One of the Greatest Horror Films

Rating: 10/10 (16 June 2016)

A classic. One of the greatest 3-4 horror films of all-time and should be in IMDb tops 150-200 films of all time. Many people either consider this the greatest horror film of all-time but a few claim it doesn't hold up to time. Most classics don't hold up to time either mostly because of taste. Just look at art and music, which even more radically changes taste over the centuries. So some criticism is undeserved since the claim is its subject isn't believable or it can't capture the shock value of more gory or twisting plots.
However, this film isn't really about twisting plots or simple gore. For its time, it carries a shock in the vulgar language spoken by the demon possessing Regan (Linda Blair). That's at a time when censorship was becoming more relaxed. It was a measure of the impact of the 60s to 70s transition in movies from Mary Poppins to Midnight Cowboy.
The movie hails in realism and more psycho-drama than simple horror. Our two central stars are Regan and Father Karras (Jason Miller) who is a modern priest trained in medicine (psychiatry) with doubts as to his place in the church. Max von Sydow plays Father Merrin, the expert in exorcism who maintains a semi-mysterious role. All three thespians were beyond excellent which adds to the value of a horror film. Lee J Cobb plays Kinderman, a police detective investigating a related possible murder, perhaps unevenly and unnecessarily. The weakest role is Ellen Burstyn's Chris McNeil who plays a histrionic mother. She overplays a somewhat spoiled actress who finds episodes of emotion rage unconvincingly. It's bizarre that Burstyn was nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe for acting since it was far weaker than Blair, von Sydow or Miller. Nevertheless, the film is otherwise superbly acted.
The real strength of the film is really the directing and cinematography combination. Forever etched in cinema is the classic scene when the shadowy figure of Father Merrin arrives at the house at night emerging from the taxi and under the fog and lights of the house. The opening excavation scene was beautifully done. Or the underrated shot of Karras's mother on Regan's bed or the shadow of the howling Regan (is that a creature) with the demon shadow. That combination of the skills of cinematographer Owen Roizman and director William Friedkin were brilliant. I find those types of artistic statements have greater value than the head-turning of the cursing Regan.
I give this classic a 9.3 in reality but a 10 here to up the rather low 8.0 IMDb average which really should be more like a 8.2. It's embarrassing to see what's rated at 8.1-8.3: V for Vendetta, Pan's Labyrinth, Die Hard...some good and not-so-good movies, but not deserving to be among the top 150-200 films.