Review of The Exorcist (1973) by Mitchell S — 12 Jul 2017

A visual and audio funhouse that just so happened to prey upon our most hardwired superstitions. We take for granted today the shocking and life-threatening scare tactics director William Friedkin innovated. Even without the visual effects, the unhinged performances by the cast resulted in a truly terrifying experience - at least for the first time you watch it. Gradually, as you watch lesser caliber horror, the violent nature of the film mitigates. But with its carefully orchestrated silences and assaults on the viewer, nothing compares to this. Watch it only once, when you're still open-minded as to the concepts of evil spirits.

Pazuzu floated head-circles around other invisible villains like Keyser Soze and the mad truck driver from Duel. This nasty demon even surpasses other non-human terrors such as Jaws and the Borg Queen because of its blatantly malicious intent. Whereas we can debate the evil heart of the monster in Cloverfield or Godzilla (which theoretically could be a worried mommy looking for her eggs) Pazuzu's evil lust is insatiable. This King of the demons was not content until it has possessed and violated a 12-year old girl, swore like a sailor, defied all human logic with its ghostly bag of tricks and wasted not one but two priests. That's what you call a devil's advocate.