October 27, 2008
The Exorcist (1973)
Should I see it?
Yes.
This movie is easily the best horror movie of all time. A young priest, haunted by doubt and personal turmoil joins with an older priest to exorcise an adolescent girl, possessed by a demon. The demonic portions of the film are overplayed at times, the spinning head and spewing pea soup is a bit much, but overall William Friedkin handles his subject matter with a masterful hand. Horror works best if the filmmaker takes the subject seriously and grounds it in reality. In this case, Friedkin succeeds because he has respect for the theological aspects of the story and doesn't handle them with a smirk but with some reverence. He clearly understands that if you're going to propose possession than you have to seriously acknowledge that God exists and is the only answer to the conflict.
Strong performances from Max Von Sydow, Ellen Burstyn and Jason Miller make the most of the script penned by William Peter Blatty and Friedkin does well to capture their work.
This isn't a film for everyone. People easily frightened may want to avoid the movie. Those sensitive over the topic of possession may also want to pass this one up.
As a quick kick in the short loins to my atheist friends. If you're a slack-jawed atheist you may also want to see something else because, well, if you're really an atheist then this movie will be a stupid thing for you to watch. You can't tell me you don't believe in God but then turn around and get frightened by demon possession. It would be akin to me having a irrational fear of unicorns. I've had atheists try to tell me they thought this was a scary movie. Yeah? I guess I'd be scared too if I was unconsciously acknowledging the existence of God while still consciously denying him.
Related Reviews:
Exorcism movies
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005)
The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
Other Critic's Reviews:
Christian Spotlight on the Movies
FilmHead
Labels: Ellen Burstyn, exorcism, film, Jason Miller, Linda Blair, Max von Sydow, movie review, William Friedkin
posted by Michelle Obama's Left Nut at 9:00 AM
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2 Comments:
As an atheist who things this is a great movie, I just want to be clear: Every time something scares you, it must be because you subconsciously "unconsciously acknowledging the existence" of real, and are merely denying it consciously, rather than because it touches on classic mythological archetypes that anyone raised in our culture is familiar with, and which you understand for what they are but can still relate on a moviegoing suspension-of-disbelief level?
OK, I just wanted to make sure I was clear on that. Because it means I unconsciously acknowledge the existence of murderous space aliens (Alien), undead Zombies (Night Of The Living Dead), clone-like babies spawned off human females by budding (The Brood), a mutated form of rabies that mutates humans into animalistic cannibals (Quarantine), murderous supernatural beaches (Nature's Grave), and plain ol' garden variety werewolves (An American Werewolf In London). Because those movies all scared me, even though I mistakenly thought I didn't believe in those things. Thanks for clarifying that for me.
By the way, you're a good reviewer and have good taste in movies, you had me all the way right up until the the foolish, myopic pronouncement at the end. You appear to have some serious blinders on in that area. Too bad.
Thanks for the compliment - I like my foolish, myopic pronouncement.
Mythological beings don't have any impact unless they are believable. This is why I used the unicorn as an example. Films like Alien, 28 Days Later or [REC] (the original version of Quarantine) are scary because their antagonists are within the realm of the possible. If you are an atheist you cannot be frightened by demons because you do not believe they exist. There is no way they can exist. To you, they are not in the realm of the possible.
American Werewolf in London is only frightening in stirring up our fears of wild animals. Otherwise it gets audiences to jump through cheap editing tricks common to horror movies.
If one is actually scared by this film they are acknowledging demonic possession and by extension, Satan and by extension God.
Thanks for stopping in and thanks for commenting. I do appreciate it.
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