Still one of the best horror movies ever.

Rating: Null/10 (29 December 2010)

Rating: **** out of 4.
THE EXORCIST is still one of the best horror movies ever made, not because it's still "The Scariest Movie Ever" made as its now famous tagline suggests, but because it expresses the horror not present in most genre efforts today. Horror nowadays is misinterpreted as mere shock and scares, but some of the best horror movies out there are really about far greater horrors: The horrors of life, be it guilt, grief, or the simple study of fear.
Despite the film's success, its director William Friedkin felt that the movie was misunderstood because he didn't really intend the movie to be an outright horror outing. He wanted to make a movie about faith; about the belief not just in God and The Devil but in what good and evil really is. Today, more open-minded moviegoers will look at the film as much more than a scare show or as a movie that turned pea soup into the most disgusting and horrifying special effect ever. Many will audiences will focus more on the story of its lead characters than its roller-coaster ride of gruesome special effects (although that was one of the reasons why the movie was memorable). The story of Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn, in an exceptional performance) in trying to restore her faith when her daughter Regan (Linda Blair, in the role that made her a star) goes out of the ordinary in her behaviour. Doctors throw in their theories of mental illness while a priest named Damien Karras (Jason Miller) believes that the Devil is within her.
This is an even more intriguing film about the battle between good and evil and about faith in both than it is an outright horror movie. The performances are terrific, especially by Max von Sydow who only appears briefly on screen but is able to show his importance to the story. The creepy voice provided by Mercedes McCambridge (which was probably the one that got the Oscar's attention, but in the end actress Linda Blair got the nomination for her "physical" performance of Regan) is memorable. Even some the film's shock effects have more potent power than the usual shock-for-shock-sakes moments in most recent horror movies. Now THIS is how horror movies are done.