...a good, scary movie remains a good, scary movie, and if you don't already own it, now is as good a time as any to get it.
Tools:
Recommend review to a friend »
Warner Bros. may be making this an annual event--reissuing "The Exorcist" in new editions, I mean. In three years they've released three different versions of the movie. First, there was the regular edition. Then came the Twenty-fifth Anniversary edition with its numerous bonus features. And now we have "The Version You've Never Seen," with over ten minutes of additional footage that was initially deleted from the film. Whether the added scenes make the film any better is a matter of personal opinion, and whether a person who already owns the film on DVD should run out and buy this new one is a matter of the pocketbook.
One thing is clear: a good, scary movie remains a good, scary movie, and if you don't already own it, now is as good a time as any to get it.
For the few who have forgotten the plot, let me briefly remind you. The story is based on the bestseller by William Peter Blatty, who in turn found his inspiration from a newspaper article about a real-life exorcism. Under the direction of William Friedkin, the movie recounts the experiences of a twelve-year-old girl named Regan, who becomes possessed by a demon. Linda Blair plays Regan, at the beginning of the picture a perfectly normal, well-adjusted kid. For reasons unknown she becomes the object of possession not just by subordinate demons but by the Devil himself.
At first, she merely acts strangely; then she manifests weird noises and begins making her bed shake. Before long she is disgorging green slime and rotating her head 180 degrees. Her mother, played by Ellen Burstyn, takes her to the best doctors in town, but to no avail. The doctors suggest an exorcism as a last resort. Understandably, the mother is dismayed at what she considers witchcraft, but she is willing to go to any lengths to save her daughter.
The man she calls upon for help is a local Catholic priest at Georgetown University, Father Damien Karras, played by Jason Miller. He is a psychologist who frankly doesn't believe in exorcism. The movie is as much about him as it is about the possessed girl, since Father Karras is going through his own crisis of faith at the time of the story. He is soon convinced of the Devil's power, however, when Regan spits green goo in his face, starts speaking in tongues, and materializes words on her stomach. To help out Father Karras, the Church brings in their big guns in the person of Father Merrin, played by Max von Sydow, an old hand at exorcisms. Together, the two priests exorcise the demon but at a terrible price.
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]5952[/release]