The Exorcist

Rating:
Summary: Probably not as scary as it once was.
Review: I truly, truly wish that I were around to see this movie when it first came out.

When it came out in the 1970's, much of the subject matter was taboo. Unfortunately, when I saw the movie with a few friends of mine, we weren't scared at all. The possessed scenes of poor Linda Blair cursing and making lewd comments that made people cringe back then do nothing now. Society has changed so that nowadays, we hear that kind of language all the time, so a lot of the impact is lost. So, throughtout the movie, I kept in mind that back then, this kind of thing was very rare to witness, and it helped a little.

Some parts DID make us jump, though, so it hasn't lost ALL of it's appeal. Linda Blair does a wonderful job playing the poor girl that degrades from a innocent girl to the Devil himself, and the special effects are the best thing next to computer animation, so I give it four stars because it has good special effects, good acting...and hey, it's a classic! So go on and try it out. After all, some adults from the 1970's STILL haven't watched it! In fact, once The Exorcist is re-released into theaters this fall, I'm going to drag my mom down to watch it for the first time!

Rating:
Summary: A Classic masterpiece!
Review: The Exorcist is more then just a movie, it is an event, transcedent, powerful, but more importantly scary -- a film that is not afraid to touch upon images of true terror.

William Friedkin, a masterful filmmaker, takes horror filmmaking to a new level. With its deliberate pacing, solid performances, and startling visuals, the Exorcist remains a powerful film some 25 years after its original theatrical release.

This truly is the greatest horror movie of all time, bar none!

So turn off the lights, turn up the sound, and shudder at the only horror film worth watching -- The Exorcist!

Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece
Review: A horror film for thinking adults. What a concept. One of the greatest films ever made. The 25th Anniversary edition DVD is everything a fan could have hoped for. The transfer's superb, the new soundmix isn't state-of-the-art, but a whole lot better than the old, mono track, and the extra's are great. I would pay the 20 bucks for the documntary alone. Highly, highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Astoundingly Bad
Review: I just saw this at the theatre (not sure why) and it was just as bad as it was the first time I saw it. The only reason this film has any notoriety is because old ladies fainted upon seeing it in 1973. First of all, the pacing will put you to sleep. I don't need action every 2 minutes to keep my attention, but why is it that every time there would be any action in this film, the camera is somewhere else? Example 1: Near the end, the demon murders the exorcist, but the camera is out in the hall filming yet another insipid conversation between the mother and Father Carras! Example 2: A guy is pushed out a window and breaks his neck, but we only hear about this; we don't see anything happen. I don't need tons of gore (or any, really) but if I wanted to imagine the murders instead of seeing them occur, I would read the book instead. Another note: The editing is terrible. Every scene ends just as it's (finally) starting to get off the ground. Exactly what part of this movie do people find "scary"? There is no atmosphere at all. A girl spitting pea soup is not scary; it's just stupid. And if I wanted to hear a 12-year-old spewing obscenities, I would just go visit a junior high school. It's not something to make a movie about. The 70's was a good time for horror movies (not just because of 70's fashion either), with The Omen, Halloween, Carrie, and other great ones. The Exorcist isn't even in the same category. It's just a very long boring plotless movie about a girl with some green make-up. Pretty sad.

Rating:
Summary: ULTIMATE SHOCKER
Review: For pure visceral, kick-you-in-the-gut shocking horror, no movie comes close to the power of this expertly made thriller from 1973. While the "version you've never seen", currently in theatres, features the brief "spider-walk", for my money, the original director's cut is infinitely better. The performances are uniformly superb, from Ellen Burstyn's harrowing actress-mom, to Jason Miller's haunted priest, to Max Von Sydow's (he was only 41 at the time of filming!)compelling exorcist. The suspense is built with no thumping soundtrack, and no sophisticated special effects, yet there are scenes in this movie that still practically invade your very soul. Friedkin directs this movie with a no-fat, streamlined approach, and the feel is urgent, powerful, very "now", despite the slight distraction of 70s costuming. It is difficult to believe this move passed the censors back then; it probably would not today. And to top it all off, the story, a fantastical demonic possesion thriller dressed up like a faith diatribe, has an undeniable power, and makes you think. It is hard to shake this movie, and certain images will haunt you for a long long time. For real fans, this collector's edition comes with a fascinating documentary that is much, much more interesting than the flat scenes currently on display in the movie theatres, which were best left on the cutting room floor.

