Horror
movies have been apart of my life ever since I was a little kid. I remember
there was a store in Tulsa called Media Play that had all the classic Universal
monster movies on VHS and my mom bought them all for me. I grew up watching the
original Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Wolfman, and loved every second
of it. In middle school and junior high, my friends and I would hold marathons
where we would watch all the Friday the 13th or Nightmare on Elm
Street films in a row. I saw it all at a young age because nothing was off
limits when it came to horror, except one film: William Friedkin’s The
Exorcist.
When
mention was made of this film, my mom’s face would turn dead serious and she
would forbid me to ever see it. She would tell me stories about her friends who
saw it and then regretted every second of it. My uncle told me that there were
images in the Exorcist that he wished he had seen because he can’t get them out
of his head. Then, upon further research, I read about the outcry and shock the
general public experienced when the film was released in 1973. People were
fainting in their seats and walking out of the theatre early in shock. The
Reverend Billy Graham would even claim that there were demonic forces actually
living in the film print of the movie itself. So, with all this commotion about
the film, I just had to watch it.
I
remember the night I finally watched it like it was yesterday. I was a freshman
in high school and staying the night at my friend’s house when some other guy’s
we knew brought the film over. I finally had a chance to watch it. When it was
over, my friends and I had just sat through two of the most harrowing and
intense hours of our lives and witnessed one of the greatest horror films ever
made.
Is
it really necessary to give a plot summary for this one? The possession of Regan
MacNeil by the devil himself is a story that sends shivers down the most
hardened of horror aficionados’ spines. I think what is so terrifying about the
whole situation is that this happened to an innocent little girl. Regan isn’t
some slasher-pic bimbo running around half naked throughout the film. Instead
she is a twelve-year-old girl who loves her mother and those close to her. She
did nothing to deserve the awful things that happen to her throughout the film.
So if it happened to her, could it possibly happen to us?
Everything
about this film is perfect. First of all, every single performance is spot on,
especially that of Linda Blair, who plays the possessed girl Regan. Her
performance isn’t so much an acting job as it is a physical transformation.
Despite voice enhancement techniques and such, Linda Blair truly provides us
with a chilling look at possession. Everything she does is so disturbing that I
always have a hard time believing that a twelve year old girl actually did and
said some of the abominations Regan yells.
Jason
Miller (Damien Karras, the priest working with Regan) also provides a great and
nuanced performance as a man on the brink of losing his faith and challenged
with something that can save it or bring him to his knees. And when Max von
Sydow (Father Merrin) shows up to help with the exorcism at the films finale,
he proves why he is one of the greatest actors around.
There
is a moment before the exorcism scene, when Father Karras is making his slow
ascent up the stairs to Regan’s room. He comes to the door and cracks it just a
bit so that some of the light comes piercing into the hallway. He turns his
face to the side and you can see his breath as he shivers from the cold emanating
from the room. Every time I see this scene I yell, “Don’t go in!” But he does
and it leads to the horrific finale.
During
the exorcism, Regan levitates, shakes violently, calls out awful curses and
abominations, her head spins around 360 degrees, and she vomits all over our
two priests. It is probably the most harrowing scene I’ve ever watched in a
film. It drains me emotionally to watch it. And when Father Karras finally
realizes what he must do to save Regan, I nearly cry. It’s a powerful and incredible
scene pulled off with expert precision by director William Friedkin. His
direction throughout the film is taut and precise, constantly raising the
feeling of claustrophobia to unbearable heights that puts knots in the viewer’s
stomach. He utilizes every aspect of film technique to scare us, from wide and sweeping
shots of chaos, to tight shots of horror, a score that screeches and rattles
our teeth, and images that shock our senses. He is a master of his craft.
To
wrap things up, The Exorcist more than lives up to it’s hype. There isn’t a
second of the film that feels dated or behind the times. It will still disturb
and frighten the viewer unlike anything else. Watch it this Halloween and see
what I’m talking about.
-Dave
Poster by Micah Moseby.
No comments:
Post a Comment