The Exorcist

Based on a book by William Peter Blatty, The Exorcist follows Ellen Burstyn’s Chris MacNeil as she enlists the help of a priest (Jason Miller’s Father Karras) to save her daughter (Linda Blair’s Regan) from the clutches of an evil entity. It’s interesting to note that The Exorcist gets off to a palpably disastrous start, as filmmaker William Friedkin kicks things off with a rather interminable stretch detailing the exploits of an older priest’s (Max von Sydow’s Father Merrin) less-than-engrossing exploits in Iraq – with the ineffectiveness of this prologue preventing the viewer from wholeheartedly embracing the remainder of the proceedings. There’s little doubt, though, that the movie does improve somewhat once it progresses into its narrative proper, as Friedkin, working from Blatty’s script, does a nice job of establishing the movie’s central characters and the progressively dire situation in which they find themselves – with the inclusion of ominous little hints certainly heightening the movie’s increasingly atmospheric feel (eg Chris hears weird noises coming from the attic, Regan communicates with the entity through her ouija board, etc). Friedkin’s decision to employ as deliberate a pace as one could envision eventually does become irredeemably problematic, however, and it’s difficult to work up much interest in or enthusiasm for, say, the series of medical tests to which Regan is subjected (ie there’s a palpable get-on-with-it sort of vibe at work here). And although the tension is ratcheted up significantly once the title character arrives on the scene, The Exorcist runs out of steam long before reaching its decidedly low-key (and somewhat anticlimactic) finale – which is a shame, certainly, given the presence of a few distinctly stirring moments during the movie’s third act (eg the now-infamous “the power of Christ compels you” bit packs a potent punch, to be sure).

** out of ****