The Exorcist (1973) Movie Review
The Exorcist (1973) Movie Review
As someone who was taught and surrounded by Christian ideals when I was young, over the years my relationship with religion has definitely shifted. I went to a Catholic school from kindergarten through fourth grade, where religion was a course in the curriculum taught alongside math and science, and where every student attended an hour-long Mass in the gym as part of the school day every Friday. During my time at this school, I was taught many different things about God and the Bible and the afterlife. For example, I was taught that after I died, I would go to purgatory for years, and that for every day I wore a special string necklace they gave me, a year would be taken off my time in purgatory. I was a lot younger back then, and it’s hard for me to really say now how much I believed everything they told me, but I know I didn’t truly start to form my own opinions until after I left. Eventually I realized I didn’t believe everything in the Bible actually happened, and that I don’t believe hell or the devil or even purgatory are real. I stopped believing in God as some sort of literal deity, and settled with the idea that “God” is sort of a force around me. For as corny as the saying, “I’m not religious, I’m spiritual” has become, it more or less sums up my ideas about God and religion these days. I don’t… not believe in God anymore, I just think about it all differently. For the record, I don’t resent my slightly religious upbringing in the slightest, and I respect anyone’s decision to believe more fully than I do in the ideas of Christianity. It’s just that as time has passed, my fear of hell and the devil and the like has gone dramatically downhill. It feels completely unreal to me. And The Exorcist is a movie that asks the viewer to be scared by said demonic forces. Well, I also feel like it isn’t a full-bodied horror film, but I’ll get more into that later. Before recently I had never even seen this movie. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most important horror movies ever made, and even by some as literally the scariest film of all time, The Exorcist is a movie that inevitably intrigued me, especially as someone whose interest in the genre of horror is blossoming. I feel like I talk about horror a disproportionately large amount on this website, and I’m starting to realize that I kinda just love the genre. I definitely didn’t use to; in fact, there’s a piece I published on here that basically says that I tentatively like horror but don’t really like to be scared. I wrote that early in 2020, and since then, my stance towards horror has honestly changed completely. Last summer I watched Sinister, which I kind of hated at first. Eventually I realized it stuck with me, and I appreciated how the filmmakers succeeded in their goal of making an effective horror movie. Ask me today if Sinister is a good movie and I will say yes, absolutely. In a way, that film changed my life relative to watching movies; post-Sinister, I’ve watched a more-than-healthy number of horror films and have come to think of it as one of my favorite genres. However, I haven’t actually found myself truly scared by many of these films (the list of horror movies I’d say scared me includes Sinister, Hereditary, Insidious for the most part, and that’s about it). All of that to say, as Halloween rolled around this year, I felt compelled to watch what is commonly referred to as the scariest movie ever. I don’t think I quite agree with that vague consensus, but I will say that I’m very glad I watched The Exorcist because it succeeds in many different ways.
The infamous story of the film follows Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) and her daughter Regan (Linda Blair), who live in Washington, DC. Regan begins a friendship of sorts with someone or something named Captain Howdy that she communicates with via Ouija board, and meanwhile Chris starts to notice some odd and unexplainable things happening around the house. Chris, a well-known actress, hosts a party at their house. Several distinguished people from various industries show up to the party, including an astronaut who explains that he will be traveling to space. Regan, unprompted, tells him that he will die in space, and then proceeds to pee onto the carpet. Chris starts to feel that something is wrong with her daughter, and takes her to a myriad of doctors and medical professionals to see what the problem is, all of whom report no physical signs of illness or other problems. One mysterious night, Chris’s film industry friend Burke Dennings (Jack MacGowran) is found dead after babysitting Regan. Brought into the investigation are Lieutenant Kinderman (Lee J. Cobb) and Fr. Damien Karras (Jason Miller). Karras has recently lost his mother and is struggling with his faith as a result. Eventually, the conclusion is reached that Regan most likely needs an exorcism, a practice abandoned by the church long ago. Despite his lack of faith, Karras decides to carry through with the exorcism with the aid of the more experienced Fr. Merrin (Max von Sydow).
