Quick Rating:  ****

 
 
 
One of the classic horror films of all time.  I watched it again recently, and it does hold up.  It's not perfect, however, but for it's time, it must have provided a huge shock.  Religion was much bigger in the 70s than it is today, and to see the scenes in this film (and you know what scenes I'm talking about)...  the audience left with images from this movie stuck in their head.
 
We start off in Iraq, and it's very unsettling.  We're not sure what's going on, just that something is not right.  Then we come to Georgetown, and we meet an actress and her little girl.  And there's noises in the attic.  And then the girl becomes sick.  And the doctors can't find anything physically wrong with her.  Onto the shrinks.  And then as things get progressively worse, the mother tries to get an exorcism done.
 
There are some truly great cinematic moments in this movie.  Things that make you shudder.  And the acting is phenomenal.  Young Linda Blair does a great job as the troubled and then possessed Regan.  The mother, the priest, they're all great.  The special effects hold up even in today's digital effects world. 
 
What I didn't like about the film was there were a few things left untouched.  Was there a significance to the sculpted head the priest found in Iraq?  What really happened to the director who fell down the stairs?  And what was the point of some of these other characters - Sharon? Karras's uncle?  the butler?    And the sound in some scenes was bad...  maybe it was supposed to be realistic, but you couldn't even hear the dialogue.  One other bad taste in my mouth is the over-the-top swearing of Regan.  While it must have proved a giant shock to audiences in '73, it just doesn't hold as much weight now.  We see it as an attempt to shock, rather than her legit language.
 
Overall, though, it still is a good story (although a simple one), and great acting, some great direction, great special effects, and some good creepiness.
 
 

Quality: 8.0  Visuals: 7.5  Intensity: 6.0
OVERALL RATING: 7.1