Overall view on one of the most electrifying horror flicks.

Rating: Null/10 (17 August 2004)

The first time I seen this movie was back in 1973. Some how I managed to get into this super super scary movie. At that time "R" rated flicks were very difficult to get in. "The Exorcists" seemed like it should have been deemed NC-17. At 7 years old the thrill of the fright was all I could be concerned with so the plot was way beyond me. Thirty one years later, "The Beginning (2004)" spiked my curiosity to revisit the re-released version of "The Exorcists", but this time I paid attention to the plot and ignored the scare, a very hard thing to do.
The movie started out with a scene of an archaeological dig located in northern IRAQ. Here, a priest/archaeologists (Father Lankester Merrin) discovers an idol which unleashes the evil wrath of pazuzu. Father Merrin duels with pazuzu and exorcises its evil, but has a premonition that he would have to meet up with this evil force in the future.
Pazuzu's evil force follows Father Merrin's return to the United States and manifests itself in a twelve year old girl (Reagan) played by Linda Blair. Reagan's mother (Chris), Father Damien Karras, and the church decides to pursue exorcism and calls upon Father Merrin since he is viewed by the Catholic church as the best qualified to perform an exorcists; and so, the duel between good and evil once again is revisited.
This movie is laced with many interesting subliminal motifs, which I found to be very creative. I can really appreciate this effort from director William Friedkin given the fact that early 70's film making had not yet been introduced to the technological advantages of special effects. In my opinion however, the power of suggestion will always out-weigh special effects in terms of a film putting "the scare" into its audiences. Case and point -"Blair Witch Project". Watch the director's notes to learn about these motifs and some other interesting tidbits about Mosul and U.S./Iraq relationships during the early 70's.
Wes Saldua