An Excellent Journey Through the Psyche

Rating: 10/10 (29 June 2012)

I find the Exorcist time and time again to be one of the most electrifying psychodramas ever. Being a Catholic surely contributed to having it frighten the wits out of me, however, I must note that I have met Atheists and Jews who were equally as freaked out.
My Uncle, who has since passed, was a Jesuit priest in the D.C. area and knew the priests who worked on this. I can tell you that it is quite authentic and based on a true happening. Now I have never heard of any head spinning or anything of that sort. Just cursing, spitting, beds moving, Ouija boards, words being scratched on skin etc...
I was lucky enough to have seen this with my priest/uncle who after-wards had to use the toilet and I asked if he would bless it and he quipped, "I don't know about that, but I can baptize it" LOLL
Anyway so back to the movie. INTENSE DRAMA! NOT really a HORROR movie. Yes the effects have aged and look cheap in some parts, but the effect of the undercurrent is stunning! The story telling and acting alone makes this movie soar to the highest of realms. Absolute perfect pacing, though some people have remarked that the beginning is slow yet I find it as haunting as the rest- clocks stopping, rapid dogs fighting, a mysterious Jesuit medal found in an archaeological dig, then the statue of Pezuzu. The score mostly by Penderecki, while not meant to be scary, is unbelievably so. Just everything down to it's minutest detail is just perfect. Just one example is when Chris MacNeil is walking freely down the street to her home in Georgetown and passes some nuns with their robes billowing in the October breeze, which we now know is Halloween when tiny trick or treaters run past her. It is these subtle images that really bring this movie home. It isn't about being scared in the middle of the night or 3 a.m. it is the devil at all hours.
Now Regan goes through all the shenanigans that "modern" science would put anyone through if they were acting this way even in the 21st Century where everyone with any hint of spiritual/emotional crisis is put on pills if they are deemed problematic. Of course this all fails and Chris with no alternative seeks a priest or "witch doctor" as she says with exhaustion.
The cinematography is brilliant, for it captures something otherworldly, yet also close to home. I know that I feel at home watching this, yet I also feel the cold breath of the shadow that lives within us all.
I love this movie and though aged it still delivers!