Does it hold up? Yes . . .

Rating: 10/10 (27 May 2007)

Forget its "genre." This is no "horror" film. This is simply a brilliant film, period, that happens to stab the heart of the ancient debate: is "God" real? Is the "Devil?" No film, to my knowledge -- no novel, in fact -- has broached this subject -- before or since -- quite so directly.
Odd, that "possessions" in real life (as opposed to this story) only happen to "believers." The original story (newspaper reports in 1949) of this "exorcism" upon which Blatty based his novel, is bogus. Google it.
Yet Blatty (previously a comedy writer) masterfully turned the phony story into a powerful best-seller. And then, into a film.
Say what you will about Friedkin's methods with his actors. None of them have been as dynamic before or since.
Even if you don't "believe," this film demands you take these concepts seriously.
It works on a deep level that shatters even those who profess no "belief." So meticulously constructed is the novel and the film that the reader / viewer cannot help be -- personally -- challenged and horrified.
Perhaps no other film so successfully weds special effects with photography and sound. Especially not in 1973.
Nothing like these words and images had ever been presented on screen before. Audiences were jolted.
The film still works, but only in an actual theatre on a huge screen, experiencing it in the dark, with strangers.
At home, on a TV screen, no matter how large, it is far less effective.
In a theatre, the film "controls" you. At home, you "control" the film. Big difference in its impact.
There's a reason "The Exorcist" is a landmark.
Watch it. And forget "the version you haven't seen." Friedkin's original cut was right, and Blatty was wrong to insist on several extraneous moments, scenes and "subliminal" inserts being restored. They add nothing and detract significantly from what was perfection.
Of course, long after the fact, you start thinking. And that's a bad thing. The MacNeils (Regan and her mother, Chris) are not religious. Father Karras is, but he has doubts.
Who wins in this Good versus Evil struggle? The Devil.
He first possesses an innocent non-religious girl then ultimately takes out a Priest and lives to possess again!
Interesting, to watch Friedkin and Blatty discuss NOT wanting audiences to think that Evil won, on YouTube.
Because any way you cut it, the Devil terrorizes and threatens to destroy the MacNeils then kills a priest. The Devil wins and, for all we know, may repossess Regan next week.
I love this film. In real life, and through serious study, I haven't believed any of this twaddle in decades. But in the theatre or on DVD, for the three hours of "The Exorcist", I buy every minute of it as happening to THESE PEOPLE.
One of the finest films ever made, and transcendent in its genre.