Production Year: 1973 - Horror - Director: William Friedkin - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Jason Miller, Max Von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Jack MacGowran, Kitty Winn more
With THE EXORCIST, William Friedkin (THE FRENCH CONNECTION, THE BOYS IN THE BAND) rivals Hitchcock for heart-stopping terror in this deeply horrifying masterpiece that led to... more
The Exorcist [DVD] [1974]
Director William Friedkin was a hot ticket in Hollywood after the success ofThe French ... more
Connection, and he turned heads (in more ways than one) when he decided to makeThe Exorcistas his follow-up film. Adapted by William Peter Blatty from his controvers...
The Exorcist [DVD] [1974]
Director William Friedkin was a hot ticket in Hollywood after the success ofThe French ... more
Connection, and he turned heads (in more ways than one) when he decided to makeThe Exorcistas his follow-up film. Adapted by William Peter Blatty from his controvers...
The Exorcist DVD
The belief in evil - and that evil can be cast out. From these two strands of faith ... more
author William Peter Blatty and director William Friedkin wove The Exorcist the frightening and realistic story of an innocent girl inhabited by a malevolent entity....
The Exorcist
The belief in evil - and that evil can be cast out. From these two strands of faith, ... more
author William Peter Blatty and director William Friedkin wove The Exorcist, the frightening and realistic story of an innocent girl inhabited by a malevolent entity. Academy Award winner Friedkin, who introduces the film and supervised this new video transfer from restored picture and video elements, gets effective performances from Linda Blair, Ellen Burstyn, Jason Miller, Max Von Side and Lee J. Cobb. Winner of 1973 Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay (by Blatty) and Best Sound. The Exorcist remains, 25 years later, one of the most shocking and gripping movies ever made.
The Exorcist
Father Damien Karras: 'Where is Regan'. Regan MacNeil: 'In here. With us'. The terror ... more
begins unobtrusively. Noises in Regan's room an odd smell the displacement of furniture an icy chill. Easy explanations are offered. Then frightening changes start in the eleven-year-old girl. Is it possible that a demonic force is present in the child?
Production Year: 2001 - Horror - Director: Dario Argento - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Max Von Sydow, Stefano Dionisi, Chiara Caselli, Gabriele Lavia
Production Year: 2001 - Horror - Director: Stephen Sommers - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Brendan Fraser, John Hannah, Rachel Weisz, Arnold Vosloo, Freddie Boath, Oded Fehr, The Rock, Tim Murdock
A review by the_mad_cabbie on The Exorcist (DVD) April 8th, 2001
Author's product rating:
Did you enjoy it?
Disliked it
Story
Outstanding
Characters / Performances
Outstanding
Special Effects
Outstanding
How does it compare to similar films?
Not applicable
Advantages:
Very well made film . Good storyline and music . Well acted .
Disadvantages:
Will scare you half to death . NOT pleasant viewing .
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
~ ~ It’s my intention with this opinion to approach this movie from a slightly different angle. Instead of just purely doing a review of the film, I want to try to look at exactly WHY it was it frightened so many people at the time of its original release in 1973, and why it still has the capacity to do so today, some 28 years later.
~ ~ But before I do that, a brief synopsis of what the film is about is necessary, for those readers who have yet to see it. Very simply, it is the story of the demonic possession of a young child called Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) and the subsequent rite of exorcism carried out by two Roman Catholic priests, a Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow) and Father Karras (Jason Miller). Her mother Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) first of all tries all forms of modern medicine, from the physical to the psychiatric, to try to find out what is the matter with her child, but all to no avail.
~ ~ The possession seemingly starts as a result of Regan’s “playing” with an ouja board, something I’m sure that most of us have done at some stage of our lives. (More on this later) The symptoms of Regan’s possession develop to the stage where her whole personality is subsumed by the demon that is possessing her, and from an innocent and loveable twelve-year-old child she becomes a creature of pure evil. Her personality is taken over totally by the demon, and her physical appearance changes dramatically throughout the course of the film. There are scenes of pure horror, including one where she is seen masturbating with a crucifix. This caused total public outrage at the time from various religious groups, and led to public picketing of the film outside cinemas, and calls for it to be banned, which in fact it eventually was for many years.
