The Independent Recommends: Film

IN THE COLD light of day, and with two decades' worth of imitations under our belts, the head-swivellings and projectile vomitings of The Exorcist (left) might not look quite so appalling as they did to those brave enough to keep their eyes open at the late-night show back in 1973. What has retained the power to haunt, however, is the unforgettable Devil's voice emanating from Linda Blair's throat, provided by the uncredited Mercedes McCambridge, best remembered on screen as the harpie who terrorises Janet Leigh in the motel in Touch of Evil.

On general release.

Fritz Lang's epic 1924 silent film of The Nibelungen Saga, gave the cinema its first superhero in the form of Aryan hunk Siegfried (Paul Richter), who slays the dragon Fafnir and wins the hand of the princess Kriemhild, only to invoke the murderous jealousy of Brunnhild, Queen of Isenland. Lang's flair for pageantry, costumes and striking design found a fan in Josef Goebbels, who later tried to persuade the director to run the Nazi film industry - prompting Lang to leave the country the next day.

Museum of the Moving Image, London SE1 (0171-928 3232) 7.30pm