571. The Exorcist (1973)

Running Time: 122 minutes
Directed By: William Friedkin
Written By: William Peter Blatty, from his novel
Main Cast: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, Jason Miller, Lee J. Cobb
Click here to view the trailer

FRIGHTFEST 2011: 5 of 5

Well it's officially Halloween and with this review we'll cap off the past few weeks, which have been filled with thrills and chills, with "The Exorcist". Before I get into the review, I just want to make it clear that in viewing "The Exorcist" I DID watch the original cut of the film and not "The Version You've Never Seen". Now then...

Chris MacNeil (Brustyn) and her daughter Regan (Blair) have taken residence in Georgetown, while Chris, an actress, films a movie. The characters are established early, as is the relationship between the mother and daughter - a tight knit one. It isn't long, however, before the shit really hits the fan and Regan begins to appear to be sick. At first, she just develops odd behavior, being very free with her curse words and peeing on the dining room floor, during one of her mother's swanky dinner parties. Regan is put through a battery of tests, when the doctors suspect that she has some type of rare liaison on her brain. When all the tests come back negative, the doctors are baffled, and so is Chris, whom has now witnessed even stranger behavior, such as violent convulsions from Regan and an occasion where her entire bed physically shook. Meanwhile, Father Damien Karras is questioning his faith to the Catholic church and his mother's death doesn't help matters. When Regan's doctors tell Chris that her daughter may be possessed, Chris MacNeil turns to Father Karras.

I had only ever seen "The Exorcist" on one other occasion, prior to my viewing last night. I can remember being in middle school and hearing some of my fellow classmates talking about "The Exorcist" and saying how great it was. When I was a kid, I was always a little leery of horror pictures, because when I was an even younger kid, I watched things like "Child's Play" and certain Stephen King films and had a hard time sleeping for a few nights. I had always opted to steer clear of "The Exorcist" when I was a kid and even when I became a teenager and outgrew my fear of horror pictures, the desire to finally see it, simply never came. When I got married, my wife finally convinced me to sit down and watch it and I was surprised at how out of proportion I blew things in my own mind. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had heard or maybe I was just an adult now and fearing more real life things, like if me and my wife would make the next month's rent.

However, I'll admit it - last night the movie did get to me...just a little. It's not really that it scared me or anything, it was more disturbing than anything. And even to say that it disturbed me is a little too much, but there was just something there that was too unappealing for my tastes. The film itself is actually quite good. It gives us a fairly basic story and gives it time to unfold. "The Exorcist" doesn't use a lot of gore to get it's points across, but rather, uses interesting situations, strong language and when gore is used, it's used to it's fullest potential. The audience is shown things, that up until that point it had never seen and it's shown things probably far worse than any audience could even begin to conjure up in their imaginations. It takes a setting, as innocent as an obedient, little girl's room and turns it into a living hell on Earth. It treats everything as if it were 100% real and nothing that is ever happening in this film, is (even in the slightest) made to look like a phony situation. Another thing, in my opinion, that makes "The Exorcist" even more powerful, is it's inclusion of some superstar actors. You have Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb and Ellen Burstyn, three caliber actors whom you wouldn't and still today don't, normally see in horror pictures. Those, in my opinion, are the reasons why "The Exorcist" works.

I love how so many aspects of "The Exorcist" feel like a battle. You have the obvious battle between good and evil. You have, at one point, a sort of battle between science and religion. You have Father Karras battling his own, personal demons and trying to cope with his mother's death and his lost faith. There are so many scenes and situations of conflict that, when coupled with the extreme scenes of grotesqueness, it's not difficult for the film to put you into a state of unease. The scene where Father Karras and Father Merrin enter Regan's room and come face to face with Regan, is probably the closest we've ever seen, in film, to a battle between God and the Devil (unless I'm forgetting something, which is quite likely). The whole scene seemed to echo a battle scene to me. It was a fight for a soul, in my eyes. It was these two men of God taking on this demon and this demon is personified by a twelve year old girl. When the two men are stating over and over, "The power of Christ compels you!", it's like the scene in the battle where the swords are clanging and the score is raging and it just overpowers you with intensity.

Now, back to why it disturbed me. Honestly, it's hard for me to put that into words. The film put me in such a state of uneasiness (as far as watching films goes), that it almost began to turn me off, at times. In the end, I'm still able to admit all the positives about "The Exorcist", but no matter what the rating it gets, it's probably not something that I'd ever include on a TOP 20 list or anything. It's just not something that I could ever even consider a favorite, because it's not something that I'd want to watch that often.

The only bad thing that I feel I should mention is the opening. After watching the film and thinking back over it, I thought of the boring opening scene (set in Iraq) and wondered why it was necessary. THE BOOK makes note that the scene is baffling for those who haven't read the book and that really got me to wondering why they'd even include it in the first place. There were probably a thousand better ways to introduce and establish the character of Father Merrin and exclude that opening. Especially when you have a film that has garnered such a reputation as being so SCARY, you know your audience isn't going to want to waste any time getting into the meat and potatoes of the whole affair, so it made it doubly boring.

The bottom line is that "The Exorcist" will more than likely give you, at least, a little bit of a fright. I know you'll get the macho film-goer who will never admit to it, but I'm sure that everyone who sees this movie will be thinking about it well after they've left their seat. It's technically great, but in the end I can't say that it's a favorite of mine or that it ever will be. It's something that I wouldn't want to watch again for quite a while, despite the fact that it is really good, has great characters, situations, scenes and acting.

RATING: 7.5/10 That's a rating that mixes my hesitations about the film, with the technical brilliance. I hope I hit all the points I wanted to hit - I know, it was a long review.

MOVIES WATCHED: 342
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 659

October 31, 2011 5:48pm
HAPPY HALLOWEEN