~ ~ Chris MacNeil calls in the Catholic Church, firstly in the form of local priest Father Karras, who to begin with is slow to accept that Regan is actually possessed. On finally becoming convinced, he enlists the aid of Father Merrin, an acclaimed exorcist, to perform an exorcism rite to expel the demon. The ensuing exorcism sequence is both prolonged and very harrowing, and shows the two priests doing everything in their power to save the child from the evil that is possessing her. I won’t go into too much detail here, as it would ruin the movie for anyone who has yet to view it. But suffice to say that even after 28 years, the horror of these scenes has still not left me, and still have the power to disturb me to this day. There is also a sensational soundtrack from Mike Oldfield, from his album "Tubular Bells", which helps to create the aura of evil in the film.
~ ~ So there you have it in a nutshell. So to return to my original question. Just what is it about this film that upset and frightened so many people? At the time I first viewed the movie I was not a believing Christian, and would best describe myself at that time as an agnostic approaching atheist. In other words, there was nothing about this film that I should have found particularly frightening or upsetting, as I was starting out from the premise that it was all a load of old bunkum and “hocus-pocus”. And yet it scared me half to death!!
~ ~ Looking back now, from a Christian standpoint, (I became a believer in the early 80’s) I think I can begin to appreciate why. The film upset people’s sensibilities because it struck out at two things that most people hold very dear, whether they be Christian or not. The first is our desire to always believe that good will always ultimately triumph over evil, and the second was our belief that children in particular are always innocent. In that this movie attacked both these beliefs at once, it struck a cord in most viewers. If the possessed person had been a 40-year-old man, I doubt whether there would have been the same outcry or ballyhoo about the movie.
~ ~ It also scared me because of its inference that the “possession” of Regan had been brought about by her dabbling with an ouja board. This is something that is looked upon by many people as a harmless game, but I personally had reason to think differently. At the end of the 1960’s, a few of my good school friends went through a period where they played around with this type of “occult” thing, including the use of an ouja board. Two of them were later to suffer untimely deaths, both by suicide. The first lad took cyanide at the age of seventeen, ostensibly over rejection by a girlfriend. When his personal effects were being cleared later, a Bible was discovered with various passages heavily scored and underlined, mostly with reference to possession by evil spirits!! My second friend, who was also involved in this little occult group, tried suicide twice. He failed at the first attempt (tablets) only to jump off the edge of a 300 foot cliff one evening shortly thereafter, while three of us (myself included) were on our way to a party. No histrionics, no reason, he simply said, “I have to go now. See you.” And in front of our astonished eyes simply walked over the edge of the precipice. This lad was the son of the local bank manager, was academically quite brilliant, and had a glittering and successful future in front of him, with absolutely no reason to wish to end his own life. To say that these incidents had an influence on me would be an understatement, and when I saw the ouja board reference in “The Exorcist”, it brought all the horror of it back to me afresh.
~ ~ As a now practicing Christian, I have no difficulty whatsoever in believing in the concept of demonic possession. It is referred to innumerable times throughout both the New and Old Testaments, and Christ himself “cast out” demons on more than one occasion. As a Christian I believe totally in the power of good, but I also conversely believe in the power of evil, and in the physical embodiment of that evil in the person of Satan, Lucifer, the Devil, Beezlebub, call him what you will. I do believe that there are dark forces at work in this world about which most people have no concept, and that cause much misery and mayhem in people’s lives.
~ ~ That is why, even after 28 years, this film still has the power to shock and frighten me. It will never fail to do so. I couldn’t in all conscience call it recommended viewing, because it is not a film that I could say I “enjoyed” in the conventional sense. But it was a film that had a profound effect on me, and as such it can be recommended. If you haven’t yet seen it, and decide to do so, then don’t expect to be “amused”. AND DON’T MESS ABOUT WITH OUJA BOARDS!!!!!
Advantages: Great screenplay and caught Friedkin in his top form Disadvantages: remarks about the film that turn away patrons whether good or bad for its publicity
THE EXORCIST (Rated R)
Horror
CAST:
Max Von Sydow as Father Merrin
Jason Miller as Damien Karras
Linda Blair as Regan
Ellen Burnstein as Regan’s Mother Chris MacNeil
Lee J. Cobb as DetectiveLt. Kinderman
Jack MacGowran as Burke Dennings
Kitty Winn as Mrs. MacNeil’s housemaid
Father Willaim O’ Malley as Father Dyer
Mercedes Macambridge as the voice of Regan
Ellen Dietz as the demonic double of Regan
A Hoya Production
William Friedkin ... ...124 minutes
THE PLOT = (just the basic plot)
The film is inspired from an actual anomaly that is pertained to a demon possession of a 14 year old boy known as Douglas Deen in 1949, in the small town of Georgetown in America, the state of Washington.
