1973
Rated R
132 minutes
Summary from Netflix: The revised version of this horror classic adds a remastered soundtrack and 10 minutes of footage, including a modified ending. When Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) suspects an evil spirit is possessing her young daughter (Linda Blair), she calls in two priests (Max von Sydow and Jason Miller) to rid of the demon. Writer William Peter Blatty scored an Academy Award for his big-screen adaptation of his own novel.
My rating: ★★★★★ out of 5
“What an excellent day for an exorcism!”
Seriously if you haven't heard of this movie, then either you live under a rock, are a prude or are really super young and have no knowledge of this sort of thing.
I myself have known about Exorcist since around the age of 10 when I was watching a copy at my neighbor's house on their beta video tape player. I was scared witless of the movie (probably because the little girl, Regan, was about the same age as I was while watching it) that I had to only watch ten minutes at a time of all the bedroom scenes just to get through the movie.
Then around late high school, I picked up the novel by William Peter Blatty. If you have seen the movie, understand that it is a walk in the park compared to the novel. I can completely understand why the movie barely touches what is in the novel, because even in our current times of sensorship (compared to the sensoring that was 1973) a lot of what I had read would have never made it to the screen. The movie is definitely an adaptation and both of them are beautifully horrific in their own way. Seriously, if you crave a good scary story, pick up that novel. As soon as I can find my copy I may read it again myself.
By college the movie couldn't phase me if it tried. I was so deep into watching horror and goreish films by then that I decided to give a "gift" to my Film 101 class right after a three day weekend and showed them a music video I had made with my piss poor editing abilities of a certain popular song back then with nothing but footage from The Exorcist. I scared (or maybe brain melted, hard to tell) the bejesus out of my entire class that was there that day in under six minutes.
Needless to say, me and this movie has some history together. So when I found out that the extended director's cut was showing at a theater by my house, you bet your ass I was going! Granted, I found out that the movie came out on Blu-Ray and DVD the very next day, but when do you get an opportunity to see it the way it was meant to be seen, right?
I would also like to state that this was the first time I ever went to a movie theater alone. I couldn't expect my husband to go even if we had a babysitter (these sort of movies aren't his thing, and we have a mutual understanding about it) and I couldn't find anyone local willing to go with me. I suppose the will to see such an event overrided my nervousness of doing such a thing alone. They started the movie 15 minutes earlier then they posted, but I was fine with that since I showed up twenty minutes early. I felt a little bad for the people that showed up on time, only to find that it had started. My wallet wasn't overly happy that I was paying $12.50 to see this, but considering the fact that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I was willing to deal with the exubert price.
The soundtrack was amazing and the extra ten minutes really did make a difference with the movie. I was completely impressed and thoroughly enjoyed having the opportunity to see it in a theater, even though the room really wasn't that big. For a movie that was made purely on physical special effects and absolutely no CGI work, it is a masterpiece. I also was very pleased to wait after the movie to see the never-before-seen on-set footage from the making of the film and interviews with director William Friedkin, writer William Peter Blatty and members of the original cast and crew. After watching the extras after the movie, I have to agree with what the cast and crew said that it was not a horror film (even though people have always said it was), but it is an amazing supernatural thriller.
For those of you with home movie theaters, I envy you. You will have the closest experience to what I had seeing it in a true movie theater, even though it still won't completely compare. If you have never seen the movie, do it. If you have seen the movie before, see it again with the extended footage.
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