What Are Little Girls Made From?

Rating: Null/10 (14 May 1999)

Allegedly the scariest film ever made, this head-turning, projectile-vomiting extravaganza had another outing in British cinemas to celebrate its 25th year. The story is very simple: in present-day Washington D. C. an 11-year-old girl is possessed by an entity that claims to be the devil himself. When her atheist mother exhausts all medical possibilities, she turns in desperation to a Jesuit priest.
The first thing that ages in films is the special effects, but in this example some have aged faster than others. The sight of the girl, Regan, being thrown around her bed by invisible forces made some other people in the audience laugh, but the make-up effects, such as the afore-mentioned projectile vomiting and a genuinely shocking scene involving a crucifix, are as fresh now as they were then. The film is also too long, with endless shots of nothing happening deflating the tension that has been built up so painstakingly. The direction itself is assured to the degree of virtuosity (Friedkin had just won an Oscar), and the script is true to its source novel, since the same person wrote them. The finest performance of the film comes from Miller, brilliant as the anguished priest of faltering faith who finds new purpose in saving the soul of the young girl. Blair is also impressive, although the "Voice of the Demon" is provided by one Mercedes McCambridge, having to act in such an entirely evil way would certainly have an effect on an ordinary prepubescent, but she handles it all with enormous talent, properly earning her Oscar nomination.
On the whole though, the whole thing is somewhat unsatisfactory. I didn't find it at all scary, though occasionally thrilling, but my fatal error was reading up about the film before seeing it, as knowing the intricacies of how the subtexts and directorial tricks all work detracted from the film itself. Just as films are supposed to desensitise people to violence, I was desensitised to this film's intelligence, thought, shocks and originality.