ONE OF THE SCARIEST & BEST HORROR FILMS OF ALL TIME

Rating: Null/10 (13 March 2003)

THE EXORCIST (1973) **** Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Jason Miller, Max Von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Kitty Winn. Director William Friedkin's masterpiece of terror encapsulating William Peter Blatty's bestselling blockbuster about a little girl possessed by Satan sent audiences into a dark, unsettling and very scary journey into fear, faith and the possibility of what is real and what isn't. Blair, in her (sadly) best and debut performance, as Regan, manages to actually act under the tremendous make-up job by maestro Dick Smith and gave new meaning to `pea soup' and evoke true spine-chills thanks to the electronically altered vocals by Merecedes MacCambridge's smoky tones as the outlet of hatred for Old Scratch. Disturbing and still stands as a spiritually powerful film that really gets under the skin with all its visceral splendor. Kudos to the outtakes including the `spider walk' of Regan down a flight of stairs. Creepy to the max underscored by the ethereally haunting `Tubular Bells'. Winner of two Oscars, Best Sound and Adapted Screenplay by Blatty (look quick for him during the first campus filming sequence conferring with the director, Burke Dennings). One of the most frightening movies ever made.