The Exorcist is a legitimate landmark in film history, and you pretty much never see a list of “best horror movies,” “scariest horror movies,” “best 70s movies,” or even “greatest movies” without it. I think this is why the film didn’t really live up to my expectations. By that I don’t mean that it was bad, because by no means is it a bad film, it just isn’t really the type of movie that its formidable reputation would make it seem. If you’ve never seen The Exorcist, you probably think it’s some sort of thrill-a-minute, almost unbearably disturbing film that will leave you awake at night. This is just not what the movie is. The Exorcist, to me, isn’t even a true horror film at heart. Instead, it’s more of a slow-burning psychological drama that happens to feature a possessed girl. Unlike other horror movies, the point of this film isn’t that it’s scary. There aren’t a bunch of “scares.” Take another classic horror film from the 1970s, let’s say Halloween. Halloween is a literal horror movie; it places the “scares” throughout its runtime and when you get down to it, its primary purpose is to frighten the audience (while also telling a good story, of course). Am I necessarily an expert on what counts as horror and what doesn’t? Probably not, and I’m not saying The Exorcist isn’t a “horror movie,” but I am saying that it defies any previous knowledge you might have about what the genre usually offers. The notorious exorcism scene itself happens at the tail-end of the film, and besides a few other random instances of Regan being possessed, there’s nothing scary really going on here. To me, this isn’t just a movie about a girl with the devil inside of her, this is about a woman’s struggle to be a good mother, and a priest’s journey in faith after the death of his own mother. If Ellen Burstyn and Jason Miller hadn’t brought so much genuinity and nuance to their roles, this honestly wouldn’t be half the film it is. The horror aspect of The Exorcist is what it’s known for, but it’s the story underneath and the internal battles of what are essentially the main two characters that actually make it so good. That being said, despite my feelings regarding The Exorcist being true horror or not, it’s obvious that this has strongly influenced the genre. The gray and cold atmosphere of the film in particular is something that is noticeable in lots of subsequent horror movies. The idea of the “creepy kid” in horror didn’t originate here, but The Exorcist certainly helped popularize that trope. And then there’s the sequence in the beginning where Merrin is on a mission in Iraq and comes across a demonic spirit of sorts, which probably pushed some sort of narrative in Hollywood from then on that audiences would be more afraid of something in a movie if it came from far away on the map. You won’t find anyone that discredits this film’s massively important influence on cinema going forward. In fact, its influence probably contributes to why this movie didn’t really amaze me in the same way it did the people who saw it in 1973. Elements of The Exorcist that may have seemed fresh and frightening at the time of its release don’t really have the same effect in 2021. I feel lazy referring to another person’s review of a film in my own, but I read a review of the movie Jaws once that points out how the film isn’t very mindblowing in a post-Total Recall, John Wick, and Sharknado world. Like, sure, Spielberg used a cool camera trick zooming in on Roy Scheider, but there are Doritos commercials that do that now. And that’s sorta how I feel about The Exorcist. If you’re used to Blumhouse productions and foreign horror and the work of people like James Wan and Ari Aster, this isn’t gonna seem all that intimidating. Truth be told, that’s completely fine. At the end of the day, this is a very strong film, mostly due to its creeping and somewhat unpredictable atmosphere, powerful lead performances, and tight cinematography. Also, that movie poster has gotta be one of the best ever made. But unless you’re an easy scare, don’t turn this on expecting to be scarred for life like audiences back in the day apparently were.
It’s sometimes said that this is a film that promotes and even celebrates the Christian church. It’s easy to see why: the power of God ultimately triumphs over that of Satan, and a recurring element of the film is that the situation at hand is beyond science, so turning to religion is the only way to win. So, in turn, I feel like The Exorcist would have more of an effect on someone who bought into ideas of the devil and evil spirits and such. It’s been years since I believed much in any of that at all. To me, the scariest horror movies are the ones that seem the realest. That’s why a movie like The Strangers works so well; the events of that film could literally happen in real life, which would be a complete nightmare for anyone. The Exorcist feels sort of detached from the realm of what I buy into. I’m just not really gonna get scared thinking about the devil. Maybe it’s proof that, a little like Karras, I’ve lost a bit of my faith. Which is sort of discouraging to think about. I don’t feel like an atheist; I want to believe in something. And I do. But maybe not enough to believe that there is an opposing force to the good spirit that exists out there. I feel like this review has consisted almost entirely of me just rambling about my vague religious beliefs and going over whether this is a scary film or not, so if that’s not what you really wanted to read going into this, I offer my apologies. I like to think that you never really know what you’re gonna get when you read one of these reviews!
All in all, The Exorcist is a film that deserves its classic status. If you’re a movie fan, this is a must-see, especially if you’re someone who has a taste for films with a colder, darker, more macabre feel to them. The Exorcist may not be hardcore horror (although maybe it is to some people, who am I to really say), but it’s a film that should be seen regardless of whether or not you’ll get much out of it as a horror film. I’d probably give it an A- as a grade. I feel like I’m starting to give that grade to almost every movie I review. Maybe my next review will be of a movie I didn’t like? Who knows. What can I say? Henrysmovieguide is truly an unpredictable enigma.
