The Greatest Horror Flick Of all time .............period

Rating: Null/10 (20 December 2001)

The Exorcist is one of the shining examples of classic cinema can be made even with the most limited tools . Released in 1973 , 4 years before George Lucas revolutionized the use of special effects in a little known sci-fi flick called Star Wars.The Exorcist relies more on a few but powerful tools like darkness and silence to scare the living daylights out of you . William Friedkin , who earlier in that year had won an oscar for the french connection weaves a frightening and at times fascinating tale of the devil's possessing a hollywood actress' young daughter .
I First saw this film about two years ago on vhs and it really spoilt the the entire experience . The dialogue was unclear and the picture would detiorate at the most important junctions in the movie . But last year , i hired the vcd and it was awesome .The Sound was terrifying , and the climax with jason miller's transformation for a second became even more chilling . Filmmaking as we know is a process to tell a story , and this story is told perfectly .Director Will Friedkin does another excellent job earning him another oscar nomination for the second year in succession.Performance-wise Jason Miller as Father Damian Karras Steals the show .The performance is subtle but so captivating that it blows you away . The character is so well etched , the young priest is in a predicament with an ailing mother and he himself questioning his own faith and then comes along this situation where an innocent girl's life is put in jeopardy by a sinister demon .Whenever he's on screen , there's an amazing feeling of assurance, that he's in control of everything around him .Something the demon puts to test ,with a little help from father Karras's mother.
The rest of the performances are pretty good as well . Linda Blair 's impressive as young regan macneill and the transformation of her face and body is equally impressive .Rounding up the cast Ellen burstyn , Max von Sydow and Lee.j.cobb all come up with decent performances .This film will no doubt stand as a lesson to all young filmmakers as well as too youngsters that you don't need a dude with a hook for a hand chasing people around to scare you , Fear can also come for subtlety .I Must mention that i had to sleep with the lights on for a month after watching this movie .So if u think u can watch this in the night and sleep after that , best of luck .