Still shocking, all these years later

Rating: 10/10 (26 February 2016)

This one has lost none of its power to shock or terrify.
You've heard of the head spinning round, the green vomit, probably even the crucifix masturbation scene.
That doesn't prepare you.
It's not the material itself that makes it so shocking, although, over forty years later, even the language retains an edge. I've still never heard that variation of the c-word in any other movie, I don't think.
It's the direction, which always takes you by surprise, which lulls you into a state of security it punctures again and again until finally letting the horror take over like a bad dream you can't wake up from.
It's the screenplay, too. This is a movie about people. About people suffering an unspeakable trauma. About people driven to the edge where the supernatural meets them.
It's not about special effects or shocking violence.
The characters live and breathe, you feel what they feel, even the disbelief.
The Exorcist carries you along. It takes you to places you don't want to go, working its magic in ways you can never fully understand.
And it remains shocking and terrifying.