Stands the test of time, and then some - almost all imitators pale in its presence

Rating: 10/10 (29 September 2000)

Alright, let's just be boring and say that The Exorcist is still f***ing chilling to the bone. Shots that William Friedkin designed from paintings (like the shot of Max von Sydow's Father coming to the house in silhouette and seeing the lone light beaming out from the bedroom window), and taking from some "based on a true story" stuff from writer William Peter Blatty that the director shoots like a documentary is what sells it for me, for us, for the world. It could be said, argued, that after years of parodies like in the 'Scary Movie' movies that the effect of seeing a little girl spewing green puke and rancid curses in the voice or 70 year old chain smoker Mercedes McCambridge isn't scary as it used to be.
But the (surprising) fun of the Exorcist, and the dread, is that Friedkin doesn't back down from taking this seriously, and with an intensity that is unshakable. The acting is so naturalistic, yet still the actors giving screen performances (and it's people like Ellen Burstyn and von Sydow and Lee J. Cobb, you can't go wrong there), and there is a bit of mythology too – in maybe the only slightly over-long sequence at the beginning where the older Father goes about old ruins in Iraq to find spooky things as they say, the devil's in the details. And this is still the film to beat when it comes to stories of demonic possession, by far.