Warner Bros Pictures will release a new version of The Exorcist in North America on Sept 22. Entitled The Exorcist - The Version You've Never Seen, it will include more than one reel of long-rumoured footage which was omitted from the film's original release in 1973.

The film's director William Friedkin has restored the reel and the new version also incorporates a digitally remastered and remixed soundtrack with new sound effects, atmospheric sounds and music. The original mono soundtrack has been transformed into six-track surround sound.

Friedkin recently showed the restored version to screenwriter William Peter Blatty, who also wrote the novel on which the film was based. "This is the version Bill Blatty always believed in," said Friedkin, "and it's taken me 26 years to see why and finally agree with him. The restored footage not only deepens the spiritual foundation of the film, but adds some truly terrifying moments as well."

The new version will open initially in eight major US markets.