It has its place among the best horror movies without any doubt. This cult classic directed by William Friedkin – over 4 decades old – has not given any signs of being dated, even after several views, it is still as fresh as during the premiere – still the most frightening movie that has ever been made.

It has its place among the best horror movies without any doubt. This cult classic directed by William Friedkin – over 4 decades old – has not given any signs of being dated, even after several views, it is still as fresh as during the premiere – still the most frightening movie that has ever been made.

This piece was based on the book by William Peter Blatty published in 1971 with the same title, which was inspired by the now urban legend case of Roland Doe.

The name was created by the catholic church identifying the „unknown” young boy, who they have been exorcising in the late 1940s. Roland was raised in a catholic family in the ’40s. He had a very close relationship with his aunt, Harriet, who gave the boy a Ouija board as a present. Harriet died when Roland was only 13 years old. He tried to connect with her with the help of the board. Thomas B. Allen wrote a book on the case with information coming from the local bishop, Raymond.

It claims that the strange issues started right after the death of Harriet: Roland started to experience things – strange noises, scratches on his own body, and some belongings in the house started to move by themselves.

39 priests were involved in the investigation, but none of them could explain it. The family then turned to the evangelic priest, Miles Schulze for further help.

Around this time, the Washington Post started to report that neither the psychiatrist nor the medical examiners could find an answer concerning the state of the boy and his illness.

After one evening with the family, Schulze ordered an exorcism for the boy, who was then taken to the Saint Jacob Church, where a priest named Bowdern performed the very first ritual on him – receiving several injuries on his body caused by Doe. The exorcism had to be stopped immediately.

The boy, back in his home, started giving signs of strange scratches and signs on his skin forming words, and started to speak unknown languages.

More priests  visited the family, and Walter H. Hallor could finish the ritual at last. During the exorcism the boy broke the nose of the priest and shouted that he was Satan himself. This ritual was considered to be a successful one, and since then the family had not reported any similiar activity.

This inspired Blatty to write his novel – with a heroine named Regan MacNeil.

Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) is an actress. She has recently moved with her daughter because of the movie she is currently in. Regan (Linda Blair) is an average girl next door. The movie depicts the strong bond between mother and daughter, which makes the audience be able to connect with them, and even love them – creating a huge impact for the forthcoming events.

Regan starts to have a so called imaginary friend, Captain Howdy – of course no one pays attention to this. The strange things start around this time.

The Exorcist is not a simple fright night – jump scare horror flick, but a serious drama as well.

In the first half of the movie we get to know the characters, their stories, we see them develop their own image, which make the whole movie as exceptional as it is.

The 60s-70s was the era of the films which were dealing with the heavy forces of paranormal activities – but The Exorcist was a piece of its own, a milestone if you like.

We meet the evil itself as real as it is – without any digital help the creators could bring something to the screen that stands the test of time, and being as scary as it was when it was first shown.

Of course the directorial cut is the best to check, which is known as „The version you’ve never seen” and it premiered on the silver screen in 2000.

This movie has no errors, everything is exceptional – the acting, the camera work, the atmosphere, the script. It has not been praised for nothing - for almost half of a century now.

And of course we should say some words about the circumstances of the creation of this mystical horror masterpiece – which was not lacking strange events and activities during the shooting and post production. Checking the extras on the Blu-ray/DVD we can easily say that bringing the story of Regan and her battle with the demon to life had to be one of the most challenging in the history of modern cinema.

William O’Malley, who is a priest in real life and stars in the movie as Father Dyer claims that what we can see is almost 80% true to what really happened in Maryland with Roland Doe – of course here the main character is a girl.

Max von Sydow recalls his first day on set: in character – a real gentleman – he started to act as Merrin, but after hearing the swearing and all the filth that Linda had to say, he forgot his lines and had to end the scene without being able to finish it.

The young actress was threatened several times after the premiere – the studio had to hire bodyguards – due to some claiming that the movie was glorifying Satan.

During post production, Mercedes McCambridge – who provided the voice of the demon – was given raw eggs and whiskey, and started chain smoking – yes, it was a demanding role for everyone.

