The Ninth Configuration cover art

The Ninth Configuration Details

1981 Certificate 15
  • Rated:
  • 60
  • from 625 members

A secret government center for high-ranking officials who have had mental breakdowns is the location of this unsettling drama about a brilliant, unorthodox psychiatrist who turns out to be crazier than his patients. William Peter Blatty won the Golden Globe in 1980 for Best Motion Picture Screenplay. Read more

Starring Stacy Keach, Scott Wilson, Jason Miller, Ed Flanders
Director William Peter Blatty
Genres Drama

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The Ninth Configuration cover art

The Ninth Configuration

A secret government center for high-ranking officials who have had mental breakdowns is the location of this unsettling drama about a brilliant, unorthodox psychiatrist who turns out to be crazier than his patients. William Peter Blatty won the Golden Globe in 1980 for Best Motion Picture Screenplay.

Starring Stacy Keach, Scott Wilson, Jason Miller, Ed Flanders
Director William Peter Blatty
Studio BLUE DOLPHIN FILM AND VIDEO
Run time DVD: 1 hr 55 mins
Certificate Certificate 15
Genres Drama
Language DVD: English
Released DVD: 18 Aug 2003
Production year: 1981
Format DVD

  • Critics' reviews (5) of The Ninth Configuration

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  • 3 stars out of 5

    Produced, directed and scripted (from his own 1960s novel Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer Kane) by Exorcist creator William Peter Blatty, this surreal exercise in Freudian vaudeville stars Stacy Keach as a psychiatrist who provides radical therapy to possibly insane military veterans in a remote gothic mansion. Of course, Keach has a gruesome secret and is going through his own apocalyptic catharsis. At times absolutely bewildering (the title refers to a speech about God and molecular structure), at others completely gripping and harrowing, this overly literate and obtuse thriller (which won Blatty a Golden Globe award for his screenplay) has become the thinking man's cult classic. You'll either love it and praise its meaningful symbolism, or hate it for being a pretentious and shallow endurance test.

    • Radio Times
    • Posted 29 Jan 2006

  • "...This final cut includes much comic dialogue variously absent from other versions....And notably adds a haunting pre-credits overture..."

    • Sight and Sound
    • Posted 11 Mar 2005

  • Most helpful member's review of The Ninth Configuration

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  • 9 out of 9 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 3 stars

    A Curate's Egg

    This was another recommendation via Mark Kermode, which makes me think I should consider getting a life. Though it is good, it is hardly as great as Kermode makes out. It's uneven lurching from farce and frivolity to supernatural melodrama is somewhat discomfiting. Also, make sure you watch the extras after the film, as they will spoil the anticipation of most of the best bits.

      • Peter from Oxford
      • Posted 14 Apr 2006 19:33

  • Most recent members' review of The Ninth Configuration

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  • 2 out of 2 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 3 stars

    Odd...

    Very bizarre but generally a good watch.

      • A customer from East Yorkshire, GB
      • Posted 22 Sep 2007 20:57

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Rating breakdown

625 Member ratings
  • 100
62
  • 90
43
  • 80
98
  • 70
95
  • 60
108
  • 50
61
  • 40
45
  • 30
35
  • 20
47
  • 10
31

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    • The Ninth Configuration

    • The Ninth Configuration
      A secret government center for high-ranking officials who have had mental breakdowns is the location of this unsettling drama about a brilliant, unorthodox psychiatrist who turns out to be crazier than his patients. William Peter Blatty won the Golden Globe in 1980 for Best Motion Picture ...