Exorcist

The Exorcist (1973) was never expected to become the classic that it is today. With an estimated budget of $10,497,444, Director William Friedkin mortified and disturbed teens and adults so severely that The Exorcist is known as the “scariest movie ever made”. The version of this movie that I viewed is the Director’s cut; this version does not omit anything, it is actually longer than the originally released one. The Director’s Cut is William Friedkin’s original finished work, but because of the graphic nature of the Director’s Cut, some scenes were cut to be more suitable for movie theater viewing. The original and current Motion Picture Rating (MPAA) in the United States is R for its strong language and disturbing images.The Exorcist takes place in Georgetown in the current day of the movie’s release (1973). The movie follows the life of a twelve-year-old girl, Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), during the duration of her possession by an evil demon that claims to be the Devil. The opening scene of the movie takes place in Iraq at an archaeological site where Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow) is working; during this scene a figurine is found that you see throughout the whole movie and seems to have ties to Regan’s possession. You are then introduced to Regan and her Mother, Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn). Regan’s Mother is an actress; she and Regan had just moved to Georgetown in Washington D.C. for the movie Chris was starring in. During this introduction Regan is a completely normal twelve-year-old girl who is excited about a horse she had seen that day and loves crafts; but Chris finds an Ouija board in the basement that Regan claims to use to talk to a ghost named “Captain Howdy”.As the movie progresses strange things begin happening in the house, like banging sounds in the attic and the window in Regan’s room being open, making the room freezing cold. After an incident where Regan’s bed begins shaking her personality begins to completely change. Chris takes her to the doctor where they believe that she just needs to take a medication, Adderall, and she will soon be better. After a scan of her brain they find that there aren’t any abnormalities which make her behavior much less explainable. The possession really takes hold of Regan after the scans. The possession of Regan results in the death of three characters and multiple scenes that contain an overwhelming amount of profanity, sexual references and innuendoes, and violence that all come from 12-year-old Regan.Although The Exorcist was released in 1973, it displays excellent use of special effects. The face of a demon that appears in some places is used frequently; the demons face is always just an overlay on the film rather than an actor that is actually being filmed with the scene. They also sometimes overlay photos of the figurine found in the archeological site. Some other advanced and convincing effects used were making Regan’s bed shake, making her head spin around, violent thrashing, cuts that are caused by holy water being thrown as if it was a whip, and projectile vomiting.Sound is something used very often to achieve different effects. Music played always matches the type of scene. For example, suspenseful music is played during suspenseful scenes. The iconic Exorcist theme song, Tubular Bells, is played right before some of the strange things with Regan happen while Chris is walking home. They also make sounds louder to put emphasis on things. During a scene where Father Merrin is going to leave Iraq, the sounds of traffic and working people is amplified as well as the sounds of dogs fighting when he looks at a larger version of the evil figurine that was found. You also see this in a scene where Father Damian Karras (Jason Miller) is going to visit his Mother, in a city neighborhood that isn’t as well off as the other neighborhoods you see in the movie, any sounds that are negative like a woman yelling or children jumping on a car are very loud in comparison to other sounds in the scene. Another interesting use of sound is the many voices that Regan has when she is possessed. She takes on the voice of the demon (Mercedes McCambridge) as well as some other voices, one of which is the voice of Father Damian’s Mother (Vasiliki Maliaros); these voices are added seamlessly and match up with Regan’s mouth movements very well.Lighting is something else that was used a lot (and well) to create different atmospheric effects. In Iraq most of the lighting that was prominent was from the sunrise and sunset. The sun would always be very bright yellow on a very red sky. Most lighting in the movie is created just by the regular light of the room, like a lamp or harsh fluorescent lighting.The makeup used is very convincing. The longer Regan is possessed, the less human she begins to look; this effect is accomplished by first making her become pale with very dry and cracking lips, and then by progressively creating the look of sores, cuts, and bruises all over her. They also successfully created a false stomach over Regan’s real stomach that had very pronounced ribs and the words “Help me” that appeared to have been written from inside her stomach. There wasn’t any makeup that wasn’t perfectly executed.The actors in The Exorcist performed very well. Everyone does an excellent job expressing the emotions that you imagine someone would feel in the situation that they are in. I am especially impressed with Linda Blair’s performance, she was very young when she portrayed the possessed main character of this movie, she had to take on multiple personalities for her character and she did so flawlessly. There wasn’t any acting in the movie that I can think of a complaint for.Some people may argue that The Exorcist isn’t really the “scariest movie ever made” or that it really isn’t as good as I think it is; most of this is due to the age of the movie. Many people see the special effects in The Exorcist as cheesy and therefore the movie as not scary. When I see The Exorcist I see amazing effects for its time and an incredibly scary movie psychologically. Overall it is hard to argue that The Exorcist is not a great movie. Of all the horror movies that have been made, The Exorcist has to be one of the most classic and most compelling of them all.

