Film of the Week #66 - The Exorcist (1973)

faceman

Before I start, many thanks for Karl for selecting me to do a FotW review.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070047/

I have chosen this film, because it is one of my favourite films and because of the profound effect it had on me when i first saw it on both a spiritual and creative level.

To me, The Exorcist not only remains one of the greatest horror films of all time, but one of immense power. Released at a time when Hammer Horror was in its prime, and set a new standard for horror films never seen before, the Exorcist attracted much controversy, discussion and fear, that not even GTA IV can remotely invoke today.

We all know the story, a young atheist girl, possessed by a demon, has her life and family torn apart until her atheist mother has no alternative but to try anything to rid her daughter of whatever it is has hold of her. Turning to an exorcist, we witness an epic battle of good versus evil with an outcome that doesn't leave us with that feel good sensation inside.

Beware, there may be spoilers below, i will cover up best i can!
Although it may appear dated to some nowadays, the Exorcist is still a tour de force of a film. At a time when Dracula was as evil as it got, it takes the most innocent symbol of humanity, a pre pubescent girl, and has a demon take control of her. Blatty and Friedkin set out to demonstrate the power of evil by showing how low evil can go, not even a young atheist girl escaping the clutch of evil. Friedkin specifically chose an unknown actress and hired a body double for the more demanding scenes. In order to feed the heir of mysticism, Friedkin failed to credit Linda Hagan with the role of stunt double nor did he credit Mercedes McCambridge (the voice of the demon) in an effort to make the audience believe that this little girl was undergoing these horrendous events.

Friedkin was almost an auteur of his generation. He believed in realism, and created a set with sub zero temperatures, not only to create a realistic visualisation for the audience but to create tension among the cast and crew. Coupled with his insistence of shooting guns at random on set to further fuel the tension, it resulted in an almost 18 month long shoot with many difficulties.

Unlike previous religious inspired flicks, Friedkin wanted an authentic feel to the film. He didnt want Rosemary's Baby With the exception of Fr Karras and Fr Merrin (ironically played by a real life atheist, Max Von Sydow), every other priest who appears in the film is a real priest, including Fr Dyer.

The end result is a film, still talked about today, that provoked an increase in entries to the priesthood, people leaving the cinema in disgust, and regular vomiting during the screenings.

SO why did the film have such an effect? I believe it was in the depiction of good vs evil. Nothing is sacred. An atheist girl could escape it. It took an act of extreme depravity to drive her mother to turn to completely unorthodox methods (by her beliefs)

the crucifix masturbation scene

Its one of the most powerful scenes in the film yet immensely subtle. The audience sees nothing but knows exactly what is happening. It was essential for the progress of the plot. The mother needed an act to make her turn to the church.

The ending is probably the most profound and most talked about element of the film. There are in actual fact 2 endings:

The original ending,

saw the demon leave Regan, enter karras and he kills himself. Regan and her mother move town and Regan has no recollection of the events, although ponders the priest (Dyer) who sees them family off.

I view this ending as the best. We see a horrific spiritual event pass without divine intervention and without explanation. Life goes on.

The second ending, which mirrors the book and can be seen in the special edition cut of the movie is the same with a couple of extra scenes.

Kinderman (the detective) befriends fr Dyer in a scene that echoes the earlier scene with kinderman and karras.

Even tho "life goes on" is still very much the theme, this ending inspires that bit more a sense of hope.

The theme of the both endings is that faith conquers evil, however it is more subtle in the original ending. Either way, the ending is still a much talked about point of the film

So in summary, why is this film worthy of FotW? I could rabbit on about it for hours! A film that can create a terrifying atmosphere without the need for graphic representation. It's the first film that i can recall that really creates psychological terror. It questions the audience's spiritual beliefs and challenges our comfort zone when it comes to our personal views on God and the devil.

Despite how some people mind think, its not a film to test your tolerance for horror or how far you can be pushed. It is a film that makes you question your spiritual beliefs and perhaps you boundaries for good and evil.

So what about you? How did this film make you feel? Does the crucifix scene still hold merit today? Was the spider walk scene too much to take in with the death of the film director too? Are there any other films that can create such psychological unease on a personal level? Does your mother suck cocks in hell?

