The Exorcist (1973) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  William Friedkin

Starring:  Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller, Linda Blair, Lee J. Cobb


The Exorcist is scary in a different sense now than when it was released in 1973.   Back then, there was more shock value in having a 12-year-old girl possessed by the devil shout obscenities, puke up green goo, and rotate her head.    Since then, we've seen plenty of demonic possessions and laffaminit Airplane! like satires based on those, so these images lose their power.    What hasn't lost its power is the sense of hopelessness and dread that The Exorcist inspires.     That fear permeates Ellen Burstyn in nearly every scene she's in.     One day, your daughter is an outgoing, smiling 12-year-old and the next she is chained to a bed because the demon inside her causes violent outbursts and seizures which threaten to tear the girl to pieces.    The green vomit comes later.  

The Exorcist tackles the William Peter Blatty novel in a realistic way.    How exactly does a mother approach the fact that her daughter is now the vessel of a demon?   Her daughter as she knows her no longer exists.    Medical science has no answers and the church is even leery to perform an exorcism because of the danger involved to the priests performing it and the possessed child.     A properly performed exorcism doesn't guarantee anything.    All of the characters here are entering an unknown world.    The priests aren't superheroes who fearlessly save the day, but human beings with their own physical and psychological issues that can be exploited.  

The Exorcist works better as a psychological thriller with wounded characters, especially Miller, who is plagued with guilt over his mother's death and makes him vulnerable to the demon's manipulation.     Von Sydow only appears in the beginning and the climactic exorcism, but he casts a long shadow with his physical presence.    He is the only living priest with experience in these matters, but his first exorcism nearly killed him.    Linda Blair is physically present while chained to the bed, although her voice is dubbed by a sinister sounding male voice,    Still it is disconcerting to see a 12-year-old screaming "Fuck me" with her legs spread and that's the point, even though it's not really "her" saying it.

Does The Exorcist hold up?  For the most part, yes.   I could've done without Lee J. Cobb's movie-loving detective who asks Miller to accompany him to the movies.    His scenes don't add much and in the "director's cut" released in the early 2000's, Cobb has a monologue at the end discussing his favorite movies.   What this has to do with anything I have no clue and this takes away from the chilling final shots accompanied by Tubular Bells on the soundtrack.