Decades Later, The Exorcist Still Scares the Devil Out of You!

Rating: 9/10 (16 April 2015)

Set in Georgetown, The Exorcist narrates the tale of a glamorous household in the neighborhood, where the 12 year old daughter Regan (Linda Blair) of a popular actress Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) begins to exhibit bizarre behavior and suddenly grows sullen and incredibly foul-mouthed, leading to her transformation into a deformed and dangerous imitation of herself - a scar-faced, burning- eyed, profanity-spewing monster. After numerous medical examinations come up with no explanation for her condition, Chris in desperation turns to exorcism and a Jesuit priest Damien Karras (Jason Miller) who is going through a crisis of faith, must determine if the child is in fact possessed and requires an exorcism. After learning about the case from Chris and avuncular police detective Lt. Kinderman (Lee J. Cobb) and after seeing Regan's head-whirling, crucifix- abusing, green vomit routines, he is convinced that inhabiting poor Regan's body is none other than the devil himself and calls in an elderly, experienced exorcist, Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow). The core of the movie is Regan's subsequent exorcism, so cold that plumes of frost expel with every breath and so rancid with terror that audiences even today tremble at the sight.
This jolting tale of a 12-year-old girl possessed by the devil might sound like your run-of-the-mill horror movie, but The Exorcist, with its hypnotic narrative grip, deepens the emotional pool. Based upon the acclaimed 'true life' novel by William Peter Blatty, who in turn adapted it into a screenplay; it was brought to life with uncompromising force by director William Friedkin, going all out in this portrayal of purity possessed by demonic forces. Here, Friedkin does not rush the proceedings, but rather he takes his time establishing mood, character, and heart thumping suspense which leads to some truly terrifying and effective scares - a bloody medical procedure, the sight of putrefying flesh, a blasphemous child stabbing her crotch with a crucifix; the subsequent 180 degree swiveling of her head; and a spider walk down a staircase which concludes with a blood curling scream.
Today, it's not only a pop-culture conversation piece but a bona- fide classic, a finely crafted thriller that benefits immensely from its controlled direction, a thematically fruitful script, startling makeup designs, amazing special effects, an eerie score and an incredible cast that registers uniformly bravura performances. Its philosophical slant drives a deep wedge between it and other films of its ilk, which do not have the intelligence or substance to tackle such themes, as this movie so cleverly does. For this reason, The Exorcist not only tops the horror genre but transcends it, resulting in a profound experience. Decades later, it continues to exert its demonic spell!