I have been trying to get Christy to watch this movie for years. Fortunately, she has a new beau who loves horror movies and he suggested it. It was like Christmas morning for me. Regan (Linda Blair) is just a normal twelve-year-old girl who starts to develop strange symptoms. Her mother, Chris (Ellen Burstyn), takes her to doctor after doctor but no one can adequately explain the sudden and complete personality change, the bursts of violence and foul language, the flying objects and utter chill in Regan's room. When Chris's director (Jack McGowran) dies after falling from the girl's window, Chris seeks out Father Damian Karras (Jason Miller), a priest-psychiatrist. Karras begins proceedings to have the case cleared by the Church for an exorcism. Father Merrin (Max von Sydow), the Church's premier exorcist, is called in to perform the ritual.
This is my favorite horror movie and it's still the gold standard. There have been other, flashier, more recent films that are arguably more frightening but that doesn't lessen the impact of The Exorcist. I can only imagine what it was like to see it in theaters in the 70's. It's also one of the most well-written horror movies I've ever seen, forcing you to pay attention to every line. It is horror on multiple levels: the fear of seeing your child suffer as you watch helplessly, the fear that science has failed you, the fear of losing faith and everything you believed in, the fear of death, of sickness, of age and losing the ones you love. These are weighty fears which eat away at your soul, fears that can destroy everything you are.
That is the true terror of The Exorcist. And that is why I love it so.
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