As a final comment on how it inspired me on a creative level - it was a film that moved me into a creative role in movie making when i left school. It was the first film i saw that really created a deep emotional reaction at an age where i was supposed to be insensitive to emotion!

monkeyfudge

Nice summation.

Unfortunately I only saw this film for the first time about 4 years ago in Brazil.. blame Irish Censorship.. not me...

And it hasn't aged well.. I thought the whole affair seemed ridiculous.

But I do admit it is a film that has had a vast impact on western society.

Ouija boards are now unfairly seen as a tool of evil and generations of cinema has been influenced. Most recently and to great effect was my favourite TV series of all time Babylon 5: The Lost Tales.

Galvasean

Alas the Exorcist really hasn't aged well at all. I saw it as a kid and taught it was funny and not the least bit scary. If it werent for the Irish censors causing a big hoo-hah (mostly over religious content) and making it a taboo topic/cult odity I doubt anyone would give a toss about it.

Not one for me.

johnny_ultimate

Excellent write up, but would be in agreement with the last two posters that is has aged quite badly indeed. Watched it up in a mountain hostel when I was around 15 and tbh thought it was one of the least scary horrors I had ever seen . You can see the massive influence it has had on popular culture since, but it has shown its age, and bits seem cheap and comical today, despite some still controversial subject matter. But I think everyone has a film that massively influenced them, and cool to read your feelings on it faceman!

Oh, and think this new fotw format could work out if people put as much thought into their choices! Will definitely give a wider variety of films than just the token classics.

Karl Hungus

You know, I don't agree at all with the people who are saying it's aged badly. I picked up the Exorcist Anthology box set recently, and I didn't find it too aged. Certainly it's not as fast paced as modern horror films, but it did well to pace the proceedings and flesh out the characters a lot more than most horrors would, and it comes off as a much more powerful experience and better film overall because of it.

Now, I had first seen the film when I was a teenager, when it got the cinema re-release, and at the time I guess a lot of my horror interests weren't exactly classics, yet I was still blown away by the film.

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Oh, and think this new fotw format could work out if people put as much thought into their choices! Will definitely give a wider variety of films than just the token classics.

Certainly hope it's good. A lot of people say how they were introduced to new films because of FotW, so it should certainly stray beyond the token classics that were being voted for. It shouldn't be about popularity, and I'll be eagerly anticipating finding out what people are going to choose in the coming weeks. With the voting system, you know what's coming days in advance most of the time. I think the surprise will make proceedings more interesting.

guinnessdrinker

I also seen it for the first time when it was re-released in the cinema. I must admit after all the hype at the time, I felt a bit let down by the film afterwards. I was possibly expecting too much from it and that was the general view among the group of friends I went to watch it with too.

The

crucifix masturbation scene

did still shock me at the time though and it was at this point that one of my friends left the cinema because she thought she was going to be sick, I have never seen someone leave a film before or since because of a shock like that. It was just so unexpected.

I do agree with some of the other posters that say the film has not aged well but that does not detract from the actual film itself imo.

I bought the dvd a couple of years ago and watched it again. It is an above average movie but it is not an amazing movie. I was actually talking about the film with a couple of friends recently, both thought it was too slow moving and boring. I guess if we were around when it was first released we would have had different views about it but now it's just, as I said an above average film, that just my view on it.

gerky

It was on telly lastnight I only found out when it was nearly over but have seen it a few times.
Even though its very different in ways compared to more modern horrors I find it just as watchable today as any more modern film.

The Bollox

I first watched this when I was about 15 and to say I wasn't impressed would be an understatement. I felt it was too slow and didn't show enough gore (something all 15 year-olds want to see more of) so I put it as an instant write off for any future re-watching. That is until I read the write-up Faceman did and was intrigued, I decided it was worth of a second chance so I got it for about €3 or €4 on Amazon and watched it last night with little expectation. I was blown away.

I put the fact I didn't like it when I was younger to a pairing of not understanding exactly what was going on and over-hype, I had rented it out then to get the pants scared off me because of loads of people saying "oooh don't watch that film, you're too young" and now I see they were right. I wasn't too young for the violence, I was too young for the concept. Linda Blair's performance as the unfortunate possessee was brilliant, so different from the wide-eyed, wooden child performances of today.

In closing I would just like to uge all who have not seen the film in a long time, who have given it the cold shoulder, to give it another try as it is well worth the watch. the suspence is very gripping all throughout the film