-year-old girl takes on the characteristics and voices of others, doctors say there is nothing they can do. As people begin to die, the girl's mother realizes her daughter has been possessed by the devil - and that her daughter's only possible hope lies with two priests and the ancient rite of demonic exorcism.

Best English-Friendly Release

WB 4K Blu-ray retains the revisionist colors with minor tweaks, has OG mono

Best Video Release

WB 4K Blu-ray retains the revisionist colors with minor tweaks, has OG mono

Best Audio Release

Theatrical: 1985 WB LaserDisc (mono). 1997 WB DVD has the 1979 70mm reissue remix.

Format

UHD Blu-ray

UHD Tiers

Solid
WB:

retains the revisionist colors with minor tweaks, has OG mono

TSPDT

2026: #255
2025: #270
2024: #270
2023: #285
2022: #285

Length

122 mins

Type

Movie

Alternative Titles

Exorcist, The Exorcist (Director's Cut)

Last Updated

a year ago

Contributors

Best English-Friendly Release

WB 4K Blu-ray retains the revisionist colors with minor tweaks, has OG mono

Best Video Release

WB 4K Blu-ray retains the revisionist colors with minor tweaks, has OG mono

Best Audio Release

Theatrical: 1985 WB LaserDisc (mono). 1997 WB DVD has the 1979 70mm reissue remix.

Format
UHD Blu-ray
UHD Tiers
Solid
WB:

retains the revisionist colors with minor tweaks, has OG mono

Featured Lists
TSPDT
2026: #255
2025: #270
2024: #270
2023: #285
2022: #285
Length
122 mins
Type
Movie
Alternative Titles
Exorcist, The Exorcist (Director's Cut)
Last Updated
a year ago
Contributors

Featured in National Film Registry

See more →
Strangers on a Train poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

WB Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1987 WB LaserDisc

Best English-Friendly:

WB Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1987 WB LaserDisc

Stop Making Sense poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

A24 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

A24 4K Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

A24 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

A24 4K Blu-ray

The Sting poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Universal 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1998 R1 Universal DVD

The Sting poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Universal 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1998 R1 Universal DVD

The Sound of Music poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Disney 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Disney 4K Atmos is great, a reference quality track. It's a very slight remix (music seems to be from a better source), but it's completely seamless and faithful to the original, better fidelity than anything since the 1994 30th Anniversary Edition LaserDisc.

All DVDs (and 2010 Blu-ray) sound far worse than the 4K Blu-ray/LaserDisc and have various missing sound cues.

Best English-Friendly:

Disney 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Disney 4K Atmos is great, a reference quality track. It's a very slight remix (music seems to be from a better source), but it's completely seamless and faithful to the original, better fidelity than anything since the 1994 30th Anniversary Edition LaserDisc.

All DVDs (and 2010 Blu-ray) sound far worse than the 4K Blu-ray/LaserDisc and have various missing sound cues.

Love Finds Andy Hardy poster
DVD
Best English-Friendly:

Warner Archive DVD

Upcoming Release:

Warner Archive Blu-ray in October

Best Video:

Warner Archive DVD

Best English-Friendly:

Warner Archive DVD

Upcoming Release:

Warner Archive Blu-ray in October

Best Video:

Warner Archive DVD

The Terminator poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

2013 MGM Blu-ray, or 4K Blu-ray if you MUST have the mono mix, 2001 MGM DVD for a purist version with original colors and the international mono mix

Upcoming Release:

Capelight 4K Steelbook and Mediabook announced for 2026

Best Video:

2013 MGM Blu-ray for non AI transfer, 2001 MGM DVD for a purist version with original colors and the international mono mix

Best Audio:

1991 Image Entertainment LaserDisc for the US mono mix, 2001 MGM DVD for the International mono mix

Comparison between the US and International mixes: https://vimeo.com/246332731

Additional Info:

The 4K Blu-Ray and the 2001 MGM DVD have exclusive extras.

The Terminator poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

2013 MGM Blu-ray, or 4K Blu-ray if you MUST have the mono mix, 2001 MGM DVD for a purist version with original colors and the international mono mix

Upcoming Release:

Capelight 4K Steelbook and Mediabook announced for 2026

Best Video:

2013 MGM Blu-ray for non AI transfer, 2001 MGM DVD for a purist version with original colors and the international mono mix

Best Audio:

1991 Image Entertainment LaserDisc for the US mono mix, 2001 MGM DVD for the International mono mix

Comparison between the US and International mixes: https://vimeo.com/246332731

Additional Info:

The 4K Blu-Ray and the 2001 MGM DVD have exclusive extras.

