The Exorcist Blu-ray Review

The Exorcist is considered one of the greatest horror films of all time. Seeing that the film celebrates its 50th anniversary and a sequel has been made by Blumhouse now seems like a good time to revisit this important film.

Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) is a famous actress who’s filming a movie in Washington DC. Chris also has a 12-year-old daughter, Regan (Linda Blair). They are close to each other, but Regan’s health starts to decline and she becomes more aggressive. When medical science is unable to help, the doctors recommend an exorcism. Damien Karras (Jason Miller) is a Catholic priest and a trained psychiatrist who is sent to assess the child.

The Exorcist was made during the New Hollywood era, a time when there were bold, auteur-led films that were mainstream successes. This was the time that saw the rise of filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas who came to prominence. Big-name directors like Stanley Kubrick, Mike Nichols, and Peter Bogdanovich were linked to the film before William Friedkin, who won an Oscar for The French Connection, got the job. The author of the novel, William Peter Blatty wrote the screenplay. What they made was a high-quality film.

The Exorcist was a slow burn of a horror film. It spent time letting the audience get to know Chris, Regan, and Karras and the film benefited from this. It enhanced the horror since audiences got to care for them. The film’s heart was the relationship between Chris and Regan since they were extremely close and Regan was an innocent child, so it hurt when she was possessed.

There was also a slow build-up with the possession since Regan’s health changes started small and Chris was looking for a scientific explanation to what was happening to her daughter. A good portion of the film was told from Chris’ perspective and she didn’t witness things like Regan’s swearing and the bed rocking. Regan’s strange behaviour escalated, from her urinating in public to her extreme forms of swearing, to developing supernatural powers. There are moments that will still shock, no matter how many times it has been seen. The crucifix scene was the most shocking since it was violent, sexual, and worst of all, an action done under mind control so had an even darker implication.

Chris was put through the emotional wringer as she becomes more helpless in trying to help her daughter. Burstyn shows why she’s one of the best actresses ever with her performance as this struggling mother. Linda Blair gave one of the best performances by a child in a horror film. She started off as the child with the virtue of innocence before becoming the pinnacle of evil. Her performance was enhanced with make-up, the physical effects, and Mercedes McCambridge and Ron Faber’s voices when Regan becomes fully demonic.

Father Karras was also given character depth. He was a priest who was questioning his faith and considering leaving the priesthood. His only earthly connection was his mother and she died early in the film. When he was asked to evaluate Regan, he took a scientific approach since he was a psychiatrist. It took much convincing to believe Regan was possessed and the demon tried to goad Father Karras over his mother’s recent passing.

Friedkin ensured there was an uneasy atmosphere throughout the film. The Exorcist started with Father Merrin (Max von Sydow) on an archaeological dig in Iraq. There was a sense of unease due to Father Merrin nearly getting run over and the priest seeing two dogs fighting. The slow build-up added to the unease since the horror and tension were in the background before we saw the infamous scenes of Regan being possessed.

The Exorcist is still a great horror film and it serves as an example for any aspiring horror filmmaker. It was a film that managed to be unsettling, atmospheric, and shocking, and gave audiences characters they could care about.

Special Features: The Blu-ray came with both the theatrical and director’s cut of the film. It came with the 1998 documentary The Fear of God: The Making of The Exorcist, the most comprehensive documentary about the film’s production, the challenges it faced, and its release. There were three new documentaries, one acting as an updated documentary about The Exorcist’s production, the other about filmmaking on location in Georgetown and Iraq, and the final one about the release of the Director’s Cut. Also included were smaller features like interviews, commentaries, and TV and Radio spots.