Film The power of narm compels you!
I first saw this movie on some long-forgotten channel that specialized in cheesy, overblown C-grade horror films. One night, they ran The Exorcist, and I didn't find much in it that made it stick out among the rest of the channel's offerings. Apart from maybe one or two provocative cinematographic choices and the appearance of Von Sydow (whom I assumed to be slumming it for a paycheck)... I just saw it, had some laughs at the no-doubt intentional campiness, and promptly forgot about it. Been there, done that; on to Children of the Corn, Part XVII: The Reapening (after getting some more of them deep-fried sautee-spicy chicken beaks/pig sphincters on sticks)!
It was only later that I discovered this was regarded as some type of classic in its genre. The mind boggles. Granted, I'll give it that it was probably way ahead of the curve in the "demonic possession" sub-genre of horror. It also had the good fortune of being made before horror painted itself into a creative corner and transformed, in the public consciousness, into the put-upon niche genre existence it's known for decades. The production side of things certainly isn't a rushed affair; but nothing all that extraordinary. Elevating this to the level of stylistic, ahem, gospel is a bit of a spit in the face of the many lesser known talents of the idiom.
I guess there's something to be said for the film being a pioneering endeavour. But the film's still got to be judged on its own merits, in the light of cinematic progress. And even having rewatched the film in a new light, that's still a pretty iffy call for me personally. A lot of people give horror flak, and often rightly so, for relying on deliberately flammatory shock tactics; horror for the sake of horror. But these same people praise The Exorcist to high heaven, despite a linguistically saucy script that just becomes a groan-inducing narmfest after the 66.6th mention of matriarchs fellating cockerels in Cocytus. It's not scary, it's just dumb. I can only attribute it to cheesy shock tactics, of the same nature described above.
I doubt I need to further underline how much poor choices undermine any and all attempts at build suspense or, indeed, terror. It's like the "Hail Satan" scene of Rosemary's Baby extended to feature-length running time.
Film Let down by its infamy, perhaps, but still good.
A film doesn't stay the scariest ever made for long. The more famous a film is, the more inflated its reputation and the more referenced and parodied it becomes. This has the effect of stripping the film of novelty and numbing the emotional impact of its innovations.
But if you're willing to give that film a chance, it'll still work!
A man is disturbed by the results of an archaeological dig, and we cut to the home of famed actress Chris MacNeil, who has a sweet 12-year old daughter, Regan. Chris becomes concerned by noises in the attic and Regan soon starts to act erratic and violent and disconnected from herself.
My favorite horror stories are about corruption, dread, and escalation, and this film nails it. The camera is ominous as it moves at odds with the characters, and certain scenes build tension before anything overtly wrong happens. The first outright scare is still very small, which is great. The film masters the balance of show and hide as Regan's behavior becomes visibly supernatural and demonic. There are quiet scenes where just enough is hidden to make us nervous, and a lot of scenes that have power from just going all the way with really nasty spectacles depicted frankly while you're trapped in the room with the characters. There's a visceral disgust invoked by the things Regan is subjected to and made to perform as a child out of control of her body. The sets also start to feel like characters in themselves.
The film has some nice plot dynamics. Chris tries medical investigations until it's clear the doctors can't give her help, but the priest she contacts, Father Karras, is a very sad man whose faith is slipping and who operates as a psychiatrist, not an exorcist. Religious horror doesn't connect to me, but the film is scary and its religious angle isn't overbearing or preachy. Indeed, getting an exorcism is shown to be difficult due to the standards to act—standards the demon gleefully skirts by taunting Karras with plausibly deniable behaviors.
The film doesn't feel the best tied-up. It's only in the last act that we fully learn who the archaeologist is—a priest and exorcist, who then shows up to help Regan, and that feels weird. The house is investigated by police for reasons that don't feel strong, and a couple of plot threads felt unexplained or unresolved in ways that didn't feel purposeful. And yeah, a bit of the film's infamy let down some of the scenes.
In the end, though, this is still a good scary film crafted well.