God, or at least the idea of a god, is an omniscient presence that’s also suspiciously absent in William Friedkin’s The Exorcist. The faith is kept alive in the film’s perpetual use of religious iconography, implying a worldly sense of spiritual belief, but the way in which the various priests conduct their pietism, most exemplified by Jason Miller’s brooding church psychologist Damien Karras, practically render their convictions as moot. At one point, Karras openly doubts his career choice after seeing firsthand the anxieties of his patients.
Of course, the devil is another story. It manifests itself within poor 12-year-old Regan McNeil (Linda Blair), turning a figure of pure innocence into a bile- and vulgarity-spewing demon who goes unnoticed by divine intervention. Friedkin and William Peter Blatty, adapting his own bestselling novel, forgo the easy psychological introspection that’s found in a crisis of faith, instead externalizing...
Of course, the devil is another story. It manifests itself within poor 12-year-old Regan McNeil (Linda Blair), turning a figure of pure innocence into a bile- and vulgarity-spewing demon who goes unnoticed by divine intervention. Friedkin and William Peter Blatty, adapting his own bestselling novel, forgo the easy psychological introspection that’s found in a crisis of faith, instead externalizing...
- 9/12/2023
- by Wes Greene
- Slant Magazine
No possession film will ever be as frightening as The Exorcist (1973) because it is a movie no one wants to make anymore. Filmmakers repeatedly try to copy it, but that’s not the same as producing a bold and groundbreaking original work, and when they do, they try to speed up the action to get to the thrills. The devil likes it slow and has never been more intimate, and real as in director William Friedkin’s multi-Oscar-nominated film. It is scary because it is studiously subdued, and daringly sloppy.
The Exorcist terrified moviegoers when it came out a day after Christmas in ‘73. William Peter Blatty’s novel was a bestseller before that, threatening to infest every bookshelf in every home in America. It was a demon just waiting for some studio to unleash it into theaters, and Warner Bros. heralded its unholy unveiling.
Word on the street warned that...
The Exorcist terrified moviegoers when it came out a day after Christmas in ‘73. William Peter Blatty’s novel was a bestseller before that, threatening to infest every bookshelf in every home in America. It was a demon just waiting for some studio to unleash it into theaters, and Warner Bros. heralded its unholy unveiling.
Word on the street warned that...
- 10/19/2022
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
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