Review of The Exorcist (1973) by Moviescriticnet — 08 Dec 2015

Yes, this is the best horror movie ever made and it's almost a certainty that no other horror movie in the future will even come close. It's not that Linda Blair got nominated for oscar for best actress in a supporting role in the age of 15, nor the terrifying (but at the same time a bit ridiculous) scene that she walks down stairs upside down or the head spinning scene, but the fact that director William Friedkin builds up tension agonizingly slowly.

It's one of those good old movies that didn't hurry up revealing everything right from the start like modern movies do, trying to scare you with all possible impressive but cheap tricks. The exorcist is mainly a psychological horror film (the most succesful modern film that comes to my mind in that department is "It Follows"). The slow but engaging progression of the possession, the step by step lose of faith by the priest and the emotional breakdown of the poor mother all are means to the end of engaging the spectator to the realm of the film. After that the final 5-10 minutes of the movie are just the shocking end that finishes the work. Like Rocky features the fight between the hero and Apollo Creed just in the final minutes of the movie, the exorcism itself actually lasts a few minutes and it's only a secondary part of the plot. All in all this one is a classic horror film that like "Night of the Living Dead" noone should have missed.