The author, William Peter Blatty heard of these reports while he’s on draft in his vocation during in those years, which took him to his deep fascination about the incident, that turned him on to write ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Easy to find in shops Disadvantages: It has dated a lot
The Exorcist was released in 1973 (around Christmas time, just to add to the hype) and never has a film been so talked about; rumours about the making of it and audience's reactions have surrounded it for years. Look on any website related to it and you'll probably find all kinds of stories.
The film got released at the cinema un the UK in 1974 and on video in 1981. However, it didn't get a BBFC certificate until 1998 (the Video Recording Act said ... ...on video until then. The film got its UK terrestrial TV premiere on Channel 4 in 2001. The version I have is the "Widescreen Collectors Limited Edition" and it cost me £3.99 from HMV. It comes in a scary black cardboard box.
Directed by William Friedkin (who also did "The French Connection") this adaptation of William Peter Blatty's book of the same name, sees young Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), the daughter of single mother Christine (Ellen Burstyn) ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Powerful, genuinely scary, excellent performances, thought provoking, the ultimate good vs evil story. Disadvantages: Aging effects, Some overtly disturbing scenes.
The Exorcist. The mere name stirs the mind into a multitude of thoughts, because of it's famous nature. Controversy, fear, mis-understanding, satanism, dark side, bleak, Anti-Catholic. All of these words are linked to this single, powerful piece of film.
PLOT AND THEMES
The basic movie itself on it's most aesthetic level is very very easy to follow. A priest unearths an ancient evil, which escapes to possess a young girl, whose relative was at ... ...the body of the girl, and the mind of her mother, before an eventual exorcism is called. This exorcism takes up about a 1/5 of the film itself. For those of you who haven't seen it, I won't give much more away.
ITS CONTROVERSY/MISUNDERSTOOD NATURE
The whole reason for the famous (or infamous) nature of this film was its depth. It is not about a single exorcism, of a girl in the 1970's. The point of it's controversy stemmed from two things. The ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: fantastical quality of filming and acting Disadvantages: some may feel is dated
...(Regan MacNeil)
Written for the screen and Produced by: William Peter Blatty (based on his novel)
I would normally write a review on a film by going into the story first. I don’t always like doing this as I feel it can sometimes spoil your viewing. After going into the storyline I would go into my thoughts on the film and the cast. Not this time, a classic like this needs its own approach, so here it is.
The Exorcist is an all time classic ... ...film, “The French Connection”. The film is based around on a novel by William Peter Blatty, this was in turn based upon a real life possession of a 12 year old girl in Washington DC. The film when released in 1973 was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won two of them (Best Sound and Best Adapted Screenplay). Be warned, it was banned in the UK for a large period of time due to some of its controversial content, undeserved in my opinion. ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Christmas 1973 the film industry changed forever. Christmas 1973 horror films changed forever. For the first time a film made people fled from cinemas due to nausea and fright. Scarier films may have been made since the Exorcist but the Exorcist has influenced so many horror films it is more than just a scary film. The Exorcist is a timeless classic, a film that will never be forgotten its the daddy of horror films.
It all starts off in Iraq with ... ...Merrin drives his jeep to the statue of Demon Pazuzu. As Merrin walks up to the statue wind blows dust over the scene and dogs fight and director William Friedkin uses this scene to show the devils presence. Friedkin creates the atmosphere of the devil been present remarkably well, the soundtrack and camera angles all very neatly go with the mystical atmosphere. To add to the atmosphere the introduction of the film is spoken mainly in Arabic with ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: All 5 Exorcist in one set Disadvantages: none
...I found this on offer at a local store (Music Zone) for ten pound so i snapped it up what awaited me was 9hours and 25 mins of head scratching mind bending tea throwing terror . This film was band for a reason. ok so the Exorcist that we have all seen at the cinema wasn't that scary true but wait till you get your hand on this box set which contians all five thats rite five Exorcist i got a surprise when i unwrapped the packaging and found to my surprise five disks waiting for me .
