Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own

Oh, God, not this movie again!

There’s a reason why I’ve never done a review of The Exorcist (1973) on either of my blogs, plainly said, it scares the hell out of me, and that’s saying something, being a horror movie lover and all. And it’s the only horror movie I’ve ever seen that, while I’m a huge fan of it, I have a hard time re-watching. Case in point, the last time I saw it was when “The Version You’ve Never Seen” edition first hit disc in 2000. Yeah, that’s right, it’s been over two decades since I’ve seen this film. And when I heard last year it was being converted to UHD, I had to ask myself, do I want to add it to my collection? Well, since this review exists, the answer is pretty damn obvious. It sits in one of my DVD towers, on a shelf with other haunted house/ghost/demon flicks I’m a fan of. And, I suspect, there it will sit for a long, long time before I ever see it again. I’m sure as shit I’m not alone in my view of this movie, as it’s one of a few flicks I saw when I was a kid that traumatized me, and I caught on its TV debut. When that was I can’t say, but I remember being little. Let’s see, I was four when it hit theaters, so that should give you some idea of how young I was when it crept into my life.

Of course it was at night, not sure why my brother and I were watching it, or even allowed to check it out. All I can tell you is I watched it up to the scene where possessed Regan attacks her mother and ends the assault with that one hundred and eighty degree head rotation. I freaked out. I think I told my mother that was it, I was done with the movie. I was so freaked out I started to cry a little. It was time for our bed anyway, and I remember weeping in my bed. My brother oddly seemed unaffected. Then again he’s not a horror movie lover by any stretch of the imagination, so maybe he was freaked out by that scene too?

I never saw the entire movie until much later in life, and I think it was on cable in the early 80s when the family finally got HBO and Spotlight (cable company dropped Spotlight a short time later and replaced it with Showtime). The movie has a number of sequels, a prequel, a TV series and a soon-to-be another sequel/reboot (The Exorcist: Believer); I’ve never seen the series, nor do I want to (it was cancelled after its second season).

The movie is based on a 1971 novel by William Peter Blatty, he wrote a sequel in 1983 titled simply, Legion, which the third film The Exorcist III (1990) took its inspiration from. Blatty had no connection to the first sequel Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977). Why director William Friedkin’s movie adaptation was so successful is simple due to the fact it was presented as a realistic take on demonic possession, which I can only assume is how Blatty’s novel presented it  also. And since Blatty wrote the screenplay I can also assume the movie comes pretty damn close to what Blatty penned. I’ve been alive long enough to see it’s been ripped off and spoofed till the cows come home, and so far I have never seen any of the “serious” rips, or inspirations, come close to being as impactful as Friedkin/Blatty’s ’73 movie, and this is including the prequel and sequels. The only film that comes close, now that I think about it, and it’s more of a flipside of the same coin, since has nothing to do with demonic possession, but more “demonic” rape, is The Entity (1982) (see my review of that one here).

As a kid I was interested in many things, one of them was the supernatural, which has extended into my adulthood, but that interest only goes so far. I’m more of an “armchair investigator,” i.e. I prefer to get my knowledge of things that go bump in the night through books and the myriad specials and ghost hunting reality shows that are so en vogue these days it’s ridiculous, so when we realize 12-year-old Regan MacNeil’s (Linda Blair) possession started after she used a Ouija board, and successfully, I might add, I immediately understood that was indeed the window to which Assyrian demon, Pazuzu, go to her through. My mother bought a Ouija board when we were kids, and dear God my brother and I used it, but we were never able to contact anyone, or anything. I found that board in my mother’s closet many years ago and got rid of it. I had no idea she kept it. So, if there’s anything we learn from this movie, people, it’s don’t fuck around with Ouija boards. Ever.

One of the striking things about The Exorcist is how the plot moves like a rollercoaster between those infamous scenes of Regan’s evolving and shocking possession. It’s what I noticed when I finally saw it all the way through, it’s a rather quiet and sedate movie, and then BAM! shock scene number #1, then it goes quiet and sedate again, while you’re still wrestling with your palpitating heart and sweaty palms and asking yourself what the fuck did I just see, BAM! shock scene number #2 and so on and so on

There are four main characters, three of them take up a majority of the plot, until the fourth, Father Merrin (Max von Sydow), the Exorcist himself, whom the movie starts off with, returns in the third act as destiny seems to have linked him to Pazuzu, Pazuzu’s eventual ejection from the material plane, and his own death. Until that destined face-off, Chris (Ellen Burstyn), is trying to understand what’s happening to her daughter as the casual supernatural teasings of the demon become something the many doctors Chris takes her too think may be psychological. The many physical tests Regan is given show nothing out of the ordinary. Yes, this first half of the movie is creepy, and that creep factor begins right at the moment we see Regan’s bed moving around on its own. The second act of that particular supernatural gag later in the movie is even creepier as we see Regan being flung around on the bed, ending with a slight taste of her eventual possession (see the front cover of this UHD release).

