Horrific and Cinematic Mastery

Rating: 10/10 (14 September 1999)

The surfeit of horror and horror-themed movies topping the box office in the recent weeks as the summer of 1999 ends is evidence of the power that fright holds over moviegoers. We've been glued to our chairs or heckling callously at The Blair Witch Project, The Sixth Sense, Stigmata and others. As a prominent horror movie-maker once said, you never forget the guy who frightens you the first time. That guy can be Leatherface, Jason Vorhees, Freddy Kruger, Norman Bates, an exceptionally large flock of birds in the air, a coven of next-door neighbors in cahoots with a devil-worshiping obstetrician, Guy Woodhouse, Jack Torrance, Henry the Serial Killer ... or Regan MacNeil.

It's odd to think that, with all the suspense and horror movies we've experienced in the past 30 years -- all the serial murderers, the abusing husbands, the ghosts, the obsessive "other" women, the evil nannies and dentists and that Chucky doll that never seems to be properly destroyed -- the experience that tends to put America on edge the most is that of traditional good versus evil. Sure, you can surmise that running from a bunch of crazed slaughterhouse-types wanting to eat you and use your bones as chair legs and your skin as furniture upholstery is something like battling evil. But let's be honest. How does it compare to the look of despair on a mother's face as she sees the one thing she couldn't have realistically imagined: an exorcist coming to drive a demon out of her daughter?

OK, it's a dramatic description ... and far-fetched at that. But watching William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist -- or reading the novel, for that matter -- slowly but mercilessly brings you to that strange sense of dread and hope when that exorcist finally approaches the door and ignores the screaming of the demon upstairs. By then, you're as cold as the scene appears. Somewhere deep inside, your breath is as white as the breath in Regan's bedroom.

The Exorcist marries crafty editing, intelligent storytelling and gripping detail into a single, beautifully told tale of demonic possession and the slow, eventual path toward understanding the need to drive the demon away. With superb acting, notably from Ellen Burstyn, Jason Miller and Linda Blair, all Oscar nominees for this movie, and a still-exceptional series of special, realistic effects, The Exorcist doesn't make promises to scare you. It makes no pretense at all. It just lets the macabre story unfold in front of you. Sure, a lot of people with today's multi-million-dollar special effects sensibilities will laugh off specific details. But what movie today is going to require you to sit through such hellish situations as stabbing-like female masturbation with a crucifix or through such profanity? We don't stomach things like we used to. Perhaps The Exorcist was before its time, but where would we be today without it?

Before you judge a movie, remember its conventions and understand its message. And keep in mind that this movie isn't trying to make you like it or continue watching it. Its seamlessness is based on one simple notion: the story goes on, whether you accept it or not. And the power of Christ compels you.