Quite Chilling....Quite Effective

Rating: Null/10 (13 June 2000)

Known more for its more lurid aspects such as a young Linda Blair vomiting green pea soup, spinning her head completely around, committing various acts of sacrilege and blasphemy, and spouting forth an incredible amount of graphic verbal vulgarity, The Exorcist is so much more than just those trademarks. It is a disturbing psychological essay on human nature when confronted with a crisis. It is a philosophical debate between evil and Religion. It is an indictment on the world of science and what it supposedly knows, and a supporter of the supernatural, not only in the world of demons but also in the world of Religion. It is above all a thinking picture fraught with visually nightmarish visions, strident and disturbing sounds, words and phrases, and ghastly contexts in which we the audience can examine our own beliefs both in the realm of the logical and the spiritual.
The film boasts so many strong points such as a well-developed script that allows us to know each of the characters with some degree of intimacy. We share in the pain of Ellen Burstyn and Jason Miller. The acting is first-rate. Blair is very effective as the demonic child. Mercedes McCambridge does an outstanding and incredibly eerie job voicing the demon. The real stars of the film are the two priests, played with dedication by both Max Von Sydow and Jason Miller. Miller is the real catalyst in the film. The music is superb; the sets and shooting of Georgetown add both class and familiarity to the film. Lee J. Cobb also does a real nice job playing a movie-loving cop. Despite the thinking elements in the film, the film is a shocker in many ways....bear that in mind as you sit down to watch.