Welcome back to “31 Days of Halloween!” This is a seasonal series where I will spend each day this month watching and discussing a horror film. The parameters are very loose, not sticking to one specific subgenre or director. So far I’ve covered Event Horizon, Martyrs, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Suspiria, Possession, Raw, The Evil Dead, Evil Dead, Candyman, Rosemary’s Baby, Don’t Breathe, The Fly, The Last House on the Left, The Last House on the Left (2009), Goodnight Mommy, The Thing, Funny Games, and The Descent. Nearly every one of these films could be considered genre classics, hidden gems, or modern masterpieces. To many people, today’s film is the greatest horror film of all time. Like The Godfather, list-makers and critics feel obligated to consistently place it at the top of “greatest” lists. This praise is warranted, of course. While I don’t consider myself a particularly religious person, this film still affects me.
This movie is William Friedkin’s 1973 masterpiece, The Exorcist. I first saw this film when I was about ten years old, and its imagery haunted me for weeks. My mom and I watched it in a cabin up in North Carolina, an environment I wasn’t used to, and every creak or groan that night set me on edge.
While there will still be minor spoilers, I am going to attempt to keep the first and last sections of my review, “what’s it about” and “is it worth watching,” completely spoiler-free as to give those who haven’t seen the film a good impression without ruining it. In the other sections, I will attempt to remain as spoiler-free as possible, but it won’t be a guarantee. For parts with spoilers, I will put (MAJOR SPOILERS) to give you all a fair warning.
So basically, if you want to know about the film and whether you should see it, read the first and last sections. Now let’s begin.
October 19th
The Exorcist (1973)
Based on William Peter Blatty’s novel of the same name, which was in turn inspired by a true story of the possession of a teenage boy with the pseudonym Roland Doe, The Exorcist had a troubled production. Not only did the film go through many directors (including Stanley Kubrick) and stars (Marlon Brando, Audrey Hepburn), but there were many accidents on set, including a crew member’s toddler being hit by a motorbike and being hospitalized, which led to some believing that the film was cursed. Director Friedkin was also notorious for taking a Kubrick approach to directing, which included cruel treatment of some of the stars and intentional deception to get better reactions out of his actors.
This didn’t stop the film from becoming one of the highest grossing films of all time, with a whopping $441 million in box office (virtually unheard of in horror films, and comes out to be about $1.8 billion when adjusted for inflation). It also went on to be nominated for 10 Academy Awards and had the distinction of being the first horror film nominated for “Best Picture,” which is so shocking when you look at the Academy’s history with horror movies. While it didn’t take home this Oscar, it did receive the Oscars for “Best Adapted Screenplay” and “Best Sound Mixing.” Throughout the years, the film has been aped, parodied, and beat to death with sequels. It went on to create one of the quintessential and most enduring subgenres in horror, the possession story. If there was a “Horror 101” class, this would almost always be one of the cornerstone films of the course.
What’s it About?
Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) has just wrapped production on a film that she was shooting in Washington, D.C. with director and friend Burke Dennings (Jack MacGowran). Chris comes home to daughter Regan (Linda Blair) and her assistant/nanny Sharon (Kitty Winn), and they’re getting ready to return to California now that filming is done. While looking through the house, Chris finds a Ouija board that Regan had been playing with, and Regan mentions her friend, “Captain Howdy,” who she claims to have talked to through the board. As the days progress, Regan begins to act abnormal: making inhuman noises, using vulgar language, and possessing unusual strength. Chris takes Regan to psychologists, but they can’t find any somatic reasoning for her changes in behavior. The doctors believe that it may be a problem with her temporal lobe, but Chris starts to think differently as Regan’s actions become more and more alien. This is when she reaches out to part-psychiatrist, part-priest Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller), and asks him about the act of exorcism. You know how the rest goes.
Chris and Regan are very close as mother and daughter, which makes Regan’s loss of humanity all the more difficult to watch.
What Works?
This film wouldn’t work nearly as well without Linda Blair’s performance, which is something that caused skepticism among initial directors. They weren’t really sure if a teenage girl could carry the weight necessary to lead this film, but Blair delivered on all fronts. She plays the regular Regan admirably, portraying a sweet, lovable daughter who could be any one of our children. But her performance wouldn’t be remembered if she was just that Regan. She also must portray a demented and sadistic Regan, and although she may not voice the character after this point (that honor goes to radio actress Mercedes McCambridge), her mannerisms, the violent way in which she rocks her body around, and the demonic grin that constantly creeps across her face almost makes you forget that you’re watching a little girl act on screen. You truly believe this girl has been possessed, and the fear in the eyes of Chris and Father Karras is believable because that fear has become your own. The always fantastic Ellen Burstyn (don’t believe me? Go watch Requiem for a Dream) is great as well, even if she sort of disappears in the film’s final act. It’s heartbreaking to see her go from this headstrong, independent, loving mother to this anxiety-ridden, aggressive woman. Her frustration when the doctors aren’t able to come up with any concrete reason for Regan’s actions is felt in her eyes, rubbed raw from tears and rage, and the trembling fury within her voice. Her shriek isn’t that of a traditional “scream queen,” but of a mother who wants nothing more than to protect her baby.
