Gen Z Reviews Classic Movies | 'The Exorcist': How the original film set the bar high for horror films?
'Gen Z Reviews Classic Movies' is a column that revisits some of the greatest films of all time and discerns how they hold up decades later. This review includes spoilers.
One thing that is becoming increasingly clear as we review classic film is how big a role silence played in movies. It's an art that is lost in the movies of today, as big-budget composers and expensive soundtracks are licensed to fill every second of screen time to keep today's audience's short attention span invested. 'The Exorcist' plays with silence masterfully, lulling its audience into a sense of uneasy security, constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. When the dread that the film builds up finally pays off, it comes with a sense of horrible relief.
The film is a slow creep of dread as single mother and actress Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) tries to deal with the worsening condition of her daughter, Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), who seems to be suffering from not just a terrible disease but a complete personality change. As science repeatedly fails Chris, she turns to the spiritual for a solution, calling in Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller), a Catholic priest who is dealing with his own personal crisis of faith. After a preliminary investigation, Karras assists the most experience Father Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow) in an exorcism - one that ends with Karras luring the demon into possessing himself, and committing suicide before it can take over his body completely, ending the threat.
For anyone watching 'The Exorcist' today, the film has a lot to live up to. It's not just a classic horror film, it's got a reputation as being the horror film. Watching it now, the film largely lives up to the hype. Where it excels is in the build-up of expectation, and in that sense, its reputation works in its favor. Some of the film's most memorable moments are ones of quick and shocking violence - moments of horror that are gone just as suddenly as they appeared. They're not jump scares, exactly, but well-planned moments chosen for maximum impact. In fact, the weakest scenes in the film are the ones that linger on the horror for too long, as the special effects of 1973 do no hold up to what films are capable of today.
It's not the shock and horror that made 'The Exorcist' the first-ever horror film to be nominated for an Academy Award, however. 'The Exorcist' has a clear vision of the story it's telling, and everything that happens in the film ties into the themes it's telling. 'The Exorcist' is a story of faith. The film is painstaking in its portrayal of science failing Chris and Regan at every turn and spirituality is the only thing that can help, ultimately. In light of modern sentiments, it's a theme that's a little hard to swallow - especially with light implications that if a teenage girl suddenly starts swearing and starts developing rebellious personality traits that are the complete opposite of the innocent young girl she used to be, then she's probably possessed by the devil.
Once you embrace the theme, however, 'The Exorcist' does a powerful job of selling it. Father Karras wonders why the devil chose to possess a little girl, one who has no power or influence over the world in any way. Father Merrin tells him that it's for the simple reason of making people despair. "To see ourselves as animal and ugly." The film does a great job of that. Regan's demonic possession doesn't just turn her horrific, she constantly blurts out the most vulgar, blasphemous things the writers could think of. Blood, vomit, pee, and violence - the film goes out of its way to make Regan as gross and uncomfortable as possible. It's not just evil that's being fought against, it's the vulgarity that causes Chris to slowly lose hope.
Linda Blair's performance as Regan does as much work as the special effects in giving the movie its impact. Whether it's a sweet young girl sharing a loving scene with her mother, or as a devil gleefully smiling at his chance to corrupt a priest, or as a demon pretending to be Karras' deceased mother, she sells the effect of a girl with multiple spirits living inside of her. While her voice is dubbed over in several places, it's her performance that the movie hinges on. The make-up and horrific effects work to enhance her performance, instead of in spite of it, and the movie is stronger for that.
With the reboot in the works for 2021, it's hard to imagine a film of today placing that much faith in performance, in silence, and in the attention spans of its audience - all things that made 'The Exorcist' such an unforgettable film in its day. The new film has a lot to live up to, and a lot to learn from the original film. The one takeaway? That it's all about faith.
