VIDEO : IN `EXORCIST,' HORROR STILL STRONG.

Byline: Rob Lowman Daily News Entertainment Editor

Think vomited pea soup, a 360-degree head swivel by a foul-mouthed child, the tinkling sounds of Mike Oldfield's ``Tubular Bells'' and a devil of a time.

It must be ``The Exorcist.''

The landmark film, released Christmas Day 1973, upped the ante in Hollywood when it came to shock value and special effects.

This week, Warner Bros. released a 25th anniversary special edition video ($19.98) that includes a 30-minute documentary on the making of the film, offering some fascinating tidbits and a chance to reassess the blockbuster. The $10 million film took in $82 million, a huge success at the time, and it received 10 Oscar nominations (it won two - screenplay and sound).

In case you somehow missed it, ``The Exorcist'' is the story of 12-year-old Regan (Linda Blair), who begins to exhibit strange and violent behavior. Unable to find a cause, doctors and psychiatrists reluctantly suggest to her mother (Ellen Burstyn) that she seek religious help. She enlists the aid of a skeptical young priest, Father Karras (Jason Miller), who is having a crisis of faith. After seeing Regan, who now must be tied down, he petitions the church to perform an exorcism. The church agrees, and calls in an older, more experienced priest, Father Merrin (Max von Sydow), to perform the ritual with Karras assisting. And even though it's a 25-year-old movie, we won't give the ending away.

So, how does ``The Exorcist'' video stack up after all these years?

The shock value: Despite numerous imitators (``The Omen,'' etc.), slasher films, alien gore and foul-mouthed kids since, ``The Exorcist'' is still disconcerting. At one point in the movie, Merrin warns Karras that the devil will use psychological and emotional ploys to shake their faith. And that's exactly what still works in the film. For instance, the language used by Regan (voiced by Mercedes McCambridge as the Demon) is tame by today's standards, but coming from the apple-cheeked Blair, it makes your skin crawl.

The effects and stunts: What's most impressive about the effects is how good they still look and the fact that they were done long before computer-generated imaging. Oddly enough, one of the most impressive effects in which Regan spider-walks on her back down a flight of stairs was left out of the film because director William Friedkin and screenwriter William Blatty, who wrote the novel, couldn't figure out how to make it work dramatically. The scene is shown in the documentary that precedes the film on the video. The documentary also reveals how many of the effects and stunts were done, so watch the film first.

The documentary: When it deals with the making of the film, it's quite interesting, but there's a bit of silliness when they try to imply that the set may have been cursed.

The documentary also chronicles Friedkin's bizarre set behavior. In one scene, Burstyn goes flying across the room after being hit by the demonized Regan. To create the effect, they used a harnass to yank her backward off her feet. After a number of takes, Burstyn asked the director to take it a little easier, fearing that she would be injured. Friedkin agreed, but when Burstyn walked away, he told his assistant to really give it to her. The look you see on her face in the film when she is slammed onto the floor is not acting.

Friedkin also had a penchant for shooting off guns unexpectedly on the set to get the frightened reaction he wanted. Once, he fired a shotgun next to Miller's head. Friedkin's escapades also are chronicled in the book ``Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood'' by former Premiere senior editor Peter Biskind.

The film itself: ``The Exorcist'' still maintains much of its power, but a number of scenes are static or don't pay off. The shock value of the film made it easy to overlook its problems. Friedkin is much more comfortable with kinetic/action sequences than exposition. In the documentary, Friedkin intones that this is a ``film about the mystery of faith.''

No, Bill, it's a horror film that plays on people's faith for effect.

Friedkin and Blatty seem to have taken themselves far too seriously. Blatty had a best seller, and Friedkin, in his early 30s at the time, already had won an Academy Award as best director for ``The French Connection'' (1971), which featured a sublime Oscar-winning performance from Gene Hackman and a stunning car-chase sequence that still is unmatched.

``The Exorcist'' was his second smash hit. If anyone was cursed by the film, it was Friedkin, who has had a spotty career since. Nevertheless, his place in film history is assured. Both ``Connection'' and ``The Exorcist'' set new standards in Hollywood, and both of them - in their own way - are classics.

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Photo

Photo: A demon-possessed Linda Blair levitates again in the digitally restored ``The Exorcist -- 25th Anniversary Special Edition.''