31 Days of Horror Movies - The Exorcist (1973)

To give you an idea how scary The Exorcist was in its day, consider the following.  Two years before The Exorcist came out, my mom and dad took me to see The Godfather.  Sonny Corleone got filled full of holes at a toll booth.  Moe Green got shot in the eye on a massage table.  Carlo Rizza was garroted by Peter Clemenza.  Clemenza blasted “Black Tony” Stracci in an elevator.  There was a bloody horse's head in some guy's bed.  That kind of stuff was ok for a nine year old kid to watch.  But demonic possession?  Forget about it.  Mom read the book – she knew what to expect.  What she expected was this movie would scare the hell out of me if I saw it.  It scared the hell out of a lot of people.  Priests would stand outside movie theaters where the movie was shown and pass out handbills telling people where to get counseling.

The plot is well-known.  Chris McNeil is a movie star.  She lives in an apartment in Georgetown with her pre-teen daughter, Regan.  After playing with Ouija board, Regan gets a new “friend,” Captain Happy.  Then Regan starts acting weird.  She urinates in front of a roomful of dinner guests.  She complains that her bed is shaking.  He predicts the death of the mother of one of her mother’s friends.  She has violent outbursts with anyone who comes in contact with her.  She appears to have seizures.  Chris subjects Regan to lots of medical tests to determine what is wrong with her, but the tests turn up nothing.  Medically, there’s nothing wrong with her.  After all of the medical tests turned up nothing, a desperate Chris consults a priest she’s seen in Georgetown.  She doesn’t believe in God, but she feels like she’s out of options.  Father Karras, who has a background in psychology, is having a personal crisis in faith.  His mom is dying, and his meager salary can’t pay for adequate care.   He’s also skeptical about performing an exorcism.  He’s never done one, and he doesn’t know anybody who has.   But after talking with the local bishop, he gets permission to do the exorcism.  They also give Father Karras some help.  Father Merrin is an elderly priest who just returned from an archeological dig in Iraq.   He’s done exorcisms before, including one that nearly killed him.  After Fathers Merrin and Karras show up at the McNeil apartment, Regan greets Father Merrin by yelling out his name.  Apparently the demon and Father Merrin are old acquaintances.  After Father Merrin starts the rites of exorcism, all hell breaks loose [pun not intended].  Regan curses like a sailor, speaks in tongues, speaks to Father Karras in his mother’s voice, and pukes more pea soup.   Father Merrin tells Father Karras to leave, and he continues the exorcism alone.  When Father Karras returns, he sees Father Merrin dead on the floor.  He dropped dead of a heart attack.  Regan laughs at Father Karras, who gets pissed off.  He grabs Regan and tells the demon "Come into me! Take me!"  The demon obliges and transfers from Regan to him.  With his last ounce of humanity, Father Karras commits suicide by throwing himself out of Regan’s bedroom window, after which he tumbles ass-over-teakettle down a flight of concrete stairs.  Regan is all better, for now…

“Whoa! Moments” – In good horror movies, there are what I call “Whoa! Moments.”  Some people would say “Holy Shit!” instead, but those are the moments in films that come out of nowhere and surprise you, hence the “Whoa!” exclamation.  Spinning heads, projectile puking of green pea soup, levitating beds, bodies flying everywhere, masturbation with a crucifix – all of that is “old hat” now, but it was something new and shocking in 1973.  They left out a scene where she spider-walks down the stairs because the harness wire could be seen on-screen [that got fixed for the deluxe DVD version].  Imagine if they were able to include that little bit?  What was really new in 1973 was the fact there was a film about demon possession and exorcism.  I looked up IMDB to see if there were any exorcism movies made before 1973, and I found two – Il Demonio (1963), and The Devils (1971).  So you could say the entire film is one big “Whoa! moment.

Joe Bob Briggs rating – Two dead priests, 10 gallons green pea soup, furniture-fu, cross-fu.

Bottom line:  The Exorcist is the gold standard against which all other movies about demonic possession are measured.