The Exorcist (1973) Review

     I have always been a fan of horror, even as a child…  I often wrote horror stories for Creative Writing and at one point my Roman Catholic Elementary School teacher advised me to stop writing about the Occult.  My parents never minded on the other hand, as I’ve mentioned before my mother and I rented many horror films and even did the 7 movies, 7 days, for 7 dollars deal at our local rental store with all of the Nightmare on Elm Street films.  On my previous Ouija blog, I shared an excerpt from my book Becoming the Devil They Fear: A Gay Book of Shadows which briefly mentioned the first time I watched the Exorcist which was around the same time in which I successfully used a Ouija board with my older sister…  Hence why my mother though I was so frightened around this time, whilst she had no idea that we had a Ouija board.  Evil spirits were very real to me because of my Ouija experience, so I really took The Exorcist to heart which resulted in me feeling scared in a disturbing manner.  I had no idea what an exorcist was when my sister tried to convince me to agree on renting the film while we were visiting my father’s home for the weekend.  Our parents had recently separated and my father moved in with our babysitter, whom he worked with her father beforehand as a truck driver.  I didn’t want to rent the film until my sister told me that the film was about a little girl whose body was taken over by the Devil…  I had never heard of such matters at the age of 11, thus it didn’t take me long to agree with my sister in renting the film.

     You’ll see from my previous review of the novel that The Exorcist is a 1973 supernatural horror film, adapted by William Peter Blatty and starring Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Max von Sydow, and Jason Miller.  The book, inspired by the 1949 exorcism of Roland Doe, deals with the demonic possession of a 12-year-old girl and her mother's attempts to win back her child through an exorcism conducted by two priests.  The film experienced a troubled production; even in the beginning, several prestigious film directors including Stanley Kubrick and Arthur Penn turned it down.  Incidents, such as the toddler son of one of the main actors being hit by a motorbike and hospitalized, attracted claims that the set was cursed.  The complex special effects used as well as the nature of the film locations also presented severe challenges.  The film's notable psychological themes include the nature of faith in the midst of doubt as well as the boundaries of maternal love as a mother has to do whatever she can to save her child, while having no previous religious beliefs.  The Exorcist was released theatrically in the United States by Warner Bros. on December 26, 1973.

     The film starts with Lankester Merrin, a veteran Catholic priest and exorcist who is on an archaeological dig in Iraq.  There he finds an amulet that resembles the statue of Pazuzu, a demon whom Merrin had defeated years before.  Merrin then realizes the demon has returned to seek revenge.

     Meanwhile, in Georgetown, actress Chris MacNeil is living on location with her 12-year-old daughter Regan, where Chris has just wrapped the final scene of a film about student activism directed by her friend and associate Burke Dennings.  After playing with a Ouija board and contacting a supposedly imaginary friend whom she calls Captain Howdy, Regan begins acting strangely, including making mysterious noises, stealing, constantly using obscene language, and exhibiting abnormal strength.  One of my only complaints about the film is that the use of the Ouija board is very brief in the film, while the book explains how Regan progressed with the Ouija board and eventually didn’t need it as she was heard by her nanny speaking to Captain Howdy in her bedroom without the board.  I likely would have been even more scared at the age of 11 if the Ouija board was used more in the film, and more of a buildup to the possession.

     Chris hosts a party, only for Regan to come downstairs unannounced, telling one of the guests, who is an astronaut, "You're gonna die up there", and then urinating on the floor.  Regan's bed also begins to shake violently, much to her and her mother's horror.  Chris consults multiple physicians, but Dr. Klein and his associates find nothing medically wrong with her daughter, despite Regan undergoing a battery of diagnostic tests.  In the book, one of Chris’s party guests is a metaphysical spiritualist and they talk a bit about Regan’s use of the Ouija board.  Later her friend Mary Joe, gives Chris an odd gift, a book on witchcraft and later it is found in Regan’s room.  Also portraying this, may have set the mood more for the film.  But nonetheless, it is a lengthy film and if Director William Friedkin had taken scenes out of the original film we know today, some more important questions may have been aroused for the audience understand.

    One night when Chris is out, Burke Dennings is babysitting Regan, only for Chris to come home to hear he has died falling out the window.  Although this is assumed to have been an accident, given Burke's history of heavy drinking, his death is investigated by Lieutenant William Kinderman, who interviews Chris, as well as priest and psychiatrist Father Damien Karras, who has had his faith in God severely weakened and left badly shaken after the death of his frail mother.  They did a wonderful job at portraying this part of the book!

     The doctors, thinking that Regan only believes she is possessed, recommend an exorcism to be performed.  Chris arranges a meeting with Karras.  After recording Regan speaking backwards and witnessing the etching of the words "Help Me" on her stomach, Karras although skeptical has become convinced Regan is possessed.   Believing her life is in danger, he decides to perform an exorcism as a last resort due to all other medical possibilities being thrown out the window.  The experienced Merrin is selected to do so instead, with Karras present to assist.  The film makes it seem as though the exorcism only happened during one evening while in the novel it was far more intense.  However still today people claim the film as the best horror film of all time, while the novel is a New York Times Bestseller.  Friedkin certainly was a master of the times in which he portrayed this film adaptation of such a controversial book.  Then he went to being noted as the director who made possibly the most controversial film of all time.

     Viewers who experienced the film in its original theatrical release, ran out of the theatre while some believed they became possessed after watching.  I can vouch for some of the unexplained phenomenon which some people have claimed as a curse surrounding the film itself.  I eventually owned the film on VHS and a group of friends came to watch it at my home one night.  I was 18 when we all heard a loud clash in my bathroom, shortly after watching the scene in which the demon violently makes Regan insert a crucifix into her vagina.  It’s the most shocking moment of the film and even in the novel…  I grabbed a knife because I thought someone had possibly come in through a bedroom window, however when we looked in the bathroom, a mirror looked as though it had flown across the room among other objects near the sink.  Whether there is a demon attached to the film itself, or it’s merely just the power of the mind when watching such a film, it’s something I have never been able to explain to this day.

     While I had minor complaints about what I would have liked to see adapted in the film, it still is a perfect masterpiece of a 2 hour film considering my preferred version of the film would have been closer to 3 hours which many people obviously would not sit all the way through.  This 2 hour adaptation was the best it possibly could be in its time lapse thus I am giving the film a full 5 stars.  It’s a brilliant masterpiece and the atmospheric buildup is what really does the novel justice.  On a side note, I recommend that if you are a big fan of the film, then read the novel as it’s the extended version that will haunt your mind for years to come, alike the film. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exorcist_(film)
William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist

Image sources

https://blog.universalorlando.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/439579-UO-HHN-2016-Exorcist-Blog-Assets_1440x900_FM.png

http://paranormalhorror.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/the-sad-story-of-the-surprising-voice-of-the-exorcist-s-pazuzu-and-her-family-murder-tr-733395.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/A8cLbtI.jpg

https://media.giphy.com/media/3o7aTljbgquc5Jdl7O/giphy.gif

https://media.giphy.com/media/3o7aTs5BZwKaEN2ygo/giphy.gif

https://media.giphy.com/media/l2YWEzTBZsfRkVtNm/giphy.gif

https://media.giphy.com/media/ov07bNAPuJxok/giphy.gif

https://media.giphy.com/media/wLNfLOHVs2MwM/giphy.gif