A horror film?

Rating: Null/10 (24 November 2003)

This film miscategorized in the horror genre. The Exorcist (1973) is primarily about redemption, much like Return of the Jedi (1983) (ROTJ deals with a son's forgiveness for the sins of the father, whilst The Exorcist deals with a son forgiving himself.) However, unlike ROTJ, this film is a beautiful work of cinematography and acting, albeit it suffers from a plodding storyline filmed with seemingly irrelevant characters and misused special effects. The theme of Psychology is nicely reinforced with the near-subliminal superimposed demonic faces and imagery. Otherwise, the levitation, telekinesis and airborne bodily fluids, are absolutely unnecessary. It ends with much catharsis by generating more questions than it sets out to resolve, which can often be a wonderful springboard for discussion and analysis.
I watched this film alone in the dark at 11pm last night and did not receive so much as a shiver from it. I will concede that my sleep was disturbed by it later, though. This film cannot be the scariest of all time however, because of the existence of Seven and The Ring (or Ringu). Hell, even the almost B-movie, The Gift, had more shock value.
This is a fairly good film, critically, but I fail to see why it should hold up as a popular form of viewing entertainment.