The ExorcistIn an era when faith is in short supply, few recognize the devil on their doorstep...until its undeniable malevolence manifests. The Exorcist is a horror film about a young girl named Regan MacNiel (Linda Blair), who begins to exhibit strange and disturbing behavior, escalating into shocking and terrifying episodes which leave no doubt that a supernatural power of terrible evil has made her its home. When Regan's mother, actress Chris MacNiel (Ellen Burstyn) is at her wit's end, she desperately recruits Father/Dr. Damien Karras (Jason Miller), a priest struggling with his own faith, to try to save the girl's soul.
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The Exorcist represents a pinnacle of horror, a combination of dread, realism, and graphic terror. And if The Exorcist pales by comparison today, then it is only because it has built the stage for modern horror, and its resonance for shock and awe has been the forerunner for the genre going forward. William Friedkin's adaptation of the book of the same name by William Peter Blatty begins with Father Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow) excavating antiquities in northern Iraq. Merrin isn't even properly introduced until much later, near the climax of The Exorcist, but we sense immediately that he is in a realm where his soul is being challenged. The scenes are ominous, and portends of the evil to come later across the world in Georgetown, in the District of Columbia, in the superficially halcyon homestead of the MacNeils, which at a glance would seem as removed as possible from the presence of old, dark influence as possible. Regan is introduced as the sweetest girl you would ever meet, talking about horses with a beaming smile, a jarring contrast from the infamous transformation to follow under the sway of the devil, vomiting pea soup and shouting blasphemous, offensive epithets. Much later, Father Merrin observes that the reason the devil has possessed such an innocent as Regan is to try to inflict despair upon others, to try to remove their love of god by showing how far evil can go. That is a crucial message in The Exorcist, as the first world seems to suffer from an allergic reaction to the concepts of the supernatural, and considers the concept of God to be a superstition at best. While a team of doctors desperately try to diagnose Regan's affliction, perhaps in desperation, the suggestion is made to play out an exorcism, in the spirit of Regan suffering from some kind of religious mania; and yet Chris fervently denies any belief in God, and assumes the same of her daughter. Chris presents a generally positive exterior in keeping with her status as a celebrity. But in private, she is impatient, quick to shout when angered--she even takes the Lord's name in vain often--oblivious to the potential psychological consequences of her anger on her daughter's psyche. So when Regan presents the Ouija board she discovered, she doesn't even consider the myths surrounding the device for being an instrument to invite the devil into the participant's soul; to her, it's just a piece of wood with a pointer, an innocuous game, and her imaginary friend, who she calls "Captain Howdy", is just that...until it isn't. When Chris finds herself on top of Regan's bed, which is moving by some undefinable force, that should be enough to doubt the procession of medical professionals, droning on about the temporal lobe and subjecting her daughter to a series of fruitless tests. Certainly, there are cases where a child may experience wild behavioral episodes, diagnosed and reinforced by empirical data. But even when Chris cites the elevated bed, she is promptly ignored by the doctors, convinced it must be a symptom of Regan's "seizure". Everyone searches for answers in every worldly possibility, but have been conditioned to abjure the possibility of the seemingly unprovable, resulting in their diagnoses leading nowhere. It isn't until a fateful episode following the death of her director and friend, Burke Dennings (Jack MacGowran) and the appearance of an investigative homicide detective, Lieutenant William F. Kinderman (Lee J. Cobb), that she resolves to solicit Karras and the Church to save her child, following the incontrovertible evidence of Regan's possession, the devil having put the pieces of the puzzle together for Chris.
