I had to wait until I was 20 years old to see Willian Peter Blatty's The Exorcist as it had been absent from cinemas for 17 years, and unreleased on VHS, due to it being well and truly banned. I was fortunate enough to see The Exorcist in a packed cinema where I was eager to see if the film would live up to it's groundbreaking, scariest film of all time reputation. It did. It's not scary in a jump-out-your-seat kind of way, rather a tense, primal, I-can-imagine-that-freaky-shit-happening-to-me kind of way.
It works so well due to the realism and documentary feel director William Friedkin gives the piece. The camera isn't all over the place as in a Blair Witch or Cloverfield, but it's more in the 'accidently captured moments of real life' like mother Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) talking about Ponies with her daughter Regan (Linda Blair). The editing, cutting between troubled priest/psychologist Father Karras (Jason Miller) and the MacNeils also lends itself to a documentary vibe. That helps you identify with the characters more, making you feel part of the drama.
This film simply wouldn't get made today, especially as a studio picture, for two reasons (despite it's multiple Oscar wins).
1/ It's too intelligent. The first 15 minutes of the film are spent in Iraq following Max Von Sydow's Father Merrick (doesn't Von Sydow age!?) as he uncovers an archaeological relic representing evil. Then we get to know Father Karras and his relationship with his ailing mother. Both story lines would undoubtedly be truncated if a remake were ever staged, for the benefit of young, attention deficit disorder ridden teens. It's an examination of faith, not necessarily in that of a Catholic God, but in the forces of good and evil in the world. The limits of Religion and Science are called into question by the characters, as they struggle to come to terms with the possession of Regan MacNeil.
2/ There are moments that would never get past a censor these days, especially not a conservative, American one. Words like Fuck and Cunt are hurled around by the 10 year old, as well as the infamous 'masturbating with a crucifix' scene. Add to that green puke, head spinning, violent convulsions, spectral ornament moving and troubling scenes of a child harming adults and having to be restrained...it's very strong stuff.
The visuals are enhanced by some incredibly effective sound design which do as much to convince us that Regan is inhabited by the devil as her rotting make up and icy breath. And of course there's the use of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, which is dispatched to haunting effect throughout the movie. Thought provoking and shocking, it still gets the heart racing. Like Jaws, let's hope a remake never happens.