Plot:so how do i this firstly i will break each dvd into sections so of course we have
DVD 1:
The Prequel Dominion:
THE PLOT: Well as it says this is where it all begins and it dose just that. the film is based in the post world war 2 era where a group of archaeologists are digging in south Africa. Flash back to world war one and we meet the priest...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Strangely compelling to watch Disadvantages: Not as scary as i had thought it would be
...My husband bought this DVD for me for Christmas last year as he knows I like a good horror movie or one that at least makes me jump a bit. Knowing how much I had enjoyed watching the original Exorcist film, when he saw this one on sale for about £14.99 (it was in the new release section when he bought it) he decided to buy it for me. Certainly if you shop around online you are sure to get this one much cheaper.
The Plot
~~~~~~~
Well, in the original Exorcist movie we meet Father Merrin for the first time. As you may or may not know, he is the priest who performs the exorcism on the young girl. But how does he come to be the Exorcist? This film was made in 2004 and is the prequel to all 3 of the other Exorcist films. This is the background on how Father Merrin became that priest.
Father Merrin (played by Stellan Skarsgaard...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Subtler, more psychological than The Exorcist 4 Disadvantages: Dull
...will torment him for the rest of his life.
When it was announced that a new Exorcist film was to be made, the movie world was gripped with excitement. Rather than a sequel, the film was to be a prequel, introducing us to a younger Father Merrin and telling us the tale of how the priest was first introduced to the demon who possessed Regan MacNeil in the original 1973 classic. Directors and writers were signed up but when the finished product was not considered horrible enough, the original director was binned and a new version - Exorcist - The Beginning - was put into production and eventually released to cinemas (with lukewarm responses). However, the original version of the prequel had been all but finished and was subsequently left languishing on a cutting room shelf. That version is known as Dominion and has now been released...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Plot: A 12 year old girl becomes obsessed by a presence created by a Ouija board. Possessed by the devil she turns into a monster. Father Karras is asked to supervise an exorcism performed by Father Merrin who is killed. Now there's only Father Karras who can help.
Release details
DVD Region: DVD
Studio(s): WARNER HOME VIDEO; CINRAM LOGISTICS
Release date: 25/10/1999
No of Discs: 1
Catalogue No: D 016176
Set Designer: Jerry Wunderlich
Barcode: 7321900161763
Production Designer: Bill Malley
Screenwriter: William Peter Blatty
Editor: Jordan Leondopoulos, Evan Lottman, Norman Gay, Bud Smith
Composer: Jack Nitzsche
Author: William Peter Blatty
Director of Photography: Billy Williams, Owen Roizman
Languages
Main Language: English
Subtitle Language: Arabic, Bulgarian, English, Romanian
Hearing Impaired Language: English
DVD Description
With THE EXORCIST, William Friedkin (THE FRENCH CONNECTION, THE BOYS IN THE BAND) rivals Hitchcock for heart-stopping terror in this deeply horrifying masterpiece that led to religious boycotts, fainting and nauseous audiences, and a commercial success that forever changed Hollywood. Linda Blair plays Regan, a 12-year-old girl possessed by the devil. After exhausting all the options of science, psychology, and medicine, Regan's mother (Ellen Burstyn) realizes the supernatural nature of her daughter's condition and resorts to a religious solution, turning to Father Karras (Jason Miller) for an exorcism. Aided by the mysterious Jesuit exorcist Father Merrin (Max von Sydow), Karras must confront not only supernatural phenomena but also his own inadequate faith and displaced guilt over his mother's recent death, a personal torment Regan uses to manipulate him, but with disturbing results. Like THE GODFATHER before it and JAWS soon after, THE EXORCIST enjoyed tremendous commercial and critical success that directly transformed Hollywood into the blockbuster behemoth of American culture.
Technical information
Special Features: Interactive Menus, Scene Access, Fear Of God Documentary, 8 Trailers, 6 TV Spots, Interviews, Original Ending, Commentaries, Sketches, Postcards
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 Wide Screen
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Dubbing Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Award information
OSCAR: Best Screenplay Based On Material Previously Produced Or Published 1974 (William Peter Blatty)
Professional reviews
Review: "...The first modern, F/X-heavy shriek-o-rama....[Miller and Burstyn] give harrowing, nuanced performances....Strikingly new amid [its era]..." (Entertainment Weekly, pp.129-30, 21/08/1998)
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