One of the most interesting film-making choices in The Exorcist, and one of the things that haunted me so much about this film when I was younger is the “subliminal” images that Friedkin slips into the film. I put subliminal in quotes, because they’re pretty obvious to any observant viewers. At a handful of points throughout the film, the scene is inter-cut with pictures of a demonic face, which is of course revealed to be the face of Pazuzu, an Assyrian demon who has grabbed hold of Regan’s soul. Other times, the face appears in a shadowy corner of the frame, or it is even imposed over one of the actor’s faces. The makeup effects done to create the demonic face are timeless and chilling, and recall the monsters of German Expressionism and the early Universal era.
This face haunted my dreams for years.
There is so many things that I could talk about with this movie, but I’ll keep it concise for the sake of time; I wouldn’t want to get too long in the tooth here.
What Doesn’t Work?
My main issue with the film is the first twenty minutes or so. The opening scene, following Father Merrin as he explores an excavation in Northern Iraq and finds a statuette of Pazuzu, feels so disjointed from the rest of the film until Merrin appears again nearly two hours into the film. This scene is nearly dialogue free, and the few bits of dialogue there are subtitled. Watching this film for the first time, it’s hard not to keep thinking, “why was that first scene there? We’ve been with the MacNeil family for an hour and a half and it hasn’t been brought up yet.” It is, of course, paid off later when Merrin realizes that the demon possessing Regan is a demon with which he has gained knowledge of, but it doesn’t really come off as a big revelation and doesn’t drastically change the course of the plot. The best reasoning I can give for the first scene is so that it doesn’t seem completely random when the church brings in Merrin later on in the movie. This, combined with some run of the mill character work in Washington D.C. makes for a plodding, only mildly interesting first act. Once Chris hosts a party and Regan (MINOR SPOILERS) tells a visiting astronaut “you’re going to die up there” before peeing all over the floor (END SPOILERS), the plot kicks into overdrive, but it is unfortunate that it drags early on.
Many of the supporting cast leaves a lot to be desired, as well, especially Sharon. This, however, doesn’t bear too much weight on the film itself, as the truly important characters (Chris, Regan, Karras, and Merrin) are all expertly crafted and performed convincingly.
Most Horrifying Moment?
There reaches a point in this film where the audience starts to dread every time someone opens the door to Regan’s room, because it’s almost always a guarantee that something fucked up is going to be happening. She pukes pea soup all over everybody, makes her head turn a full 360 degrees, and calls priests “cocksuckers.” None of that, however, compares to what she decides to do with a crucifix. Chris and Regan aren’t religious people, so when Chris finds a crucifix in Regan’s bed, she’s understandably frustrated. After questioning everyone who’s been in the house about it, it becomes clear that no one gave it to her, but she has one any way. There are later bestial growls upstairs, and a few of the cast members run into the room to check on Regan. They are all horrified to find her aggressively stabbing herself in the vagina with the crucifix, getting blood all over herself and the sheets, all while screaming “let Jesus fuck you!” over and over again. It’s an absolutely horrifying, sickening moment. I can’t even imagine how this scene affects people who are truly religious, because it’s probably one of the most blasphemous things you can do. It’s crazy to think that they were able to get away with imagery such as this in a film from 1973. This was one of the earliest signs of the new era of more “extreme” film now that the PCA (Production Code Administration) had been disbanded. Even to this day, many horror films shy away from having scenes quite as shocking as this.
Is It Worth Watching?
Is it even necessary to have this section for this film? If my praise so far hasn’t been enough indication: yes, this is essential horror. A truly timeless classic, The Exorcist contains imagery and subject matter that is still taboo and risque to this day. Seeing these acts happen to a girl who is only 12 years old makes it all the more harrowing; we all feel Ellen Burstyn’s pain and frustration when she realizes that she has no control over the situation. If you haven’t seen this movie yet, I hope the power of my glowing review compels you to finally check it out.
19 days down, only 12 more left. That means I’m running out of films to choose from, and it’s going to be a bit of a doozy picking worthy contenders for the last few spots. I do want to be as international as possible for my list, and I think I’ve done a good job so far by covering films from: America, Britain, France, Austria, Belgium, and Poland. There’s a whole continent that seems to be missing, one which is actually pretty renowned for their horror: Asia, and specifically Japan. Therefore, I believe it’s time to finally observe a Japanese horror film.
What better film to talk about than legendary horror director Takashi Miike’s 1999 torture film Audition? I didn’t appreciate this film very much when I watched it back in my younger days, but years of seeing it top many “best Japanese horror film” lists has compelled me to give the film another chance. Will I fall in love with it this time? You’ll have to find out tomorrow. Until then, keep on creeping on.
Rising Action 