The Prisoner of Zenda poster
DVD
Best English-Friendly:

Warner Bros DVD

Best Video:

Warner Bros DVD

Additional Info:

New restoration is completed

Best English-Friendly:

Warner Bros DVD

Best Video:

Warner Bros DVD

Additional Info:

New restoration is completed

Some Like It Hot poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Capelight/Kino Lorber which has heavy noise reduction and opening snare hit is missing, Capelight is slightly better encoded than Kino Lorber

Best Audio:

1992 MGM LaserDisc [ML102699], but still a bit overly noise-managed.

1984 CBS/Fox Hi-Fi VHS maybe better?

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray > Capelight/Kino Lorber which has heavy noise reduction and opening snare hit is missing, Capelight is slightly better encoded than Kino Lorber

Best Audio:

1992 MGM LaserDisc [ML102699], but still a bit overly noise-managed.

1984 CBS/Fox Hi-Fi VHS maybe better?

Singin' in the Rain poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1991 MGM LaserDisc

Best English-Friendly:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Best Audio:

1991 MGM LaserDisc

The Silence of the Lambs poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray scheduled for October 2026 release

Best Audio:

1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Criterion Blu-ray has exclusive extras

Best English-Friendly:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray scheduled for October 2026 release

Best Audio:

1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Additional Info:

Criterion Blu-ray has exclusive extras

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To Live and Die in L.A. poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

 Arrow UK 4K Blu-ray (damage removed, improved color/HDR, and best audio) or Capelight DE 4K Blu-ray (best compression but no damage removal and LaserDisc audio from Arrow)

Best Video:

Arrow UK 4K Blu-ray >
Capelight DE 4K Blu-ray  Kino Lorber US Blu-ray, see caps

Arrow has done additional cleanup work removing nearly all the damage in the transfer. They have massaged the color timing and HDR to try and improve what they could. The Capelight may have better encoding but it does not have these improvements. The Arrow encoding is solid and in motion there are no issues whatsoever. The Kino release has the damage and other issues plus frequent noise due to the lesser encoding.

Some scenes in the Arrow transfer are better, some better in the Capelight.

Best Audio:

Original matrixed Dolby Stereo: Arrow  4K Blu-ray or Image Entertainment LaserDisc
(Arrow is a port of the LD track, see spectrograms) This track has the best fidelity of any release but does have some channel bleeding baked in. The 2017 2.0 on the Arrow and Shout BDs was the Dolby Stereo original mix without channel bleeding but that had heavy noise reduction resulting in a very flat and underwhelming presentation. The surround winds up being lessened as well due to the processing. It's a tough choice between the two but the Image LD audio wins out because it hasn't been messed with and the impact is so unrestrained that no other version hits in the same way.

Capelight and old Arrow BD included the original stereo mix, but with excessive noise reduction rendering it much less detailed. Kino only included a painfully defective 2.0 track sourced from somewhere with limited fidelity, volume spikes and screechy high end which frequently ruins the music. The 5.1 remix on most modern release is a processed version that does not sound as good as it once did.

The best and most accurate of the 5.1 mixes is the original version from the 2003 Special Edition DVD in lossy AC3 form.

Best English-Friendly:

 Arrow UK 4K Blu-ray (damage removed, improved color/HDR, and best audio) or Capelight DE 4K Blu-ray (best compression but no damage removal and LaserDisc audio from Arrow)

Best Video:

Arrow UK 4K Blu-ray >
Capelight DE 4K Blu-ray  Kino Lorber US Blu-ray, see caps

Arrow has done additional cleanup work removing nearly all the damage in the transfer. They have massaged the color timing and HDR to try and improve what they could. The Capelight may have better encoding but it does not have these improvements. The Arrow encoding is solid and in motion there are no issues whatsoever. The Kino release has the damage and other issues plus frequent noise due to the lesser encoding.

Some scenes in the Arrow transfer are better, some better in the Capelight.

