The Exorcist (1973)

Succeeded by: Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

	Directed by: William Friedkin	COUNTRY USA Genre Horror/Thriller NORWEGIAN TITLE Exorcisten RUNNING TIME 121 minutes
	Produced by: William Peter Blatty
	Written by (based on his own novel): William Peter Blatty

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Chris MacNeil	Ellen Burstyn	½
Father Merrin	Max von Sydow
Lt. Kinderman	Lee J. Cobb
Sharon	Kitty Winn	½
Burke Dennings	Jack MacGowran	½
Father Karras	Jason Miller
Regan	Linda Blair
Voice of the Demon	Mercedes McCambridge	-

Review

After causing aversion, disgust and discussions about the fundamental role of film as a cultural medium back in 1973, The Exorcist still has the ability to make even the callous moviegoer uncomfortable and uneasy today, decades later. What originally felt like an attack on religion and the Church today feels more like a testament to the overwhelming position and massive impact Christianity has had on every aspect of Western culture over the past few centuries. There is little doubt that William Peter Blatty and William Friedkin deployed calculated visual and cinematic methods to provoke and evoke the shocking effect of The Exorcist – both cerebrally and emotionally – but what is perhaps more remarkable is that although the film no longer feels as audacious today as it did in 1973, it has nonetheless survived the test of time better than most subsequent films in the genre.

The reason for said effectiveness – for The Exorcist's ability to engage and hold our terrified and increasingly pious attention – is how the filmmakers keep presenting every little development in Chris and Regan's situation in a pragmatic and authentic manner. We join Ellen Burstyn on her descent into the downward spiral, from confusion and desperation through denial and to virtual apathy. And as we try to nod along to the rationalisations of the medical profession, we become more and more convinced that what's possessing Regan is very much real, and that the situation is as palpable and fundamentally scary as her family fear.

No other film in horror history has been able to realise and physicalise the supernatural and unexplainable as forcefully and compellingly as The Exorcist. The lurid combination of the tasteless and completely inconsiderate images of a child desecrating her own hymen – the very symbol of physical and mental purity – and the seemingly sincere and downright presentation of the satanic has a massive, inevitable effect on everyone subjected to the Christian indoctrination that has been prevalent in Western societies for centuries. It is a thematic line with a resonance that the horror genre never has been able to equal, before or since.