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Created Feb 15, 2009 05:23AM PST • Edited Feb 15, 2009 05:23AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Really Great 4.5

   Chilling, exploitative horror at its best, The Exorcist grips and disgusts in equal measure, and is an enthralling horror experience.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   Young Linda Blair is horrifying as the possessed child Regan, whilst Ellen Burstyn is ably supportive as Regan’s horrified mother Chris. Max Von Sydow strongly portrays Father Merrin, whilst Jason Miller takes many of the plaudits for his performance as the conflicted, heroic Father Karras.

5. Male Stars Great 4.0

   Jason Miller and Max von Sydow play the two priests charged with exorcising the demon from young Regan, and Miller takes much of the share of screentime; his character Damien Karras faces the demons of his past in his mother’s illness as well as the literal demon in possession of Regan. Miller manages to present a conflicted yet strong-willed man whose faith eventually shines through, whilst Von Sydow sagely portrays the elderly priest as the saviour of the piece – a withered man who has fought evil before and must once more.

6. Female Stars Really Great 4.5

   There is nothing that can be said against Linda Blair’s portrayal of Regan – the actress is believable as the normal child and disturbingly, horrifically so as the possessed and changed one. How Friedkin got such a young actress to convincingly act out what she has to in the course of the film is beyond belief, and in some cases rather disturbing to consider. Ellen Burstyn plays Regan’s mother Chris McNeil, and as the audience centerpoint of the film, Burstyn does well to portray the utter horror and fear any parent would feel in such a situtation!

7. Female Costars Good 3.0

   Adjusted accordingly, as there aren’t any other significant female roles that warrant mention.

8. Male Costars Good 3.0

   Of the supporting male cast, the most significant appears to be the policeman Kinderman, played by Lee J. Cobb, whose utter confusion and disgust at the events leading up to and surrounding the exorcism suggest a man who cannot quite believe what is going on – the outsider’s view on the situation if that’s possible to comprehend. The fellow priest to Karras, Father Dyer, is played ably by William O’Malley, a real priest – adding another layer of complexity to the already confusingly-structured production.

10. Film

    Really Great 4.5

    William Friedkin achieves a vast amount for so little onscreen here – whilst the film went well over-budget, the movie maintains an air of independent, tight drama beneath the horror and demonic subtext. The dialogue, through the profanity, is sinister and ominous, as can be said for the soundtrack, whilst the visuals truly speak for themselves in the longevity of their residence in my mind.

11. Direction Really Great 4.5

    Friedkin, having already made The French Connection, clearly had a hold on the New Hollywood conventions of filmmaking, crafting a taut and tense masterpiece of disturbing horror using subliminal imaging, effects and a steadily-built, tangible tension that is almost unbearable at points.

12. Play Great 4.0

    The dialogue on show is impressively written; again, Hollywood’s adaptation of a novel takes on the novel’s author as scriptwriter, as William S. Blatty crafts his novel into a workable, dramatic and chilling series of conversations. From the initial silences, conversations break up and differentiate the tension – the debates between possessed Regan and the priests are intricately constructed and religiously-based, and the permeating idea of age-old religious conflicts between good and evil bubbles up from under the surface.

13. Music Great 4.0

    Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells is used to such interesting effect in the movie, along with the brooding score, that you will never hear it in the same way afterward. The movie effectively ruins what positive and optimistic overtones that the piece may have had by irrevocably linking it in my mind with the visuals in the movie, and its mystical, ominous tones synchronise perfectly with the film’s content.

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0

    I think it’s obvious to many that may have seen the film that the visual horror stands tall alongside the tension and psychological frights onscreen – the subliminal presentations of a demonic face throughout the film begin to pinpoint upon the viewer that something’s up, and the image itself is almost burned into your mind. By the time Regan is possessed by the demon, we’ve been treated to madly moving beds, disgusting bodily contortions and a scene with a crucifix that must go down in history as one of the more disturbing scenes in a mainstream movie. Regardless to say – visually speaking, this film will leave its horrors embedded in your mind for a while afterward.

15. Content

16. Edge

    Horrid 4.3

    This film is wrong. No other way to honestly put it. Without the subject matter, which would appal most religious people, you have a few choice scenes that demonstrate the more disturbing aspects of sexuality and profanity, as well as some shockingly disgusting bodily contortion. Stay away if you’re at ALL disgusted by the previous!

17. Sex Lewd 4.0

18. Violence Savage 4.0

19. Rudeness Vile 5.0

21. Reality

    Supernatural 3.5

    Possession is said to be a real-life phenomenon, but as a purely atheist reviewer, I’m ratcheting it up to supernatural.

22. Circumstantial Supernatural 3.5

23. Biological Supernatural 3.5

24. Physical Supernatural 3.5