This film also terrifies me, and has gotten worse with years (and after becoming a parent). When The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen was released in 2000, I took pride (with an entire theater full of viewers on opening night) in screaming and nearly peeing myself during the now infamous Spider Walk Scene; I've seen it plenty of times since then and I still clench in anticipation, knowing that it's coming. This is one that definitely gets under your skin. The following article originally appeared as Fear The Priest: The Exorcist on Televisionlady.blogspot.com.
The Exorcist, 1973. Directed by William Friedkin, based on the novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty.
I'm guessing I don't need to include a synopsis on this one, but just in case, The Devil possesses one twelve year old Reagan Teresa MacNeil. Two priests drive him out. Lots of roaring and green vomit ensue.
This is an extremely cinematic horror film. The opening scenes in Iraq and the long shots of Georgetown are as beautiful as any I've seen. Friedkin seems to have the special gift in being able to take his time telling a story, but at the same time leaving us with enough (events, images, anticipation) to keep us waiting for more. There is a lot of waiting in this film, but it's a still a great experience. The pacing was delightfully drawn out; slow build ups + beautiful cinematography? Was this guy a buddy of Kubrick's? Sometimes I wish I would have been born in the sixties just so I could have been in film school during the seventies. This isn't just a great horror film but a great film in itself.
A great director (and screenwriter) also has the ability to pepper a film with little bits of randomness that are just cool and interesting (like maybe the shots of raindrops seen from above or the gently falling slow-motion bullets in The Matrix? As images, they weren't vital to the story but they added a lot. Wes Craven did this well in A Nightmare on Elm Street, also). Reagan's art in the basement, the argument between Carl the butler and Burke the filmmaker over Nazis, Karras's Chivas-stealing priest friend, and the close up on Merrin's dangling crucifix are all beautiful little touches, and good writing.
The dialogues are also stellar, most of all the things that come out of Devil-Reagan's mouth ("A fine day for an exorcism!" "You'd like that?" "INTENSELY.") I read this book when I was in junior high, and the only thing I remember from it were in fact the dialogues between Reagan and Karras. And that she um, purposely soiled herself to mess with Karras (it was written as "diarrhetic void in plastic pants." Why I remember this I cannot say, but clearly it made an impression). My favorite excerpt:
Reagan: "You're a LIAR!"
Karras: "But The Devil likes liars!"
Reagan (grinning): "Only the good ones, Karras, only the good ones."
Is this film scary? Yes, it is. We're talking about The Devil, after all, and if you believe in that sort of thing then it's probably terrifying to think that any one of us is fair game for possession. I of course rejoiced in the similarities and roots this drew from The Twilight Zone (The Howling Man: like Father Merrin, David Ellington also travels the world searching for The Devil) and later lent to Lost (passing of the torch from one "guardian" to the next, sacrificing one's self, etc.) "It's a liar, but it mixes lies with the truth. Do not listen to it!" ("Don't let him speak to you; if he says one word it will already be too late!"---Dogan says to Sayid about the Smoke Monster masquerading as John Locke.)
I watched the re-mastered edition with the new scenes, and I liked the superimposed images of demons, they were random and jarring. The spider-walk down the stairs didn't have quite as much shock factor as it did in the theater, but it's a good scene. The scariest, most troubling part for me this time around was actually Mother Karras in the mental hospital, I think I'd take pretty much anything over that place. I also had the subtitles on this time (as not to wake and terrify the kids) and I learned quite a lot. For instance, when Karras listens to the tape recording of possessed-Reagan, the "I am no one" is pretty clear audio-wise. What I never knew was that it was also shrieking "Fear the Priest, Merrin!" that part is a little bit more muddled-sounding. This is actually vital to the story, this reveal that Merrin, the Iraq digging, pill-popping old priest from the opening, follows The Devil around and has the skills to fight him! (And I never knew it until last night!) Wow. I think I should probably start watching all films with the subtitles, who knows how much I've been missing over the years?
As for nightmares, I was all right, slept with the lights off, even. I still had creepy dreams though, first it was magenta snakes in water, sneaking up to gobble things and swallow them whole and then a haunted house where every square inch of the floor was covered in spiders the size of cue balls. See what I mean about dreams? Usually the snakes come when I'm too hot; I wake up overheated and realize I've been running away from them, usually always on grass. At least it wasn't Damien's mother. . .
The film? Watch it, it's very much a masterpiece.
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