Best Audio:

Original matrixed Dolby Stereo: Arrow  4K Blu-ray or Image Entertainment LaserDisc
(Arrow is a port of the LD track, see spectrograms) This track has the best fidelity of any release but does have some channel bleeding baked in. The 2017 2.0 on the Arrow and Shout BDs was the Dolby Stereo original mix without channel bleeding but that had heavy noise reduction resulting in a very flat and underwhelming presentation. The surround winds up being lessened as well due to the processing. It's a tough choice between the two but the Image LD audio wins out because it hasn't been messed with and the impact is so unrestrained that no other version hits in the same way.

Capelight and old Arrow BD included the original stereo mix, but with excessive noise reduction rendering it much less detailed. Kino only included a painfully defective 2.0 track sourced from somewhere with limited fidelity, volume spikes and screechy high end which frequently ruins the music. The 5.1 remix on most modern release is a processed version that does not sound as good as it once did.

The best and most accurate of the 5.1 mixes is the original version from the 2003 Special Edition DVD in lossy AC3 form.

The French Connection poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

2012 Fox remastered Blu-ray

Best Video:

Fox remastered Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Fox remastered Blu-ray mono track

Additional Info:

This disc defaults to a lossless 5.1 remix, however in the setup menu, the original mono mix is included as a lossy alternative for the first time since the dawn of home video. The film was given a stereo remix very early on and remained stuck that way for decades.

Best English-Friendly:

2012 Fox remastered Blu-ray

Best Video:

Fox remastered Blu-ray

Best Audio:

Fox remastered Blu-ray mono track

Additional Info:

This disc defaults to a lossless 5.1 remix, however in the setup menu, the original mono mix is included as a lossy alternative for the first time since the dawn of home video. The film was given a stereo remix very early on and remained stuck that way for decades.

Jade poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Jade poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Rampage poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Rampage poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

The Hunted poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray or Paramount Blu-ray

Best Video:

Both Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray and Paramount Blu-ray are problematic. One reel of the Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray looks inferior, and the Paramount Blu-ray has some edge enhancement. Pick your poison between the Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray or the Paramount Blu-ray? Maybe the Kino Lorber Blu-ray included in the 4K Blu-ray is better

Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray or Paramount Blu-ray

Best Video:

Both Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray and Paramount Blu-ray are problematic. One reel of the Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray looks inferior, and the Paramount Blu-ray has some edge enhancement. Pick your poison between the Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray or the Paramount Blu-ray? Maybe the Kino Lorber Blu-ray included in the 4K Blu-ray is better

Rules of Engagement poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray or France 4K Blu-ray for the extras?

Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray or France 4K Blu-ray for the extras?

Bug poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Bug poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Sorcerer poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray. See Chris's review

Sorcerer poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Criterion 4K Blu-ray. See Chris's review

Cruising poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Cruising poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Arrow 4K Blu-ray

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UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Wonka poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Friday poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

WB Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB Blu-ray

Friday poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

WB Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB Blu-ray

Dumb and Dumber poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

WB Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

WB Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB Blu-ray

Jewel Robbery poster
DVD
Best English-Friendly:

WB Forbidden Hollywood Collection: Volume 4 DVD

Upcoming Release:

Warner Archive Blu-ray in Oct

Best Video:

WB Forbidden Hollywood Collection: Volume 4 DVD

Best English-Friendly:

WB Forbidden Hollywood Collection: Volume 4 DVD

Upcoming Release:

Warner Archive Blu-ray in Oct

Best Video:

WB Forbidden Hollywood Collection: Volume 4 DVD

The Unbearable Lightness of Being poster
HD Streaming
Best English-Friendly:

HD Streaming on iTunes or WB DVD

Best Video:

HD Streaming on iTunes or WB DVD

Additional Info:

MGM DVD has a 5.1 remix

Best English-Friendly:

HD Streaming on iTunes or WB DVD

Best Video:

HD Streaming on iTunes or WB DVD

Additional Info:

MGM DVD has a 5.1 remix

Practical Magic poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Flipped poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

WB Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB Blu-ray

Flipped poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

WB Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB Blu-ray

Lust for Life poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

WB Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly:

WB Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB Blu-ray

Anchors Aweigh poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

WB Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB Blu-ray

Anchors Aweigh poster
1080p Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

WB Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB Blu-ray

War Dogs poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

War Dogs poster
UHD Blu-ray
Best English-Friendly:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray

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The Exorcist (1973) backdrop