Film Culture on Instagram: ""The Exorcist" director William Friedkin called Kaneto Shindo's 1964 film "Onibaba" the most terrifying movie he had ever seen, and stated that the demon's mask in "Onibaba" inspired the look of Pazuzu in "The Exorcist." Friedkin praised the film as a masterpiece of horror that achieved suspense without relying heavily on gore. He also saw the film's power in its combination of a realistic, unsettling scenario with a supernatural element. "Onibaba" (1964) is often cit