THE EXORCIST, 1973

Original story and screenplay by... William Peter Blatty

Directed by... William Friedkin

Starring... Ellen Burstyn, Max Von Sydow, Linda Blair, Jason Miller, Lee J. Cobb, Kitty Winn, Jack MacGowran

Okay, so, the movie starts out with this old geezer on an archalogical dig in Iraq or one of them there Sandy Places. Well, then they find this ugly face pendant thing at the dig, then the movie flashes ahead in time to Georgetown, Washington. Now what this archalogical stuff has to do with the rest of the movie is beyond my comprehension, but thats not saying much, I had a lot of trouble following the plot in Bambi.

So in Georgetown we've got this actress lady who's doing a film shoot, yeah a film within a film, not bad eh? Anyway, she's got this lovely, young, sweet, innocent, naive daughter who turns into this horrible, ugly, head-spinning, slime-green-puking, ball-busting, murderous, bitchy little devil. How does this happen? That's easy, she gets taken over by this possessing evil demon dude with a nasty voice and an even nastier attitude.

Then we shoot over to father Karras, who, after watching his mother die in the hospital, starts to question his faith. So, now that we have the main characters lined up, lets get to the story.

12 year old Regan (Linda Blair) has an invisible new friend, called Mr. Howdy, and begins to act very strangely, not only that, but her face starts to look like chopped liver. Her mother (Ellen Burstyn) takes her to a bunch of Doctors and Shrinks, who, after subjecting her to a barrage of agonizing medical tests, can find nothing wrong with her either mentally or physically.

Her mother then contacts Father Karras (Jason Miller), a local priest that she has seen in the neighborhood. He checks out the girl and decides she is possesed by a demon. He asks the Church to allow an exorcism and reluctantly, they agree. Father Marrin (Max Von Sydow) is called in to perform the exorcism. Father Marrin turns out to be the old geezer from the dig in the desert and seems to have one foot in the grave already. So now, does the opening scene in the desert make any sense? Nope!

In the meantime, young Regan tosses her mother's dorky Director out the window to his death. Now this may sound callous and cruel, but I cheered when this happened, and you may too after you see this nerd.

Anyways, the two priests start the exorcisim and the elder father is killed by Regan. Young Father Karras carries on by himself without too much success. Finnally, out of frustration, he invites the demon to enter into his body. The demon finds this offer too good to resist and jumps into Father Karras' body. He stands there momentarily deciding whether or not to kill Regan, but instead jumps out the window to his death. Yes the same window that the dorky Director sailed through.

When next we see Regan, she is back to normal and has no memory of the previous goings on.

The Exorcist is truly one of the scariest movies ever produced, ask me how I know. Based on a supposedly true possession that occured in 1949. Winner of two Oscars (Best Screenplay and Sound). It was somehow left off the 'American Film Institutes Top 100 Films Of The Last 100 Years'. Oh well, it's on every other list ciculating on the net. A definite must see unless you are a believer.

Okay, so now does the desert scene make any sense? Yeah, but only because somebody told me. You see, the ugly face pendant thing that was found in the desert was supposed to represent the demon that took over Regan. Far Out, Eh?

Here's some of the stuff that makes it so great.

The makeup on Linda Blair's face is so sinister looking that it scares the hell out of me.

The low evil sounding howl of a voice that comes out of Regan's throat was supplied by Mercedes McCanbridge.

The bed levitating as the priests stand there watching. Giving us the feeling that the demon can not only manipulate the body but the physical objects around it.

Regans head does a 360 degree spin on her shoulders. This was accomplished with the help of a mannequin, although you'd never know it.

When Regan lets loose a well aimed slimy green vomit that travells across the room hitting it's hapless victim.