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The
Exorcist - The Version You've Never Seen
review by Terry Wickham
"The scariest movie of all-time." Quite possibly. I'm one of the people who didn't think it was possible to improve perfection, but director William Friedkin and producer/writer William Peter Blatty have done it. They have added eleven minutes to The Exorcist to make it a better film. They have put in scenes that broaden the characters, added the infamous "Spider Walk" staircase scene, subtle touches of the demon presence throughout the film, added to the beginning and the end. There has never been any doubt about the powerful punch The Exorcist carries. It's just over the years, William Peter Blatty and fans worldwide have wanted more, feeling that what was left out of the film should be seen. With the scenes and images digitally restored and soundtrack remastered in Dolby 5.1 surround ex sound, The Exorcist has never looked or sounded better. The colors are rich and reproduced to perfection. The opening scene in Iraq is so sharp, that I felt I was watching a new movie. A film that I had never seen before, which gives the film's subtitle "The Version You've Never Seen" even more meaning. The story is about a little girl named Reagan MacNeil (Linda Blair) who for no reason whatsoever, suddenly becomes possessed by a demon. Her mother is an actress Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) who is shooting a film in the Georgetown, Washington D.C. area. When Reagan starts acting strange, doing bizarre things that keep getting worse, her mother takes her to a doctor for examination. When the doctor cannot find anything wrong with her, he moves to putting Reagan through evasive tests to find out the answer. These medical tests are disturbing to watch, maybe as frightening as any supernatural occurrence within the film. The power of reality strikes hard as Friedkin's background as a Chicago television director elevates The Exorcist into total believability. On Friedkin's audio commentary track, he mentions that this medical section of the film is where quite a few audience members got up to leave the theater when the film played in 1973. After the medicaltests prove inconclusive, the team of doctors recommend that Chris may want to contact the Catholic church to see if they can help her daughter. It's a pivotal scene that shows that medicine will not cure Reagan and makes the audience believe that she is indeed possessed. Chris MacNeil contacts a local priest named Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller) to check out Reagan. At this point, Reagan is already reached full demonic possession, but it takes a couple hair-raising scenes and a tape-recorded session before Father Karras is convinced. Father Karras has been struggling with his faith and initially believes that he may be imagining Reagan's different outbursts. When he plays back the reel-to-reel tape he recorded in Reagan's room, he finds various voices speaking at the same time, in different languages, some of them backwards. This is enough to convince Father Karras an exorcism is in order. Father Lancaster Merrin (Max Von Sydow) is called to lead Father Karras into an age-old battle with the demon Pazuzu. From this point on, the film is a full-scale war between the priests and the embodiment of evil. Both sides wrestle to pull little Reagan to their respective side. Linda Blair's portrayal of Reagan MacNeil has only been paralleled by a couple of other child performances; Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver and Haley Joel Osment in the Sixth Sense come to mind. Blair is absolutely sensational as a little innocent girl who becomes possessed. Between the subject matter and the difficult physical make-up and special effects, not to mention sub-temperature set, Blair goes way beyond the point most performers could stand. I give her a tremendous amount of credit for excelling in the role. Especially with all the unnecessary and unwarranted crap she's had to take since the film's release. Any kind of attention and recognition she's received since 1973, is well deserved. Jason Miller had the role of a lifetime playing Father Karras. In the beginning, he seemed to be at a loss with his faith in the church and dealing with his mother's health. Without his gritty portrayal, the film wouldn't nearly work the same. Max Von Sydow is simply incredible. In real life, he was nowhere near the age he was playing, but with his physicality of the character and Dick Smith's old age make-up, he is totally convincing. The scenes with Father Merrin and Father Karras working together are magnificent. It may seem easy to overlook Ellen Burstyn in the film, since she's not in most of the explosive action scenes. Burstyn does a tremendous job as Chris MacNeil, a single parent, who also is a career woman an runs into this massive problem at home. She certainly plays the actress part well and switches gears to concerned mother as soon as the story needs her to. She also has nice chemistry with Linda Blair and the scenes with Detective Kinderman (Lee J. Cobb). Dick Smith. What must I say about the man looked upon as the inventor of special make-up effects? To this day, The Exorcist still carries the same impact as when it was first released. Put the movie on when you are alone, at night and see how it makes you feel. Smith's make-up on Linda Blair was something we had never seen before and rarely as effective since. Those damn eye contact lenses are totally frightening to look at. When Linda Blair stares at you, the little girl is gone and all we see is a demon. Cinematography plays a big part in the film. Director of Photography Owen Roizman helps Friedkin capture real color tones and does a splendid job in lighting the special effects. Roizman does a marvelous job-integrating studio shooting versus actual location shooting. It's very difficult to tell the difference between the two. Some of the imagery captured, like Father Merrin arriving at the Georgetown house, standing silhouetted next to the light pole is simply unforgettable. Sound and music carry The Exorcist. There are scenes in the film that erupt with load clanks, scratches, knocks, pounding, unearthly voices, growls and screams. Other times the movie goes deathly silent, which has a great effect as we listen in paying more attention. See my review of The Exorcist CD in the music section to break down Friedkin's incredible use of music. William Friedkin is an exceptional filmmaker. The French Connection, Sorcerer, To Live and Die In LA and Rampage are all special films. He probably won't ever make another film that will carry the impact that The Exorcist has made. It's not really a knock on his skills as a director, but rather a rare cinema experience where all the behind the scenes talent line up with an earth shattering story. It's a situation every filmmaker would hope for in his or her lifetime. Friedkin's commentary track focuses mostly on the storyline and characters. I learned a great deal about Friedkin's subtle use of symbolism and hidden meaning. One example is if you watch the film, you'll notice in many scenes that Father Karras is ascending up stairs or walking up an incline. Friedkin says that this upward movement symbolizes Father Karras death later on and that he rises up because he sacrifices is soul to save Reagan. I found information like this quite fascinating. I have always felt William Friedkin is one of the best speaking film directors out there.
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