"Look What Your C-nting Daughter Did!"

Rating: 9/10 (18 March 2017)

"The Exorcist" stands in the most hallowed of halls when it comes to horror, having been voted as the scariest movie of all time by the most fans. I envy those who find this film so remarkably frightening, as it really doesn't strike me as particularly scary - unsettling at times, but not scary. The Exorcist truly is a powerful movie experience, filled with several of the most shocking scenes to ever appear on film. I was surprised that so many of the more controversial aspects of the story actually made it from novel to screen, especially in the original 1973 incarnation of the film. It's really impossible for me to say which is better, the film or the novel. There are several subplots and very significant details in the novel that did not make it to the big screen, and a few little things in the movie are hard to interpret outside the context of the novel. Among the most disturbing images in this film are those of the medical tests Regan undergoes after the onset of her problems. I find it much easier to watch the most graphic scenes wherein the demon within Regan attacks her and those around her, although Regan's appearance is shockingly horrible in the later stages of her possession. The demonic manifestations and exorcism are done extremely well in the movie; Friedkin did a much more powerful and convincing job than my own imagination in terms of showing the demonic manifestations. The movie adds several things to the exorcism itself that do not appear in the novel and, by and large, gives the exorcism itself more prevalence than Blatty himself did, yet it also manages to capture and express quite well the inner struggle and soul-rending doubts and fears of Father Karras. This inner struggle of good vs evil, of faith vs hopelessness strikes me as the heart of this story, and the movie communicates this surprisingly well.
The music, Mike Oldfield's 'Tubular Bells' makes a recurring rendition in your mind as the eeriness of the story evolves. The most shocking scene is where the priest enters the room and sees his sick mother in the place where Regan should be; the clever change in colour makes it all the more startling. Many refer to the more famous parts, like the 360-degree turn of the head, but its fame makes it less scary. Another upsetting scenes is where Regan has not been possessed fully, but is being flung about on her bed as she screams for her mother, this is emotive and therefore scary as it is not so far from reality. It is a masterpiece, beautiful in idea and visually, if ever you get the chance to watch it then watch it, the trouble is, today's society doesn't appreciate it as apparently gore is scary and all the horrors that come out today are filled with it, so if you have an appreciation for adrenaline, then go to the oldies.
Overall rating: 9 out of 10.