An instant classic that redefined its genre...

Rating: 9/10 (14 March 2016)

The Exorcist was the 1973 instant classic that broke box office records, broke all the rules about the horror/terror genre, angered religious leaders all over the world, made theatergoers physically sick, generated some innovative techniques in the art of visual effects, and IMO, was robbed of the Oscar for Best Picture of 1973.
The film is based on a novel by William Peter Blatty from which Blatty fashioned the screenplay and was directed by William Friedkin, fresh off his Oscar-winning work on The French Connection.
This is the story of an actress named Chris MacNeill (Ellen Burstyn) who has recently moved to Georgetown with her daughter Regan (Linda Blair) in order to make a movie. Seemingly out of nowhere, Regan begins exhibiting bizarre behavior which Chris finds out that doctors and a barrage of tests cannot properly explain. Chris is dumbfounded when it is finally suggested to her that Regan is the victim of demonic possession and the only way to help her is an exorcism, a religious ceremony that hasn't been performed in decades. Enter Father Damian Karras (Jason Miller), the priest who is going through a crisis of conscience due to the death of his mother, which the demon inside Regan seems to know about and uses it against Karras to fight being driven from Regan's body.
This film terrified film audiences all over the world, even though most of the scares in this film are more repellent than actually scary. Friedkin and Blatty do know how to tell a compelling cinematic story that unfolds slowly without playing all its cards right away. It starts with noises in the attic and then Regan's urinating on the floor in front of Chris' party guests as clues that things are not as they should be, but doesn't really foreshadow what's going on either.
Ellen Burstyn was robbed of the Oscar for Best Actress for her bewildered and angry Chris MacNeill and playwright Jason Miller made an impressive acting debut as Karras, a performance that earned him a supporting Actor nomination. Linda Blair became a movie star and was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her Regan, a performance that a lot of people thought was cosmetically constructed through makeup and special effects and that might be why she didn't win. Max Von Sydow is properly creepy as Father Merrin, the priest who helps Karras with the exorcism and Lee J. Cobb is fun as Lieutenant Kinderman, the detective who becomes involved with the story when the director of Chris' film (Jack MacGowran, who actually died during production) is actually murdered by the demon inside of Regan. The voice of the demon is provided by Oscar winner Mercedes Macambridge.
This is a once-in-a lifetime cinematic experience that has to be seen to believed. It spawned many clones and imitations but this is the granddaddy of them all. Followed by two sequels.