The Exorcist

Release Year: 1973

Director: William Friedkin

Review: I stayed away from this film for a long time thinking that special effects and horror elements that might have made this terrifying at the time had long since been antiquated, reducing it to a watered down, laughable scary movie.  I was wrong.  Nothing is lost.  Linda Blair's transformation into the demon is one of the most unsettling experiences that I've seen committed to film.  The premise itself is a horrifying concept, and it is executed brilliantly.  You can truly believe that Blair has been taken over by a demon.  Watching scenes in clips might make it seem over the top, but when watched in context it is truly unnerving.  The title of the film suggests that this is about the priest giving the exorcism, and there is a lot of time spent building up his character.  This part of the film never resonated with me, and kind of felt wasted.  Fortunately the priests character development has little to do with how effective the film is.   Without relying on jump scares, 'The Exorcist' is one of the great terrifying movies and will remain so because it relies on sound story telling while not holding anything back in execution.
Rating: 4.5/5