The notorious „spider walk” scene (which was first seen in the 2000 version) was deleted, because the wires were visible – they were later removed digitally.

Friedkin wanted the breath to be seen, so the set had to be freezing cold during the shooting  - summer time in New York City. It was an enormous work to do.

Strange enough, when the poster concept had not been finalized yet, they created a version which had Annabelle on it, the wicked doll that said to be cursed and later investigated by Ed and Lorraine Warren (The Conjuring is based on this case but portrays the doll differently – in real life it was a ragdoll)

The first teaser trailer was banned for years, because of its constant pulsating frames with the face of the demon (can be found below – it was truly frightening indeed, and still is).

Since Max von Sydow was only 44 years old, he had to wear special make-up and prosthetics to appear as an old exorcist priest.

The shooting with the special effects was truly hard for the director and of course for the actors as well – causing the pain to look as real as it was in there. One of these is when Linda is being thrown around by the force of the devil – it was a metal piece which were on her back, pushing her up and around  - and cutting into her spine real hard. The other one is when she (I mean, her stand in, the great Eileen Dietz) slaps her mother the first time – Ellen Burstin was attached to a wire and a stuntman pulled her so hard that she had to take some days off and have her back healed by a doctor. And it is worth to mention that William O’Malley – due to not being an actor – had trouble with his lines at the end of the movie, when Karras killed himself. He had to bring such deep emotions, that he could not do it after several takes. Friedkin slapped him and said: „Action!” We can see the shaking hands and the tears – they were all real!

In the opening sequence we see the ruins of Nineveh – it had its own trouble since the USA had no diplomatic contact with Iraq – the crew could only employ English members to avoid legal issues.

On one of the original posters there was a bloody crucifix in Regan’s hand and a tagline: „God saves this girl!”. Friedkin was not so fond of this cheap attention seeking. It was not a B movie at all.

An interesting fun fact is that Stanley Kubrick was in talks abut directing.

Several prequels and sequels have been created during the decades for this Oscar nominee (the very first nominated horror movie ever!), but none of them can even come close to the genius of the original.

10/10It has its place among the best horror movies without any doubt. This cult classic directed by William Friedkin – over 4 decades old – has not given any signs of being dated, even after several views, it is still as fresh as during the premiere – still the most frightening movie that has ever been made.

This piece was based on the book by William Peter Blatty published in 1971 with the same title, which was inspired by the now urban legend case of Roland Doe.The name was created by the catholic church identifying the „unknown” young boy, who they have been exorcising in the late 1940s. Roland was raised in a catholic family in the ’40s. He had a very close relationship with his aunt, Harriet, who gave the boy a Ouija board as a present. Harriet died when Roland was only 13 years old. He tried to connect with her with the help of the board. Thomas B. Allen wrote a book on the case with information coming from the local bishop, Raymond.It claims that the strange issues started right after the death of Harriet: Roland started to experience things – strange noises, scratches on his own body, and some belongings in the house started to move by themselves.39 priests were involved in the investigation, but none of them could explain it. The family then turned to the evangelic priest, Miles Schulze for further help. Around this time, the Washington Post started to report that neither the psychiatrist nor the medical examiners could find an answer concerning the state of the boy and his illness.

After one evening with the family, Schulze ordered an exorcism for the boy, who was then taken to the Saint Jacob Church, where a priest named Bowdern performed the very first ritual on him – receiving several injuries on his body caused by Doe. The exorcism had to be stopped immediately.

The boy, back in his home, started giving signs of strange scratches and signs on his skin forming words, and started to speak unknown languages. More priests  visited the family, and Walter H. Hallor could finish the ritual at last. During the exorcism the boy broke the nose of the priest and shouted that he was Satan himself. This ritual was considered to be a successful one, and since then the family had not reported any similiar activity.

