Has Rightfully Stood the Test of Time!

Rating: 10/10 (18 October 2015)

At the time of its release, The Exorcist was the scariest film ever made. With so many technological advancements and boundary-pushing done these days, The Exorcist is not THE scariest movie like it once was. In fact, there are a few scenes that are rather funny. But as a massive movie buff, I can assure you that this is one of the scariest movies ever. Maybe it is not number one anymore, it is still up there. In fact I would perhaps call this the scariest movie I've ever seen. Not really an easy choice, but still.
The Exorcist is just a fun little monster movie about a 12-year-old (Linda Blair) who plays with a Ouija board and is possessed by a demon. Well, it is rather unclear if it is a low-ranking demon or the devil himself. Her mother (Ellen Burstyn) goes to many doctors but none seem to do the trick and eventually gets a hold of priest/psychiatrist (Jason Miller) to perform an exorcism.
The movie follows two parallel stories with Blair's curse and Miller. Miller who is working at a university and is dealing with his mentally-ill mother who dies. I found this portion of the movie to be rather weak. Perhaps I was just underwhelmed. Either way, it should have been much stronger. His character is developed well and he does a mighty fine job of acting, but the plot development was shallow.
Obviously, the stronger story is the one with Linda Blair and Ellen Burstyn. Burstyn is a wealthy actress who lives with her daughter and housekeepers and assistants. I was hoping this could have been stronger too. We get such a brief look into the life of this family, it is as if this story isn't worked on much. I know that they wanted the horror to erupt right away, but a stronger plot for this part of the film would have strengthened the movie overall The more we know, the more we feel. The more we feel, the more scared we get.
Linda Blair finds a Ouija board and plays with it a bit. Ouija boards are said to really deliver curses. I don't buy it all. From then on, she slowly descends into uncontrollable insanity. While the family subplots are weak, the regular plot makes up for it. Blair's descending is perfectly paced. Obviously, Linda Blair's acting is top-notch--the best performance I have ever seen by a child actress. But what separates this from other supernatural horror movies is its wonder of what is mental and what is superstitious. That is what Burstyn is torn between figuring out is the best solution to save her daughter.
Eventually, it reaches a point with Linda Blair where we see that she is clearly possessed as she becomes a scary monster. Her voice changes, cool make-up is added, things around the house fly about, and her body bends in bizarre ways. These days, you can't help but laugh at some of the situations that happen. Take her walking down the stairs like a spider. Or when she trash- talks the priests. I am Christian and I couldn't help laughing.
When Miller finally becomes the official exorcist, that is when he becomes more interesting and the movie's suspense is added. Up until this point, the movie has a drama touch to the horror instead of suspense. Every movie has more than one element to it and the horror did not have much suspense built into it. Problem? Not really. I just thought it would have made for a more compelling viewing. Regardless, Miller and a senior priest performing exorcisms is lots of fun with an ending that will leave you cheering.
So even though I thought the movie could have been better, there's still enough good elements to erase most of the bad ones. The realism behind it all and the fantastic creations make this the top horror movie.
4/4