What to say?

Rating: 10/10 (17 December 2003)

I've been hesitating to review this film even though it's one of my all time favorites. I mean, what can I say about it that hasn't already been said? This film is a true classic, simply because it was so far ahead of its time.
I can remember seeing TV advertisements for it when it was first released, and I couldn't have been any more than 3 at the time. I got my first chance to see it when I was 12 and mom was working late. Of course, she never would have permitted this, so I kept it a secret...until one of California's routine earthquakes sent me screaming out of my violently shaking bed in the dead of night two weeks later. Fortunately, mom was too busy laughing to be mad at me.
Anyway... I'm not going to waste time rehashing the plot frame by frame. Everyone knows what it's about by now; even non-horror movie fans know who Linda Blair is and often refer to her as the "Pea Soup Girl." Blair gives an astonishing performance as the twelve year old girl possessed by the "Devil," although stunning opening scenes shot in Iraq reveal the devil in question to actually be an ancient Sumerian (or Assyrian) demon known as Pazuzu, a bringer of hot winds and fever. No matter. Pazuzu's motives are never made clear as to why he has chosen this one little girl, but that's not the point of the film. Blair is not the target here; everyone who must sit helplessly back and watch her suffer are the true victims. The priest who is losing his faith, the atheist mother with the bad temper and the priest whom Pazuzu has battled before. There are moments of sheer subtle genius in this film, as Karras sits in a bar and admits he has lost his faith as the song "Lord I Was Born a Rambling Man" plays in the background, as Regan and her mother innocently wrestle over a cookie, a scene which will be repeated later in the film with the laughter replaced by screams and the cookie replaced with a crucifix. There are also moments of perhaps unintentional humor, as doctors light up cigarettes in hospital corridors and prescribe Ritalin without blinking. True 1970s stuff here. The effects are still quite shocking even 30 years later; gross, upsetting and sick. In particular is the voice of the demon, as performed by Mercedes McCambridge. It is a shocking effect, a multi-layered chorus of the damned speaking in Legion out of the mouth of a little girl. It disturbed me more than the green puke or even the terrible ripping sounds that accompanied the crucifix scene. Max Von Sydow is wonderful as the kindly but strong Father Merrin, who literally battles to the death for the soul of a little girl he has never really met and will ultimately never know. The ending is both devastating and triumphant, and was not at all the "downer" that I have heard other people refer to it as.
What can I say? This movie is a masterpiece, right up there with "Rosemary's Baby". You can't say much about films as great as these that hasn't been said already, but even if I'm repeating what the masses have already confirmed, it's better than saying nothing at all. This movie is a classic. It always will be.