This inspired Blatty to write his novel – with a heroine named Regan MacNeil.Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) is an actress. She has recently moved with her daughter because of the movie she is currently in. Regan (Linda Blair) is an average girl next door. The movie depicts the strong bond between mother and daughter, which makes the audience be able to connect with them, and even love them – creating a huge impact for the forthcoming events.Regan starts to have a so called imaginary friend, Captain Howdy – of course no one pays attention to this. The strange things start around this time.

The Exorcist is not a simple fright night – jump scare horror flick, but a serious drama as well. In the first half of the movie we get to know the characters, their stories, we see them develop their own image, which make the whole movie as exceptional as it is.The 60s-70s was the era of the films which were dealing with the heavy forces of paranormal activities – but The Exorcist was a piece of its own, a milestone if you like.We meet the evil itself as real as it is – without any digital help the creators could bring something to the screen that stands the test of time, and being as scary as it was when it was first shown.

Of course the directorial cut is the best to check, which is known as „The version you’ve never seen” and it premiered on the silver screen in 2000. This movie has no errors, everything is exceptional – the acting, the camera work, the atmosphere, the script. It has not been praised for nothing - for almost half of a century now.And of course we should say some words about the circumstances of the creation of this mystical horror masterpiece – which was not lacking strange events and activities during the shooting and post production. Checking the extras on the Blu-ray/DVD we can easily say that bringing the story of Regan and her battle with the demon to life had to be one of the most challenging in the history of modern cinema.William O’Malley, who is a priest in real life and stars in the movie as Father Dyer claims that what we can see is almost 80% true to what really happened in Maryland with Roland Doe – of course here the main character is a girl. Max von Sydow recalls his first day on set: in character – a real gentleman – he started to act as Merrin, but after hearing the swearing and all the filth that Linda had to say, he forgot his lines and had to end the scene without being able to finish it.

The young actress was threatened several times after the premiere – the studio had to hire bodyguards – due to some claiming that the movie was glorifying Satan. During post production, Mercedes McCambridge – who provided the voice of the demon – was given raw eggs and whiskey, and started chain smoking – yes, it was a demanding role for everyone.The notorious „spider walk” scene (which was first seen in the 2000 version) was deleted, because the wires were visible – they were later removed digitally.

Friedkin wanted the breath to be seen, so the set had to be freezing cold during the shooting  - summer time in New York City. It was an enormous work to do.Strange enough, when the poster concept had not been finalized yet, they created a version which had Annabelle on it, the wicked doll that said to be cursed and later investigated by Ed and Lorraine Warren (The Conjuring is based on this case but portrays the doll differently – in real life it was a ragdoll)The first teaser trailer was banned for years, because of its constant pulsating frames with the face of the demon (can be found below – it was truly frightening indeed, and still is). Since Max von Sydow was only 44 years old, he had to wear special make-up and prosthetics to appear as an old exorcist priest.The shooting with the special effects was truly hard for the director and of course for the actors as well – causing the pain to look as real as it was in there. One of these is when Linda is being thrown around by the force of the devil – it was a metal piece which were on her back, pushing her up and around  - and cutting into her spine real hard. The other one is when she (I mean, her stand in, the great Eileen Dietz) slaps her mother the first time – Ellen Burstin was attached to a wire and a stuntman pulled her so hard that she had to take some days off and have her back healed by a doctor.

And it is worth to mention that William O’Malley – due to not being an actor – had trouble with his lines at the end of the movie, when Karras killed himself. He had to bring such deep emotions, that he could not do it after several takes. Friedkin slapped him and said: „Action!” We can see the shaking hands and the tears – they were all real!In the opening sequence we see the ruins of Nineveh – it had its own trouble since the USA had no diplomatic contact with Iraq – the crew could only employ English members to avoid legal issues.On one of the original posters there was a bloody crucifix in Regan’s hand and a tagline: „God saves this girl!”. Friedkin was not so fond of this cheap attention seeking. It was not a B movie at all.An interesting fun fact is that Stanley Kubrick was in talks abut directing.Several prequels and sequels have been created during the decades for this Oscar nominee (the very first nominated horror movie ever!), but none of them can even come close to the genius of the original.

10/10

IMDb l mafab