Rating:
Summary: Arguably the Scariest Movie Ever Made
Review: When The Exorcist first came out, I was too young to see it...or so my parents thought. At was with not a little agony that I saw the film arrive in theaters, and heard about people throwing up and fainting because of it. I was a young horror movie junkie, and this sound like the Uber-horror flick. And I was missing it!

Then came video.

And now a new theatrical release of a re-edit of the original film.

Probably, the original edit was a better movie. The scenes that are added don't bring too much to the movie, except, of course, for the infamous "spider walk" scene, which is very, very brief, and utterly creepy. I can't imagine why it was removed from the original release.

What makes viewing this movie in a theater such a treat is the clarity of the picture. Having only seen this movie on video, I never caught most of the demonic "flashes" that you see througout the house, and in Regan's room. Look closely, for instance, on the vent hood over the stove in the scene during which Ellen Burstyn comes home, and the lights are flashing on an off. Look closely at the door when she enters and leaves Regan's room.

This movie is still shocking, still frightening, and still a helluva lot of fun. ( It's also nice, frankly, to see a movie in which the Catholic Church, and priests, are not portrayed as depraved and oppressive. ) Were this movie made today, all the subtleties would have to be made explicit for the unperceptive MTV generation of moviegoers. They just wouldn't pay enough attention, for instance, to understand that there is a relationship between the demon and Max von Sydow's character, that, apparently, the demon possesses the girl to lure Fr. Merrin to his own destruction (listen carefully to the tape that Fr. Karras makes of the demon--you'll hear it cry out for Fr. Merrin).

This is one of the greatest horror movies ever made. You need to see it in a theater. If you can't, watch it on DVD.

Rating:
Summary: the exorcist
Review: heh this movie made me not wanna have children, scared me half to death, i loved it...

Rating:
Summary: Continuing to Frighten
Review: The added trailers and "extra's" on this version are great at helping us to remember it's only a movie, HOWEVER this is one age old story of good vs evil which I don't believe will ever stop frightening people. The images and special effects which appear very simple and basic in comparison to current hi-tech standards are still very shocking and will send chills down your spine and give you goosebumps. This movie will continue to scare because the fear produced is rooted deep within our own psyche. The movie leaves you with images and thoughts which have the ability to transform your moments alone into a living hell. It is a fear that goes far beyond what we can "see" with our eyes. The movie strikes the most primitive fears imaginable with graphic and sacreligious visual images and the bone chilling sound effects and musical score. The added visual imagery of the almost subliminal and fleeting death face will leave you asking yourself and others if you really saw it. In addition, the newly inlcluded scene of Reagan in a 'spider walk' down the staircase will again trigger those fears which are difficult to describe verbally but resonate deep within our psyche.

Beyond the ability of the movie to scare the hell out of you (or into you), the movie also seems to depict another basic theme of the human search for answers to life's big questions. The early sequence of the archeological dig in Iraq and the sequence of the adolescent Regan undergoing a series of neurological and medical tests to identify the "etiology" of her "illness" are classic illustrations of this. From this movie, it appears the anwers to these questions regarding the presence of good & evil forces and the nature of suffering cannot be unearthed in the archeology of the past or the technology of the future. These may continue to be questions which may never be "answered or proven"...and maybe they aren't meant to be. They may always be a matter of belief or faith and this movie is likely to shake yours.

It's recent re-release to the big screen has also yielded successful box office figures proving it one of the classic horror films of all time.

Rating:
Summary: A largely accurate portrayal of an exorcism.
Review: As a demonologist who has witnessed demonical phenomena, the film's depiction of an exorcism is largely accurate even if being a "worst-case scenario." My criticisms: (1) The ending where the priest says "take me." In reality that would have been a fatal (or worse) mistake. (2) They didn't explore the terrible price an exorcist pays, even when successful, for freeing the victim. (3) They underplayed a demon's most potent weapons: forcible telepathy & prescience. Accordingly, -my- scariest scenes are when the demon "replays" the streetfellow's lament, "Can ya help an old alterboy, Father?" and then later when Fr. Karras "sees" his dead mother in Regan's bed and we watch as the demon plays on the priest's remorse in an effort to destroy him. Those two scenes strike the deepest chords from my personal experience, and most potently hint at the sense of naked impotence one experiences when confronting objectively evil, preternatural cunning.

Rating:
Summary: best horror movie EVER!!!!!
Review: i just saw this movie in the movie theatre the other day and it is most definatly the scarriest movie i have ever seen. unlike todays movies, this was actually scary and not some movie about a guy dressed in black with a mask on and a knife in his hand.In my 12 year life there has not been a thing that scared me more than this movie. Definatly go see/rent/buy this movie, i promise you will like it.