Father Karras was a one-time boxer, so for him, the idea of confronting his troubles via a fight is at the forefront of his mind. The problem is that his fighter's spirit is a short step away from rage, an emotion which leaves him utterly vulnerable to evil, playing into the devil's hand. The same kind of rage which is lurking within Karras is the same which is hinted at early on in Merrin's journey to Iraq, when he confronts the statue of the demon, Pazuzu, and in its shadow, wild dogs fight in a frenzy. The mere presence of evil can provoke and manipulate the weak-willed into violence, just as it does when at a party for Chris, Burke provokes a fight with Chris' servant, Karl (Rudolf Schündler), fueled in part by the unconscious rage present in the house more than merely the alcohol. Karras confesses to a colleague that he doesn't have it in him any more, that he's tired out...and that his faith has faltered. The world surrounding Karras looks ugly, broken, destitute. He does not see God in the world anymore, only the failings of man. Even his fellow priests engage in gambling in their quarters, and in his grief, a comrade brings him stolen scotch. Karras is also a psychiatrist in addition to being a man of the cloth, and is as skeptical as any other when Chris approaches him in her moment of need not for a confession or counselling, but for a ritual dating back hundreds of years, widely regarded as an embarrassment by the Church. The question of whether it was fiscally wise for him to pursue his career in the Catholic Church is posed by his uncle (Titos Vandis), when his mother (Vasiliki Maliaros) is committed to a hospital following an attack, only to die a short time later. It can be safely assumed that one of the linchpins in Karras' unraveling faith is watching his mother suffer, his spirit toppled when he discovered she died alone. Following her death, Karras has a dream in which he chases his mother down into the subway, down into the "underworld", and the quickest of nigh-subliminal flashes of the face of the devil appears, later returning during the exorcism. And when the exorcism does come, it is a knock down, drag out fight, a battle of wills for Merrin and Kerras with the prince of darkness, who seizes upon Karras' hate to manifest that visage from his dream to taunt and cajole him, to lead him down into that abyss. Karras' job was to counsel other priests, to build up their faith; but when the spirit has imploded, and when the concept of the divine seems as fantastic to Karras as a possession, then where is faith to be found? It is in this environment that the devil can thrive, a realm scrubbed clean of hope and ignorant to evil.
Recommended for: Fans of a seminal horror film, a shocking and intense exposition of the vileness of evil. By exploiting our sympathies for Regan, The Exorcist makes the grisly possession of her all the more harrowing. It is also a meditation on faith, and its relevance and significance in society.
Father Karras was a one-time boxer, so for him, the idea of confronting his troubles via a fight is at the forefront of his mind. The problem is that his fighter's spirit is a short step away from rage, an emotion which leaves him utterly vulnerable to evil, playing into the devil's hand. The same kind of rage which is lurking within Karras is the same which is hinted at early on in Merrin's journey to Iraq, when he confronts the statue of the demon, Pazuzu, and in its shadow, wild dogs fight in a frenzy. The mere presence of evil can provoke and manipulate the weak-willed into violence, just as it does when at a party for Chris, Burke provokes a fight with Chris' servant, Karl (Rudolf Schündler), fueled in part by the unconscious rage present in the house more than merely the alcohol. Karras confesses to a colleague that he doesn't have it in him any more, that he's tired out...and that his faith has faltered. The world surrounding Karras looks ugly, broken, destitute. He does not see God in the world anymore, only the failings of man. Even his fellow priests engage in gambling in their quarters, and in his grief, a comrade brings him stolen scotch. Karras is also a psychiatrist in addition to being a man of the cloth, and is as skeptical as any other when Chris approaches him in her moment of need not for a confession or counselling, but for a ritual dating back hundreds of years, widely regarded as an embarrassment by the Church. The question of whether it was fiscally wise for him to pursue his career in the Catholic Church is posed by his uncle (Titos Vandis), when his mother (Vasiliki Maliaros) is committed to a hospital following an attack, only to die a short time later. It can be safely assumed that one of the linchpins in Karras' unraveling faith is watching his mother suffer, his spirit toppled when he discovered she died alone. Following her death, Karras has a dream in which he chases his mother down into the subway, down into the "underworld", and the quickest of nigh-subliminal flashes of the face of the devil appears, later returning during the exorcism. And when the exorcism does come, it is a knock down, drag out fight, a battle of wills for Merrin and Kerras with the prince of darkness, who seizes upon Karras' hate to manifest that visage from his dream to taunt and cajole him, to lead him down into that abyss. Karras' job was to counsel other priests, to build up their faith; but when the spirit has imploded, and when the concept of the divine seems as fantastic to Karras as a possession, then where is faith to be found? It is in this environment that the devil can thrive, a realm scrubbed clean of hope and ignorant to evil.
Recommended for: Fans of a seminal horror film, a shocking and intense exposition of the vileness of evil. By exploiting our sympathies for Regan, The Exorcist makes the grisly possession of her all the more harrowing. It is also a meditation on faith, and its relevance and significance in society.