Confession- I saw 'The Exorcist' when I was 23 years young. After I had seen so many other horror films, I had become desensitised to cinema and genre. Consequently, upon first viewing Friedkin's acclaimed adaptation of William Peter Blatty's novel, while I certainly did feel it was worth a watch (as opposed to the supposedly "OMGAWESOME" 'Friday the 13th' which I felt was an over-bloated, badly-realised piece of sh--) I just didn't see WHY WHY WHY 'The Exorcist' had been bestowed with the reputation as one of the most important horror films ever. Obviously, back when it was made it frightened many of the bums in seats, but these days, unless you have the constitution of cheap toilet papter or if you are a religion nut, it's not that mind-blowing or spiritually confrontational upfront.
However.
That doesn't mean I cannot appreciate the goods that this movie offers, and belive me, there are many of them, and all of this is apart from the fantastic actors who took part in this.
Upon recently watching it again recently (two nights ago), I found that this film's disturbing factor was more effective when it was subtle as opposed to in-your-face. Okay, sure, those possession scenes were crowd pleasers, but what appealed to me the most was this is a film that without the demonic possession, was still quite eerie. An example? The scene that made me the most squeamish was when little Regan was being tested in the hospital. You can masturbate with a crucifix, walk backwards downstairs and turn your head 360 degrees as much as you like, but those are nothing compared to seeing a child being subjected to all of these invasive medical procedures only to yeild no result. To me, due to it's realism, that entire sequence made me the most uncomfortable. Addtionally, seeing Ellen Burnstyn's Chris McNeal having to watch her daughter being poked and prodded gives it all that much more of an impact. And this is before the really nasty stuff happens.
Other beautiful piece of subtlety can be seen when Jesuit wonderguy Father Merrin (Max von Sydow) merely faces off with an imposing statue of Pazuzu at an archaeological site. Nothing happens, but you can feel a tension rise within that moment when good and evil face off in the calm before a battle. I don't know what it was about it that worked so much for me, the camera work, the scenery, the incredible score, or even von Sydow's and the statue's presence in the same frame, but wow.
Okay, I'm done being introverted, let's talk about the money.
For a film that was made back in the early 70's before extreme censorship became a pain in everybody's butt, this one is a corker. Frankly, I don't believe I have seen many fantastic films that effectively shows a child being exploited in such a way. Visual effects or no, Linda Blair really did make the movie work, despite her young age. I wonder what her parents thought when she was cast in such a role and became immortalized in this portrayal. In saying that, equal praise must be given to Mercedes McCambridge. Who is she? Why, she was the voice of the possessed Regan/Pazuzu- every spurt of profanity, demonic gibberish and cackling was her, and even now, she doesn't recieve the praise she deserves.
In addition to the projective pea-green vomit, self-inflicted icon mutilation and head twisting, another thoroughly effective effect in this movie is almost always blink-and-you-miss-it: Pazuzu's face. I actually had to step through a few sequences in order to find these faces because they really are that fast. Now, some of you may laugh, but this face is pretty unforgettable:
Although it looks nothing like Pazuzu, when you are able to catch these subliminal flashes, they make you think "What was that?" as opposed to many films these days that rely simply on shock value and cat jump scares.
Now, when the movie comes to it's finale, it would be easy to dismiss that this film preaches the tired "God ALWAYS triumphs over Satan!" rhetoric- wait a moment. Pazuzu is a demon, yes, but he was not a demon of Christianity- he was Assyrian. That being said, while little Regan is exorcised of Pazuzu, he is not vanquished, he merely chooses another body of a priest who commits suicide- you think suicide is enough to kill a demon, a demon that is not of your faith? Bless you. Given this is explored in the sequels, I won't go further on this point, but despite the fact that faith won, it was for now, not forever, which is something Friedkin (and Blatty for that matter) emphasize- it never ends.
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