The Exorcist

Alternate titles : None

Tagline : "Something beyond comprehension is happening to a girl on this street, in this house . . . "

Indisputably the most famous horror movie of all time, owing to all the outragous newspaper articles it provoked. The story for this infamous 1973 shocker revolves around young Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair). A typical 12 year old girl who lives with her actress mother Christine (Ellen Burnstein) in the predominantly catholic area of Georgetown, Washington D.C.

She initially appears to be your average kid, but as the film progresses it appears that all is not well. Young Regan claims to hear noises in the attic and also says she can hear voices. She also claims her bed shakes for no reason, and later starts having violent fits and becomes extremely foul mouthed.

Unable to explain this strange behaviour, her Mother takes her to the doctors but they fail to find anything wrong. Things get progressively worse, as she then starts reacting violently towards visiting doctors, gets a bad skin condition and throws green bile over a visiting priest (Yay!).

After claiming she is possessed by the devil, the doctors believe her problems to be psychological and refer her to a local priest, Damien Karras (Jason Miller) to ask if he'll perform a "mock" exorcism, believing it would cure what they think is a mental condition. But after consulting fellow priest Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow), they realise that her possession is all too real, and as they try to perform the ceremony all hell literally breaks loose.

Based on the novel by William Peter Blatty and directed by William Friedkin, though the Exorcist can rightfully claim to be a true horror classic, the film undoubtedly achieved a lot if its undue notoriety due to the ludicrous stories perpetuated by the media, about people running from the cinema screaming in terror (yeah right). Which was also fuelled by the religious community, claiming the film was "evil" and "sacreligious". Though speaking as a lifelong atheist, I thought the more contentious parts were hilariously funny.

Banned on video in the UK up until 1999, I had to go to a special late night screening at some cinema 40 miles away when I wanted to see what all the fuss was about in the early 90s (oh how times have changed). Still a great film and having also seen this at a special Halloween screening since, would argue it still holds up well and is still a damnsite better than the CGI laden imitators that have come out since.

Overall Marks : 9/10.

Terrifying Trivia

• Although the house in the film was a real building, which can be found at the end of M Street in Georgetown, Washington. Reagan's bedroom was part of a false extension built onto the side of it, which overlooked the steps that ran down the side of the property.
• 25 year old Eileen Deits was used to double for Linda Blair for some of the possession scene's, most notably the one with the crucifix (you know the one I mean). Whilst actress, Mercedes MacCambridge provided the voice overs for the possessed Reagen.
• There was some controversy during production as to wether the film was jinxed. The set mysteriously burned down at one point, there were a number of deaths including the actor Jack MacGowron who played Burke Dennings, and the crew were plagued with constant technical problems. However, the majority of the crew believe this was all hokum, particularly Max von Sydow who was very dismissive.
• The dummy used for the scenes where Regan's head spins round, was tested by putting it in the front seat of a taxi and driving around New York City to see what reaction they got from passers by.
• Director Freidkin had some very interesting methods in getting the desired performance from his actors. One method was to fire off a shotgun loaded with blanks backstage when he wanted them to suddenly turn round in shock. For another scene, he belted William O'Malley, who was playing Father Dyer, accross the face to get the right emotions of shock and upset from him for the scene at the end.
• A number of scenes were cut from the original release, which were later included as extras on the special edition discs and eventually put back in the film as part of a special "directors cut" version. These included Regan "spiderwalking" down the stairs and an additional scene before the ending, with Father Dyer meeting up with Lt Kinderman and talking about going to see a film.
• When adjusted for inflation, The Exorcist is the most successful horror film of all time and the 9th most popular "R-rated" film in the US overall.
• The scenes in Regan's bedroom were filmed on a refirgerated set, so you could see the actors breath. As suitable special effects were not available at the time.
• The UK cinema release was passed uncut by the BBFC, but certain councils would not allow it to be shown at cinemas in their area. The film was released onto UK video in 1981, before there was any requirement for video films to be submitted for classification. But had to be withdrawn once the video distribution laws changed in 1984. The film was never officially "banned" on video by the UK censors, but when Warner went to submit the film to the BBFC so they could re-release it on video, cheif censor James Ferman quietly told them "not to bother" as he felt the film was too disturbing for a home video release and would not pass it. So the only way to see it was at the cinema. It was only after he left the BBFC in 1999 the film was finally passed for UK video and released.

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