The Exorcist

The next franchise that I will look at is “The Exorcist” series, which is another franchise that you should watch around Halloween. This is a series of five films that I will be reviewing, starting with the 1973 classic, “The Exorcist.” This is based off of the 1971 novel by William Peter Blatty, merging three scenarios into one.

I can safely say that this film is the scariest movie I have ever seen. People might debate that and say there are other films scarier than this, but I don’t think that many films can top “The Exorcist.” The reason why this film's so scary is because it's shot as if this was a realistic situation. Being possessed can happen, and this is what it would look like if you were possessed.

We see the great Max von Sydow playing Father Merrin, who is on an archeological dig in Al-Hadar, which is near Nineveh, Iraq. The first sequence would not make you think that you are watching “The Exorcist,” but more like an exploration film. However, things quickly change when he finds a stone looking like a demonic creature. Talking to one of the supervisors, he goes to a place where he sees a statue that resembles the one on the stone. Next thing you know, he sees a threatening figure and two dogs fighting, which sets the tone for the horror flick.

Cut to Georgetown, Washington D.C. where we see Chris McNeil, played by Ellen Burstyn, who is an actress. How strange is that? An actress is playing an actress in a horror flick. At first, it seems like the film is going to be a nice flick when all of a sudden she notices that her daughter, Regan, played by Linda Blair, has a change in behavior. We see her bed shake; she flies into the air, spits out green acid, swears, and is full of rage. What could this mean? Is it some sort of anger that she bottled up inside that is coming out, or is this a medical condition? Well, no doctor is able to find any solution since they are all telling Chris different answers. Even Dr. Klein, played by Barton Heyman, can’t solve the problems by injecting Ritalin into Regan.

Ellen Burstyn plays the mother role very well. She is having trouble with her husband, and on top of that she has a daughter who is possessed and she is trying to find a cure. All of this stress is getting to her that she snaps when a doctor is saying to see a psychologist, when the psychologist says to see a doctor. This is getting her to a point that she can’t take any more of this stress that she just wants a cure for her daughter.

Linda Blair is just plain scary in this film. Seeing her fly up into the air, jump up and down on her bed, spit out the green acid, have that demonic look on her face, that creepy devilish voice, swearing, and all sorts of scary stuff will make you hide under a blanket. The lines that she says in this film are just something that you would expect from a pre-teen, but not to this extent. When Chris’s friend and love interest, Burke Dennings, played by Jack McGowan, is murdered, you would expect that it was Regan that did it when she was possessed.

Jason Miller plays a young priest named Damien Karras, who lost his faith in God after his mother passed away. How many people have you heard that lost their faith after an event that traumatized them? It’s not an uncommon thing that you would run into someone who became an atheist. Well, you can’t say that he is an atheist because he is a priest, but he just needs to have his faith revived. He is very hesitant when he is called to help Regan, and you can’t blame the man. It doesn’t matter if it’s a priest that has or has not lost their faith, they would have a hard time to exorcise anyone. At least that’s what I would think.

Max von Sydow knows this sort of situation because he has battled this demon before. No one knows how to conquer this demon, but he does. And having Karras by his side, it helps out a lot. Of course it doesn’t take until the falling action for Father Merrin to come in and battle him, but remember, he was away at the time. However, he is very strong and despite whatever the demon inside Regan is saying, he doesn’t listen and insists that Karras do the same thing.

Lee J. Cobb plays Lieutenant William F. Kinderman, who is investigating the death of Burke. He immediately thinks that Regan was involved, and you are with him when he starts to point fingers at her from the very start. No one else was at home during that time, and we have seen Regan possessed, so you would immediately suspect that it was Regan when she was possessed by the demon, voiced by Mercedes McCambridge.

Speaking of Mercedes McCambridge, this voice actor doing the voice of the demon really turns the scare value in this film up to the infinite level. With the voice he does when Regan is possessed is that scary. The lines he has and everything else will make you scared completely.

Kitty Winn plays Regan’s tutor, Sharon Spencer, who is just as worried as Chris since she also cares for Regan as much as Chris does. Since she is Chris’s secretary and has known Regan for as long as she has, it would be obvious that she would be just as worried as Chris.

In the scene where Father Merrin and Karras are exorcising Regan, the room was actually that cold. Today, they would have Computer Generated the room to be that cold, but back in 1973, they had to crank the A.C. that high so that they would be cold in that room.

For those of you who have been to D.C., you would know where those famous stairs are located, and that's where they shot the film. I have passed by that location many times and my brother has pointed out that spot and said “The Exorcist” was shot there.

The music used in this film adds to the scare value, making it bone-chilling from beginning to end.

Overall, I give this film a 10, and highly recommend that you all check this film out since Halloween will be fast approaching.

Thanks for joining in on my review for “The Exorcist,” stay tuned for more of my reviews on “The Exorcist series."