 Prior to the release of "The Exorcist" at the end of 1973, then-CARA president Aaron Stern took the unusual step of calling director William Friedkin to tell him that since it was an "important film", it would be rated R and could be released without any cuts.<ref name="Shock Value"></ref> The film drew huge crowds upon its release, many of whom vomited and/or fainted;<ref name="Klemesrud NYT article"></ref> a psychiatric journal would later document four cases of "cinematic neurosis" induced by the film.<ref></ref>

Among those patrons were many children, not always accompanied by adults.This left many commentators incredulous that the ratings board would have found that a film with disturbing scenes such as a possessed 12-year-old girl masturbating with a crucifix was acceptable for children to see.Roy Meacham, a Washington, D.C., critic who had praised the film while admonishing parents not to take their children to it, recalled those children he did see leaving showings "drained and drawn afterward; their eyes had a look I had never seen before."