Not Scary But Shocking

Rating: 9/10 (19 January 2019)

24 January 2010. Thirty-seven years later, the sharp, vivid, fine resolution of the initial Iraqi scenes brings this aging but classic movie into the contemporary age with shots so visceral of great film-making that rivals the quality of even today's advances in film work. As time passes and the scary horror films keep piling up, most of the once classic shots from turning of heads and spitting of goo have transformed this horror movie into predictability, yet the shock value remains mostly because of how utterly graphic and degrading the dialogue and the devilish behavioral occurs in this movie, particularly in the middle portions of the movie. The judicial use of horror and strange where only about five brief odd occurrences are revealed in the first half-hour reveals how focused this movie is on the careful editing and balance of horror and drama and relational interactions that pervade this film. Perhaps only the color and texture of the goo is one of the few weaknesses of this movie. THE EXORCIST retains is strong elements of acting and drama. The first third of this movie is remarkable for its almost independent and prescient approach to photography and directing almost presaging the future of quality film-making - JARHEAD (2005) comes to mind. As memory recalls only the fine, captivating technical medical scenes of the novel were moderately transferred to the film (but for adaptation purposes only perhaps). Overall, this movie minus the clanking old aging medical equipment and strange looking police cars, still keeps its amazing quality of one of the signature horror films of all time.