The Exorcist (1973)

Director William Friedkin was a hot ticket in Hollywood after the success of The French Connection, and he turned heads (in more ways than one) when he decided to make The Exorcist as his follow-up film. Adapted by William Peter Blatty from his controversial bestseller, this shocking 1973 thriller set an intense and often-copied milestone for screen terror with its unflinching depiction of a young girl (Linda Blair) who is possessed by an evil spirit. Jason Miller and Max von Sydow are perfectly cast as the priests who risk their sanity and their lives to administer the rites of demonic exorcism, and Ellen Burstyn plays Blair's mother, who can only stand by in horror as her daughter's body is wracked by satanic disfiguration. One of the most frightening films ever made with a soundtrack that's guaranteed to curl your blood, The Exorcist was mysteriously plagued by troubles during production, and the years have not diminished its capacity to disturb even the most stoical viewers. Don't say you weren't warned! --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com essential video

One of the best horror fims of all time.

Like many of you out there I grew up in a large Catholic family.
And I, like many of you had older siblings who were only too happy to show me this when I was nine or ten years old.
LOL.
I still have nightmares. I'm kidding, but at the age of ten, it left an impression.
The movie itself?
Brilliant, shocking, it's withstood the test of time and deserves its place in Hollyweird history.
The shocking element is also its biggest downfall.
Between the spinning head and the projectile pea soup, it's just way too unrealistic.
I also reviewed The Exorcism of Emily Rose.
My opinion, Emily is better, it's a thinking persons Exorcist.
It's a fresh take on a subject that will please fans of the original Exorcist and our jaded, desensitized younger crowd.
The Exorcist will always have a place in Hollyweird history, even when Emily has been long forgotten.
A must see, maybe not a must own since the subject matter is kind of iffy with a lot of folks.
Use more discretion than my older siblings had at the time.
Not for kids, period.
June 18, 2008

Thrills

All time great thriller. I can watch over and over and still get goosebumps. One thing, did not like the actress who played the mother, they could have got someone better. Max Von Sydow a favorite of mine. See him in "The Night Visitor". The locations in Exorcist are great. Maybe silly but would like to visit the house. This movie a milestone for others to try and copy aspects of it. Never will go out of date. June 18, 2008

Longer, but not better

The Exorcist - The Version You've Never Seen is also the version you probably shouldn't have, adding almost nothing to a fine original but running time, some clumsy additional `subliminal' images digitally grafted on with all the subtlety of a 1980s New Romantic music video and a poor new sound mix that adds music cues and sound effects far less effective than the original mix. Most of the restored footage is taken up by an extended additional medical tests sequence that feels a little out of place since Regan hasn't been acting particularly oddly at that point in the film, as well as the odd bit of padding in the run-up to the exorcism and a redundant scene of Karras listening to a tape recording of a pre-possession Regan. Worst of the new additions by far is the infamous spider walk, a scene abandoned during shooting and here accounting for two rather laughable shots that take the film too far too soon. Other additions are somewhat more esoteric - a brief pretitle shot of the Georgetown house and street, Father Dyer keeping the St Christopher at the end after Chris hands it back and the disastrous addition of a screeching airplane sound effect in the segue from Iraq to Georgetown that makes you think Pazuzu must have travelled to Washington by Pan-Am (although this does echo Lalo Schifrin's far more effective rejected scoring for the sequence).

What's most curious is what's still missing: despite including the weak Hollywood ending with Kinderman and Father Dyer, the exchange with Chris over whether she still doesn't believe in God is gone. The big bone of contention between Blatty and Friedkin, the idea that if you believe in the Devil because of all the terrible things that happen, you must also believe in a God even if he, unlike the horned one, doesn't advertise, seems the only justification for extending the section at all, but as if to spite the writer it's still pointedly removed. Only the brief discussion about the Devil's motives for possessing Regan in a break in the exorcism feels like it adds any substance to the proceedings (although it could be said the possession is more disturbingly arbitrary if left unexplained), the rest being motivated purely by the need for a marketing hook to secure a US reissue.

The end result is a film that feels much longer and slower but still eventually grips. Aside from the overlength, the strengths and weaknesses are much the same: the at times almost documentary style of film-making grounds the events in a recognisable real world, the shock effects are fairly sparingly used and only after a long build-up, the characters well-drawn and their despair convincing: the real horror in the film doesn't reside in its special effects or horrific set pieces, but in a mother's anguish over being powerless to help her child.

Few extras, but the widescreen transfer is good. April 21, 2008

...and an Earthquake too?

To coincide with the re-release of this movie on DVD with all the extras, and the now-famous "Spider-Walk" scene, The Exorcist was shown again in movie theaters at the time. My Wife and Son and I were treated to an interesting experience during the movie; AN EARTHQUAKE! It was not a major one, but that along with the movie being as scary as it was, almost half the people in the theater walked out, and you could hear some of them saying things like "I can't handle this", "this is too much", "I'm gonna have a heart attack". I must admit it was a bit overwhelming, but I felt like I got my money's worth even if the Earthquake was not a special effect dreamt up by the theater or the producers of the film. (i.e. the vibrating seats during "The Tingler").
WHAT A RIDE!!! The only thing that would have made this movie scarier is if Alfred Hitchcock had directed it. I recently read that he was more than a little interested, and even tried to secure the rights to it. Who could've handled a film that scary? Not Me. April 13, 2008

Let Jesus [....] you.

Why has The Exorcist become one of the most well known, influential, and important horror films of all time? I'll tell you why......because it had a very healthy budget and pushed the envelope. Two things that usually don't co-exist together in film. When The Exorcist was screened in the seventies people were literally throwing up at the theatre. How many films can you say that about that come out now? None! Coincidence? I think not! People in the film business now have this notion that you cant be professional and have extreme elements at the same time, and that's exactly the problem. Nobody will finance films like this anymore, that's why the 70's kicked a** and why horror films stink now. The Exorcist is disturbing, evil, dark, extreme, and professional. It's everything a horror film should be, and nothing like the films made nowadays. The main theme here is good vs. evil, and even if you dont normally have any religous beliefs......you will while watching The Exorcist. March 2, 2008

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