The Exorcist (1973)

 

Can you hear those bells? Pretty tubular, right?

Of course that won't be the last lame pun I'll ever make. 

Anyway...

Welcome to a stone cold classic in horror, a film that is legendary if in part thanks to a well thought of campaign which today would be one of those incessantly annoying clickbait traps. Back in the day it was word-of-mouth and well placed articles about how insanely scary and disturbing this film was. And for its time it absolutely was, even if nowadays one might considering it to be relatively tame. But the creepy atmosphere still holds up and the tension builds throughout, so this remains a very well-crafted piece of art.

In Iraq, during archeological excavations, elderly Father Merrin discovers remnants of an ancient evil with small figurines and a statue of a demon-like creature. On nearly the other side of the globe - Washington, United States - a twelve-year-old girl is starting to behave rather peculiarly, becoming almost violent, using profanities and the like. Her mother takes her to several specialist doctors, but no one seems to find any answer as to what is wrong with her. 

Through all of this, we mostly follow Father Karras, a priest who is also psychiatrist and who deals with other priests and their mental issues, but he is having a tough time and is starting to lose his faith. He simply doesn't know what it all is for and when his mother passes away, he gets another major blow. 

Meanwhile, it is becoming clear that the young girl (Regan) is possessed by some entity, as her room is always near freezing, the bed levitates, she has various lesions and her voice is now that of an 80-year-old chainsmoker spewing profanities. The only recourse left is to find an exorcist and drive the demonic spirit out. 

Enter Father Karras and (the priest from the beginning) Father Merrin for what will be an epic showdown of the wills... 

Director Friedkin crafted a pretty airtight film here. There's not an ounce of fat and the build-up to the final confrontation is masterfully set up. Even though most people will (for good reason) remember the possessed girl and certain shenanigans, this is actually more the story of Father Karras and his conflicted spirit than it is about Regan, but thanks to the ridiculously quotable oneliners from the possessed girl, he gets shoved a bit into the shadows. 

And lest not forget the iconic scenes of Regan running upside down and backwards down the stairs; the levitation; the explosive vomit; the still pretty harrowing masturbation sequence and the immortal oneliner "Your mother sucks cocks in hell!"

Great stuff. 

Is it a bit tame for modern standards? Maybe. But today a lot of studios seem to forget that atmosphere and buildup counts for most of the effectiveness of any scary story and in that respect, this one will always deliver.