Flashback Friday: The Exorcist (Friedkin, 1973)

With Halloween last Wednesday, and Movie Critic's Club recent list of the Top 10 Film Villains, a horror movie with an excellent villain seems appropriate for this week's Flashback Friday. We're taking a look at one of the scariest and most controversial films of all time, banned by the Catholic Church and  still scaring audiences to this day. This week on Flashback Friday: The Exorcist.

The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973) is a tour-de-force of pure horror and adrenaline. Ellen Burstyn plays Chris MacNeil, an actress and recently-divorced mother of young Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair, brilliant, terrifying, and uncharacteristically intense in the role). After a series of mysterious incidents, Regan starts to grow more violent and sick with each passing day. After the death of her boyfriend forces her to resort to extreme measures, Chris sends Regan to a hospital, where the doctors perform multiple surgeries to no avail. Meanwhile, Regan begins to change and acts darker and more profane.

Meanwhile, the narrative follows Father Damien, a troubled psychiatric priest who is dealing with his own disbelief as well as his elderly mother. After the institution of his mother, Father Damien tries to be relocated and attempts to leave the church. But, attacks on various psychiatric patients plus defamations of various religious statues force him to stay.

Ultimately, after the doctors offer no solution to help Regan, Chris resorts to extreme measures on the off-chance of helping her daughter. She hears of a possible cure: an exorcism performed by a priest to "cast out" the demon inside of Regan. Chris teams up with the reluctant Father Damien, along with trained exorcist Father Merrin (Max von Sydow), to try and stop Regan before she dies or kills again.

Had this movie been released today, it probably would have scared a good majority of visiting teens or religious adults. But, as it is, The Exorcist was released in 1973. Controversial from its first appearance, the movie about possessions and exorcisms by the Catholic church offer some of the most controversial sequences ever filmed. People got so worried by this film that Friedkin had to hire bodyguards for Linda Blair for several months after the movie's release.

The special effects still terrify, and the infamous "spider walk" sequence features one of the most terrifying moments in cinema history. This movie was one of a few banned by several organizations for its outright exclamation of possessions and the reality of the Devil himself. Doctors are mystified and unhelpful; it takes a priest to save Regan, ironic considering the film's obvious distrust of the Catholic church.

After all the green vomit, spinning heads, extreme profanities, excessive gore, and creepily realistic makeup stands a strong movie on purely a psychological standpoint. Regan MacNeil, possessed by the Devil (later named "Pazazu"by the various sequels and spin-offs), offers the audience unique insights into their own minds. What do we fear most? What deep psychological problems do all of us have to face? For Father Damien, the image of his dead mother offers more terror and anger than anything else Regan throws at him.

The Exorcism scene is highly entertaining, and even modern film critics are mystified by the special effects-heavy exorcism. "The power of Christ compels you!" can still be heard by high schoolers across America. The movie is so good, in fact, that the Academy Awards nominated it for Best Picture- the first horror film to do so, and the only one until 1991's The Silence of the Lambs (which won).

An attack on everything religious and right in this world, The Exorcist is one of those rare films that fights every convention, breaks every rule, and stuns every person- yet still provides one of the most entertaining horror films ever made. "What an excellent day for an exorcism."