Noémi Kocsis

  The Exorcist is most definitely one of the greatest horror movies of all time. According to rumors when the movie came out, so many people wanted to see it, that they were standing in line for hours to get in. Some reportedly got sick, ran out of the cinema crying, or even fainted during the film. Having received such a response from the audience back then, no wonder it became one of my own favorites.

In contrast to recent and very dull horrors, The Exorcist has an implicit message, a very serious issue behind the plot. It guides us through the ultimate battle of Good and Evil, of Heaven and Hell focusing on an innocent, sweet and happy little girl, Regan (Linda Blair), who eventually turns into pure evil: Satan himself. The story was claimed to be based on true events by the author of both the screenplay and the novel, William Peter Blatty, which might have added to the very hysterical reception of the movie. Also, many people went to see it because of the brilliantly vivid, but very disturbing scenes it contains, including the one where Regan’s head turns around her neck in 360 degrees.

Aside from the poor little girl, there were other really good characters, and each of them had their own stories to tell. Chris MacNeil (Regan’s mother), played by Ellen Burstyn, is a divorced mother who cares for her daughter very deeply, obviously would do anything for her, as we see her visiting every single doctor for help. Burstyn’s performance is exceptionally good throughout the movie that awakens great empathy in the viewer.

Father Karras (Jason Miller) is a struggling young priest, full of guilt about his mother he abandoned long before. He is slowly losing faith in what he’s doing, doesn’t fully believe in exorcism or possession by Satan either. However, he always does what is expected from him as a religious leader until the end.

On the other side, there stands Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow), who is quite the opposite of Karras: an elderly “veteran” who’s already faced Satan before and is completely aware of what he is doing. The makeup artist did an excellent job on Von Sydow, reflecting the experiences his character went through. This also enhanced the fundamentally fantastic performance the actor gave us.

Taking all of the above into account, it’s no surprise The Exorcist won several awards, including two Academy Awards, and was nominated for 14 others. That’s quite a nice job considering that the movie isn’t the one that’s thought to be the director’s (William Friedkin’s) best piece.

On a more general note, the soundtrack composed by Jack Nietzsche was a really good choice and it became almost as famous as the film itself.

One might see it as a horror, or even as a religious movie and I think that’s why it reached so many different types of audiences and was liked by them. It has been made fun of many times, but still, as I see it, it is one of the best horror movies, that kept me thrilled from beginning to the very end. Young horror fans these days often tend to underrate it, or even think it is ridiculous – I know this for sure, because I was one of them. When I first saw it, I was too little to properly understand its values; I was only scared to death because of the way the story was depicted. For the second time, I was still too young and thought it was too old-fashioned, even a bit funny, but not as scary as it was for the first time. Now I’m older and hopefully more mature, so I was finally able to comprehend the message, and I believe that The Exorcist is a true classic.

(2009)

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