“The Exorcist,” based on the 1971 book by William Peter Blatty, was released in 1973 and directed by William Fredkin. While the movie is nothing to go screaming your head off to, it surely can be surprising how well directed and written the film truly is. Of course, it does have creepy moments, more so disturbing, but thanks to a lack of horror, no night-light will be necessary.
The story revolves around a 12 year old girl, Regan Macneil (played by Linda Blair), as she becomes increasingly possessed by a demon claiming to be the devil. Every moment with Macneil felt truly chilling as she would unexpectedly do increasingly vulgar attacks to herself throughout the film, including stabbing herself and cutting her body. Which for a movie to depict these things out of a young girl, is what truly makes this shocking, and the sheer will the film makers had to go above and beyond is thrilling to say the least.
For a movie made in ‘73, the effects are stunning. Macneil puking green ooze and floating in the air or her head spinning 180 degrees, are all practical effects equal to movies like “The Thing,” which would release nearly a decade after “The Exorcist.” In fact, the effects were so good at points, that while watching, it’s easy to think they were made through modern computer graphics or other modern movie making tricks.
Sadly, not all of these tricks were in good faith, as many unseen tricks were organized by Fredrik, who was notorious for manipulating the cast. He would often lie to the cast about how a scene would play out, for instance, when the director infamously drew out a gun and fired it close to an actor’s ear to capture real surprise and fear. The actor, Jason Miller, who plays Damien Karras, later told Fredrik that as an actor, he didn’t need a gun to play his role effectively.
Him being an effective actor was definitely true, Miller played his part as Karras (the priest requested to exorcise the demon) flawlessly. Every moment with him was cold, calculated, and emotional with his personal struggles feeling real and relatable. Thanks to this, he effectively created an environment where, when in danger, the watcher is truly worried for the character, which is a main requirement for good horror films.
When it comes to horror films, there are few ways to do supernatural horror well, and “The Exorcist” failed at it. As all the horror elements come from conflicts with Macneil, she needs to be truly dangerous and scary for the film to work, but she isn’t. Not only is Macneil a young girl who’s only creepy looks come from cuts on her body, she also very rarely inflicts damage on others, and never attacks anybody unless provoked, making the stakes feel very minimal.
All things considered, “The Exorcist” is a good film, especially thanks to its creepy imagery and realistic actor reactions (as unethical as they may be), but it sadly overshoots the fine line between supernatural horror and and a “spooky” film, missing the mark of a truly spine chilling film. I would rate “The Exorcist” a 3.8📼 out of 5.0📼, and suggest the film to anybody looking for a good film, as long as your not looking to be horrified.