This may well be the most satisfying blu-ray purchase I have made to date and I wish all future blu-ray releases will be like this. Like many other film fans out there I face a struggle at times trying to justify the double-dip from the dvd or even the vhs but this release sure made it easy for me. Firstly, I'm a big fan of digibooks and indeed anything that is as far removed from the usual dvd release as possible. The content is usually very informative and useful and it is certainly the case here. Secondly, to have both the Director's Cut AND the Thearetical Release versions here is joyful for the fan (George Lucas try to contain your greed and take note!). Thirdly, this film has been restored admirably and looks excellent and hence way scarier in 1080p although for some reason the picture quality seemed a little better for the thearetical release as compared with the director's cut and I'm assuming that it's because the missing bits that were added for the latter were poorly preserved and so to fit in with the rest of the frames some extra work was needed that brought the quality down a little as compared with the former version but I'm merely guessing here.The sound quality for both versions though in wonderful DTS HD MA 5.1 surround is simply stunning and certainly beyond reproach. As to the various cuts argument I personally would have done a different "Reviewer's Cut" although I have to say that the original thearetical version was pretty well done already but I do have some sympathy with Blatty. For my "Reviewer's Cut" version, I would leave out the "spider on the staircase" scene and perhaps the extended ending with the policeman but I would keep some of the ending like when the priest tells the mother to keep Karas' medal and perhaps just end it a little after that just before the policeman shows up. I would also keep the staircase dialogue between the exorcists as I do agree with Blatty that it is a key scene and I disagree with Friedkin that it is "understood" or "stating the obvious"; sometimes with filmgoers you need to state the obvious for emphasis and I feel that to be the case here. I would leave out the additional scene of Karas playing the recording of Regan's normal voice as in that case I feel it was not necessary to show how normal Regan was because I think we get it already from the beginning of the film although I would keep the added footage of the mother talking with the doctors. There you have it! This reviewer's cut! But all in all if I had to choose between the two I'd say the Thearetical Version is good as is that is until my Reviewer's Cut is made :-)This film shocked me and when I first saw even the censored version of it years ago as a child I have to say it bothered me no end and led to many a sleepless night but as I grew older and hence better able to see the bigger picture I've come to realise that this is a great love story with many facets to show that Good always triumphs over Evil and that even if it may seem that Evil wreaks all kinds of calamity and havoc and has the upper hand but in the final analysis Good still wins. In the end, the priest who lost his faith gains redemption through imitating his model Jesus Christ; in taking onto himself all of the evil inhabiting the child and dying for her salvation he does on a smaller scale what Christ did in taking on all the evils of the entire world onto himself and dying for it so that it may be redeemed and live in spiritual freedom again. Also in the example of Karas and the entire experience I think we can safely say that Regan's mother is no longer an aetheist! I guess there are no aetheists in foxholes and in demonic possession! It was very touching watching this transformation of Karas' character from the start of the film to the very end. For me the most important and most memorable scene of the entire film was the one at the bottom of the stairs after the older priest sends Karas out of the room because he was not cutting it and when the mother asks if Regan was going to die and as if in a Garden of Gethsemane moment Karas steels himself and decides no way! I'm going to save that child no matter what and just like Jesus going from Gethsamane to his death on the cross Karas goes from the bottom of the stairs up to the room where he dies to save the child. Beautiful!Next to The Passion of the Christ (Definitive Edition) [Blu-ray] this film is a great picture to encourage Christians everywhere. All the demon succeeded in doing was to give yet another opportunity for Self-Sacrificing Goodness to exhibit itself and bring Hope instead of the Despair that was intended as was so well put by von Sydow in the dialogue on the stairs scene that should have been kept in the original version.Yes, it is still the scariest film ever seen and made scarier with the 1080p and the DTS HD MA 5.1 surround treatment and yet it is among the more hopeful films that I have ever seen as well making this among the top 10 films that I've ever seen as well.Very disturbing if you are seeing it for the first time and I can only imagine how much more of the case that was in the 1970s but if you pay attention to the characters and all the storylines it is also among the most rewarding film experiences that you are likely to have.Very highly recommended!