The Exorcist (1973)

I find it odd that, somehow, the only version of 1973's The Exorcist is one that the DVD labels as "The Version You've Never Seen".

OK, moving away from the fact that I've only seen a longer cut of the movie, one that includes a scene of the girl crab walking upside down to the bottom of the stairs and vomiting up some blood, I think there is a good deal to say about this movie on its own.

This is a movie about faith and the role it plays in a very modern world.  A Hollywood star, also a single mother played by Ellen Burstyn, Chris MacNeil is raising her daughter Regan (Linda Blair) the best she can.  The two are close, but then some weird things start to happen.  There are sounds in the attic that Chris initially thinks are rats.  Regan has an imaginary friend that talks through an ouija board.  Oh, and Regan has taken to very harsh swearing and acts of violence and/or depravity.  Things move on their own.  And the voice that is coming out of Regan's mouth isn't hers.

Nearby is a young priest, Father Damian (Jack Miller), who is both trained as a psychologist and is losing his own personal faith.  Damian's mother has just passed away and he seems to be contemplating leaving the priesthood.  A strange homicide of Chris' director friend, combined with the horrific desecration of the statue of the Virgin Mary in the church he works out of, seem to give him pause but even he is reluctant to believe in Satan inside a young girl.  Eventually, he is convinced.

The story is, as noted, about faith.  Chris is an atheist.  She doesn't believe in any sort of God, but when it becomes clear there's no other explanation, especially when it appears her friend was murdered by her daughter (by twisting his head in a 180 degree turn and then tossing him out a window and down a steep flight of stairs), she becomes desperate enough to try the religious ceremony.  Damian is losing his, but has to make the supreme sacrifice at the end of the movie to save a young girl's soul.

Of special note is the great Swedish actor Max von Sydow as the elderly Father Merrin.  Merrin demonstrates faith in his every move.  A gentle man, he first appears at an archeological dig in Northern Iraq, which may have somehow released the demon, then returns.  Damian's attempts to discuss the case with Merrin are always politely rebuffed.  Merrin doesn't need to know the symptoms or how many personalities are coming out of the girl, or even the particulars of the case.  He already knows them.  While Damian struggles, Merrin simply charges forward against the foe, reciting the prayers, and doing his best.  His quiet example helps Damian rediscover his own faith by the end of the movie.

Billed as one of the scariest movies ever made, the movie has a fairly low body count of three victims, four if your count Damian's mother dying of old age, and one of these bodies is never seen on camera.  The horror comes more from the psychological such as Chris' concerns for Regan as her behavior grows worse and worse.  The way medical science can't find a single thing wrong with her before resorting to the exorcism suggestion.  Lee J. Cobb's homicide detective clearly being out of his depths (and, truth be told, not really adding anything to the movie), and just plain random creepiness and weirdness.  Director William Friedkin seems to have only one other great movie in him (1971's The French Connection), but having The Exorcist on his resume means he'll be guaranteed a spot on any decent Halloween horror marathon for all time, and a well-deserved spot for it too.