#15 - The Exorcist

The Exorcist (1973)
Directed by: William Friedkin. Written by: William Peter Blatty, based on his novel.

Plot: An actress (Ellen Burstyn) discovers that her daughter (Linda Blair) is possessed by some ancient demonic force, if not Satanus himself. She recruits the help of a young priest who has lost his faith or something (Jason Miller) and an older priest who would go on to do battle with Satanus as an older man in the prequels (Max Von Sydow).

Review: This is one of those confusing movies. It’s loaded with fluids spraying every which way, weird make-up and young girls screaming obscenities, and yet I do not find myself laughing through the whole thing. On the contrary, I find myself rather disturbed. It's bizarre.

In fact, the second time I watched this movie there were parts I couldn’t even really watch. I figured I’d already seen them, I didn’t really need to see them again, and averted my eyes. One part in particular which I still don't really want to mention in writing. You know what part I’m talking about.

Another interesting point is that this movie works whether or not you believe in the devil. I don’t really (honestly, I’ve been rather confused spiritually for the last little while. I was raised atheist, I guess, but ya know… I’m starting to believe. Score one for the Lord, right? Wrong. I always thought a pantheon of deities made way more sense than one almighty god, so I’m not going to run out and join the church just yet. Not to worry), and yet this movie is still fundamentally scary.

My friend Mr. White said after watching this (and I paraphrase) “it’s freaky coz, you know, everybody has a bed”. As silly a statement as that is, she is right. Not in the fact that everybody has a bed. There are a lot of people who don’t. But that is why it is freaky. I guess.

I mean, all of the horror stuff takes place in the bed. Actually, the real horror is that this could have happened to anyone. There was nothing Regan really did to deserve that. Sure, she bugged her mom for a pony but come on. That seems a little fuckin harsh there.

Although there is a lot of religious stuff which almost seems hilarious except that, like, it’s Max Von Sydow and I find it impossible to take him lightly. My god he’s a good looking guy though. I mean, he was playing an old dude in this but he was still very attractive. He’s still good looking now and he's like ninety or some shit. It's quite impressive. God. That's actually one of the fundemental reasons that Virgin Spring is better than Last House on the Left.

But I digress. This movie freaked the hell out of me. It’s just really fucked. And you know, I really feel bad for Ellen Burstyn there. She actually seemed like a really nice person and then bam, Satanus. I guess that’s what appeals to me about this movie. The characters of Regan and… Regan’s mom are appealing enough that I really care what’s going on.

Favourite Part: Woo Max. He's the shit.

Other versions: No, but you know it’s coming.

Sequels: Exorcist 2: The Heretic and Exorcist 3. Two prequels, both telling the same story, Exorcist: The Beginning (the one I saw and supposedly the inferior one) and Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist.

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