From a Washington Post books column by Louis Bayard headlined “Rereading ‘The Exorcist’ in an age of new demons”:

When I was a kid, my parents, bless their memories, let me watch pretty much any R-rated movie that traveled through Springfield, Va. I was present for the first runs of “Catch-22,” “The Godfather,” “Serpico,” “Cabaret,” “Chinatown,” “The Last Detail.” Where my parents drew the line, for reasons I am still excavating, was “The Exorcist,” but I think I was already drawing that line myself.