Blair was the perfect actress for this role, since her personality change is conveyed with such believability, and Burstyn the perfect actress to play her mother as she exhibits realistic mental exhaustion as the haunted house antics turn inward on Regan altering personality, and then finally taking control of the little girl and altering everything else, meaning, yes, there’s some gore, since demonic possession has a habit of altering human anatomy, in an effort to shock and demoralize those who are in the possessed individuals circle. Swearing like a sailor is another tactic by the demonic, but all this is done so realistically, which as I said is this movie’s secret weapon. Realism.

The third main character is Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller), who gets reluctantly pulled into the lives of this mother and daughter, but is going through some shit himself, like the death of his mother, the guilt of not being there, and maybe some doubts about whether he should continue being a priest. Miller is another perfect casting, he’s very believable as Karras, and who’s the first to deal with Pazuzu in full blown possessed form. At this point in the movie, Regan has been restrained to her bed and looking and sounding like something unearthly. Karras and Chris believe firmly now this is something “supernatural,” and an exorcism is needed, but Karras has to bring proof of the possession to the church for them to want to do anything. Meanwhile there’s a subplot of a Lieutenant William F. Kinderman (Lee J. Cobb) investigating the mysterious death of one Burke Dennings (Jack MacGowran), a friend of Chris’s. His death is never shown, but because of that it’s one of the creepier elements of the movie. He was supposed to be babysitting Regan one night, but when Chris gets home he’s nowhere to be found, and it’s freezing cold in Regan’s room because the window is wide open. Eventually, Chris is told Burke is dead, found at the bottom of a long flight of stairs that Regan’s window overlooks with his head turned a hundred and eighty degrees around. Kinderman eventually concludes his turned around head was not a result of the fall, but something that happened before. Shiver. A toy of Regan’s was found near his body. The implication being Regan killed him. But how the fuck does a little girl find the strength to kill a grown man and toss his ass out of a window? Possession is the answer you’re looking for, people.

There’s an amazing twist in Merrin and Karras exorcism battle with Pazuzu in the final act. Merrin dies of a heartattack in the middle of it, leaving Karras unprepared as to what to do next, since Merrin was the lead priest in all this, with Karras assisting. Yeah, this movie comes with a bittersweet ending, as Karras gives his life to kick Pazuzu’s ass out of this world (wow, both priests were killed off!), coming up with a rather simple and ingenious plan to force the demon into him, and then suicide himself out of existence by throwing himself from Regan’s window and down that staircase Burke was tossed. Now with the demon gone from Regan’s body, she’s back to normal, with no memory of what happened to her.

I can’t remember much about Exorcist II, only knowing Linda Blair came back to play her character again, and it had something to do with locust. I caught that one on cable too, and since I can’t recall a lot of it, I can only assume it wasn’t to my liking. The third one I actually saw in a theater, and sort of liked it, but not enough to add it my collection, since it’s already out on blu from Scream Factory. I remember Fangoria covering it and discovering the final theatrical edit was different than what they covered. I believe there was some post production tinkering that turned it into a different movie.

There are two versions of this movie, if you’re curious what was cut and restored go here on IMDB, since there’s a lot of subtitle moments Friedkin also tweaked for the Extended Director’s Cut.

The Exorcist (1973) has had several releases and re-releases over the decades since DVD was created, this latest version from Warner Brothers Home Entertainment takes advantage of ultra high definition technology with this 4K Ultra HD release that came out on September 19. You can buy it here on Amazon!

VIDEO/AUDIO/SUBTITLES: 2160p 1.85:1 Ultra High Definition Widescreen—English Dolby Atmos, 7.1 English Dolby TrueHD, 5.1 English DTS-HD Master Audio, 2.0 English DTS-HD Master Audio (Mono), 5.1 French Dolby Digital, 5.1 Spanish Dolby Digital, 5.1 Italian Dolby Digital, 5.1 German Dolby Digital, 5.1 Spanish (Latino) Dolby Digital, 5.1 Spanish (Castellano) Dolby Digital,—English SDH, French, Spanish (Latino), Spanish (Castellano), Chinese, Korean, Italian, German, Dutch Subs

I never owned the previous blu, so I have nothing to compare this version too, regardless the UHD looked fantastic! Clarity, color and black levels looked incredible on both versions!

EXTRAS INCLUDED . . .

DISC #1 EXTENDED DIRECTOR’S CUT (2:12:20):

  • Commentary By William Friedkin

DISC #2 THEATRICAL VERSION (2:01:54):

  • Introduction By William Friedkin (2:11)
  • Commentary By William Friedkin
  • Commentary By William Peter Blatty With Special Sound Effects Tests

(NOTE: If you’re wondering why WB didn’t port over any of the other old extras, well, they did, but only on the included digital copy, and as I understand it with the digital you can’t have both versions, you have to choose which one you want, the theatrical or the extended director’s cut).