Review of The Exorcist (1973) by Tyler W — 04 Dec 2015

Exorcising Faith?:

The Exorcist is widely considered to be one of the greatest horror movies of all time, and after watching this legendary film, it's easy to see why. For starters, this movie actually has a plot, which is a rarity in horror. The characters grow and develop: A depressed Father Karras(Jason Miller) is shown questioning his faith and sharing a drink with a fellow priest over his mother's poor health; Regan is shown as innocent before the possession, and her deterioration is slow and steady; Chris's feelings toward Regan change throughout the film, leading to famous her line, "That thing upstairs is not my daughter." By forming a relationship between the characters and audience, The Exorcist allows true horror and suspense to be felt on behalf of the characters; rather than watching a bunch of people you don't know/care about get systematically murdered onscreen (I'm looking at you, Leo Gabriadze's Unfriended). Each death in the movie is meaningful to the story and evokes emotion from the audience. The characters and even the plot seem to deny the possibility of a possession, which is only accepted after exhausting every somatic and psychological possibility. This makes the tension build to the climax of "Good vs. Evil" even more satisfying. Contemporary viewers will be surprised at the quality of the special effects, despite the lack of CGI. The special effects makeup alone is far better than any modern horror I've ever seen, from the ability to make Regan look progressively sicker throughout the course of the movie, the projectile vomiting, to the famous 180 ? head spin.

WARNING: THE NEXT PARAGRAPH CONTAINS SPOILERS!

One of the other great things about this film is its interesting portrayal of religion. Father Karras himself doesn't believe an exorcism will do anything; he tries to disprove the possibility of a possession multiple times. Karras is also shown questioning his faith, and struggling with guilt over his mother's death; establishing the humanity of the priest. He's not any different from a normal person, there's an absence of the holier-than-thou attitude. The film portrays the Catholic Church not as a truth, but rather what it really is: an organization. Catholicism, though specifically portrayed in the film, is a metaphor for not just Christianity, but organized religion as a whole, and the exorcism could be considered a metaphor for the practices of those religions.

No matter what way you look at it, The Exorcist is a truly phenomenal film. This movie, while not conventionally what we consider horror to be today, definitely stands out. It's still just as shocking and suspenseful as the year it was released, and it still crosses a few lines today. It's not hard to see why people often call it the greatest horror movie ever, it has a universal sense of appeal, and moreover, it actually tells a story filled to the brim with suspense, action, and emotion.