cerebral, plausible, and compelling

Rating: 7/10 (15 September 2005)

There are certain scenes in "The Exorcist" that have a great power to them (the exorcism itself is a masterful set-piece) and others that are a bit shaky (including the drunk, unfunny director cracking Nazi jokes in the presence of a German butler); but overall, it is a film that mines genuine fear from a pervasive sense of vulnerability. In dealing with the possession of a young girl (Linda Blair) by an unseen, inexplicable force, we feel as if nothing is safe, therefore making the potential of horror that much greater. I suppose the story is probably the most familiar in the annals of horror at this point, but to recap: actress Chris MacNeil's (Ellen Burstyn) daughter, Regan (Blair) comes under the spell of a vile, vulgar demon (at one point implied to be the Devil itself), and when the most well-paid psychiatrists and doctors come up clueless, the Catholic ritual of exorcism is suggested. While the performances of Burstyn and Blair aren't revelatory (Chris often seems like an overly dramatic starlet in need of a Xanax, and Regan is confined to heavy make-up), the thread of plot dealing with Damien Karras (the Gabriel Byrne-ish Jason Miller), a priest who suffers the death of his mother and is afraid he's losing his faith, adds a believable, consequential depth to the tale--the visible doubt he conveys during the exorcism finale (alongside the brilliant Max von Sydow) makes the tension resonate on a higher level. "The Exorcist" is cerebral, plausible, and compelling...in my book, it may not be 'the scariest movie of all time,' but it unlocks an undeniably gripping fear.