Sometimes a movie comes along that scares a generation of movie goers beyond expectations. Then you have a movie like the Exorcist which will put people into therapy and cause people to not sleep for several weeks at a time. The Exorcist is one of the scariest and most well respected films of the all time. It not only challenges your views on terror but also on the subject of faith.
The film follows a young girl named Regan (Linda Blair) who becomes somehow ill with something doctors cannot diagnose. It slowly becomes clear that what Regan has might be beyond science or rational understanding. We start to understand that it might be something beyond our worldly understanding. Regan grows worse and worse and finally we start to realize the little girl has been replaced with something else. Regan's mother Christine (Ellen Burstyn) starts to look for outside help and eventually looks to a young priest named Karras (Jason Miller) for guidance. It becomes clear that the two need to find a solution to the problem and it comes down to the question of if the process of preforming an Exorcism is the right answer to curing Regan. The two eventually turn to one of the few men who have performed the act, Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow). It all comes down to good vs evil in one of the most intense showdowns of all time.
Director William Friedkin is a master filmmaker of his time. He is a man who knows how to slow down a film to a pace that not only takes it time but makes the audience uncomfortable because of the time it takes to get to events in the film. This being said does not make it a bad thing. The transformation of Regan from a happy little girl to the bile spewing demon at the end of the film. He is also a guy who waits to scare you and does it in a way that keeps you scared way past the films conclusion. The other reason this film works is because Friedkin took actors who looked like real people and didn't try to pretty it up with stars. All of the people in the film looks like they are real not just actors and play their parts like they are.
This film not only boasts amazing direction but the acting is on par with it as well especially Sydow and Blair as dueling forces. Blair is absolutely astounding as a little girl being tortured by some other worldly force and caught between heaven and hell. Her performance in the film is amazing not just as an actress but also as physical performance as well. She completely changes her look thanks to makeup but also the way she moves and reacts. It is a true pleasure for her to be a character we hate but also want to save all at the same time. Sydow who for some reason continues to get better with age is amazing for only being in the film a very limited amount of time. He has this feel of man who has failed and with this task he has been set to perform can redeem himself by getting it right.
This film is remarkable for so many reasons but overall it is something that just needs to be watched and re watched to let the terror creep into your brain.
So we are out of the bedroom and now we are headed to the big screen where I will be watching the mac daddy of all Halloween films and we discuss the night HE came home. For High Weirdness I'm Benjamin Kolton reminding you "It's Only a Movie." "It's Only a Movie."
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