A Horrifying Experience

Rating: 9/10 (8 November 2010)

Up till now, I still rank The Exorcist as one of the most terrifying movies in cinematic history, even by today's standards. As the film blatantly implies, the movie is about an exorcist (two actually) and his heroic attempt in trying to save a girl under the influence of demonic possession.
From the opening credits superimposed on a black background with a subtly chilling score, to the eerie opening sequence of an archaeological dig in the Middle East, the films lets you know you are in for a disturbing experience. The movie cuts to Washington, to the suburbia home Chris Macneil, an actress and a divorced(Big Surprise!) mother, where some disturbances begin to occur. Soon she will be forced to realize that her 12 year old daughter Regan, has been possessed by an ancient evil.
She enlists the help of Father Karras, another disturbed soul who has his own demons to exorcise (figuratively this time) who in turn calls in famous exorcist Father Merrin, finely played by the legendary Max Von Sydow.
All the major characters put in superb performances. We share the frustrated agonies of Chris Macneil (Ellen Burstyn) as she tries to move earth and then heaven to save her daughter, first seeking medical help and eventually, resorting to a God she does not believe in. The acting of Jason Miller and Sydow was restrained but mainly because of the taciturn characters they both played. But that does not in anyway reduce the impact of their performance. Without saying anything, you can see the fears on Karras' face as he doubts his ability to save the girl.
But the true star in this movie was Linda Blair who played the possessed Regan. She played her character to the hilt. I do not believe there has been any other evil child character that has been portrayed more convincingly or more scarily.
The only drawback I can see in this film is the detective character played by Lee J. Cobbs. His character did not really advance the plot and seemed to drag the film a bit. But I think the director wanted to stick the film as faithfully as possible to the book. And he did. Willian Friedkin did a masterful job and paid attention to some minor details of the book such as the fighting dogs and the desecration of the statue of the Virgin Mary. I still believe that the Exorcist is his best movie and it was a good thing that the studio hired the Exorcist author to write the screenplay or otherwise we would have likely had a hatchet job.
37 years after this movie was made, it is still an entertaining chiller and epitomizes the eternal struggle (or if you must, the spiritual warfare) between good and evil.
The movie's success spawned two lousy sequels that nearly destroyed the legendary status of the original movie. I cannot believe that the great Richard Burton and the iconic James Earl Jones agreed to appear in Exorcist 2. It was a really horrible movie.
Much later, they tried to restore the franchise by making a prequel called The Exorcist: The Beginning. It was a valiant attempt but still does not hold a candle to the original.