The Exorcist Review

 

            I’ve been waiting for the right time to watch this one. Be it that it is October, I decided it was time to watch this classic. Doing some background, it has the notoriety of being “The Scariest Movie Ever”. I’ll talk about that but just to state it bluntly, it’s probably one of my favorite films I have seen. Something about great films being adapted from books always makes it seem that it depends on the substance of the book to make the film grand. Just this once I won’t be talking about the story but ostensibly talk about the best things that I can think of in the film. SPOILERS will appear in the review.

2.      The Iraq Scene

            This is probably one of the best first halves in the movie that I have seen in any film that I watched. With any newcomer that is watching for the first time and being confused why it takes place in Iraq, all I can say that it’s called “Set-Up”. Father Merrin played by Max von Sydow is part of an excavation, a boy tells him that his group dug up something. Merrin goes to the specific location and finds some odd relics. What he digs out further is a head of the demon named Pazuzu. Now, it’s name is never uttered in the movie and it’s the wisest move since it’s a silly sounding name. The sequel did it and the less I say about that one, the better.

            Near the end as he leaves the country, he visits an old temple. He looks around and a shadow appears and it’s a statue of the demon. I love the succeeding shots, such as the dogs fighting and a wild west looking shot of the Father looking at the statue. It communicates to us with no dialogue that Merrin has faced the demon. And the obvious that the devil makes men turn against each other.

            I love this act due to the overall foreboding vibe. With the Muslim prayer chants telling us that evil is universal, and it’s not just limited to Christianity or Catholicism. It’s everywhere. One thing that I had to look up was the actor’s age.  Max Von Sydow was in his forties when The Exorcist was being filmed. They put layers of makeup to make him look really aged. He looks like himself years later when he appeared in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

3.      Father Karras

            One would think that the film would be focusing on the young girl Reagan played by Linda Blair. But her situation is just the framing story. The real main character is Father Damien Karras played by Jason Miller. He’s the most conflicted person of faith I have seen. He has trouble with himself losing his faith and asks his superior to transfer. Compounding this he is briefly living with his mother who he wants to relocate to somewhere better.

            He isn’t the typical good priest. He smokes, drinks and really doubts Reagan’s mom Chris when she asks if he can do an exorcism. Karras explains to her that there haven’t been any events since the idea of mental health has been what he believes what causes the exorcisms that happened in the past.

            His character is so dynamic that when talking about this concept in literary terms called the hero’s journey, Karras fits the bill. Meaning that his character is in a bad position. He gets a call to help but he rejects it. Eventually he relents and joins his associate Father Merrin to rescue Reagan from the demon. Unfortunately, he dies and I honestly didn’t want that to happen to him. But I can understand that it fit his overall redemption that the film was aiming for.

4.      The Demon

            As I mentioned earlier, the demon has a name but the movie doesn’t announce it. Additionally, it’s established that Merrin has squared off against the demon in his younger years. It was voiced by actress Mercedes McCambridge. For as much as it is just a voice, her performance gives the demon credence to being a legitimate threat. I’m glad that there wasn’t any shot or just dialogue to explain how it made it to Georgetown but that it appeared in the house. Well, we do hear that Reagan has been playing with a Ouija board and made an imaginary friend.

            It proves to be a worthy antagonist to Karras. When Miller’s character first meets Reagan, he thinks that it’s just the girl acting up. The demon says that it is the devil. Karras goads into making the straps that is clamping on Reagan’s wrists to go away. It says that’s no fun and pukes on Karras.

            I think the best moment is when Karras goes back into Reagan’s room he sees Merrin dead and seeing his mother in the bed. The demon giggles which prompts Karras to punch the demon and make it possess him. I think one of the ways the demon does to make it seem scary is to make illusions. With illusions the demon twists Reagan’s head to face the other side and to voice Damien’s mom.

5.      The Subjectivity of Being Scared

Now, with it bearing the notoriety and title of “Scariest Movie Ever Made”, I believe that the real terror isn’t so much of the exorcism. It’s not knowing what was wrong with Reagan before her mother called Damien for help. Chris takes Reagan to the hospital and the one moment where she’s in the examination room shows just how much it looks like a procedural. With Reagan having her blood drawn and to have scans of her brain being taken which causes her pain.

            It’s one thing to be immediately scared with not knowing what’s wrong with your child and with yourself. And I feel that the scenes with Chris experiencing the demon’s illusions and power are indeed frightening. But I feel that the real horror comes with not originally knowing and telling the professionals what happened. Only to be blown off and say that it’s a mental psychosis.

            When it came out, a load of people were actually genuinely frightened of the movie. Some had to be escorted out of the theater and some puked. I think it was a case of just not being prepared or exposed to what was going on that had people off their rocker. More so with the hype that may have got the movie to get the title that it got at the time.

            Does it still apply now? I don’t think so. I do think that there are other movies that are frightening but are just tame in horror movie standard. Even a movie that has war in it can have horror elements and make it scary. I think as a genre, one has to look at the whole slate and pick which ones that generally did scare them and the others that made them startled or made them anxious.

6.      Overall

When it came out in 1974, no one would think it would be nominated with so many awards including Best Picture. It’s a massive feat to have a horror movie be nominated and be in the same category as one of the best films to come out. I think when more films come out that deal with exorcisms that aren’t as successful as The Exorcist. It can at least be attributed with one glaring thing. It’s not so much of the event, but more on the human drama investment with the characters that make the event gripping. We go in expecting an exorcism, but the real crux is the person doing it as a way to find his faith and be redeemed.

 

The Exorcist gets a five out of five.