What can I say about William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist, other than it is one of my favorite horror films of all time?
I remember first seeing this film when I was about 10 or so (I know, shame on you Mom!) and being scared to death when I realized I was sitting up in bed just like Reagan did before she did the 360 degree turn of the head! And still to this day, I don't believe the simple sound of mice in the attic is really all it is. I find it interesting though, how your interpretation of a movie changes as you age. What terrified me most when I was 10 is quite different from what terrifies me now, but The Exorcist still stands strong as a spine tingler!
What has changed is that when I was younger, it was the Ouija board and inviting the spirit in that terrified me (experimenting with the Ouija myself probably didn't help...) because it seemed like this could be done by accident. But what terrifies me these days is the spirit of Pazuzu and the ancientness of evil itself.
Some may say that the special effects of The Exorcist have lost something over the years because of technological advances, but I think the underlying theme of the movie is still something to shiver about. Look for "the face" while watching this movie. It was something I missed the first time around, but when I was over a friend's house, he paused the movie over "the face". Honestly, I had a hard time driving home alone after that. "...and the wind blew...Pazuzu". They scare me with that line still today!
If you liked William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist, be sure to watch The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen and The Exorcist III. Not sure I care to recommend The Exorcist II: The Heretic as I have never been able to sit through it!
Some great books about possession and the spirit world are "The Demonologist" by Gerald Daniel Brittle, "A Family Possessed" by L.W. Stevenson and "The Haunted: One Family's Nightmare" by Robert Curran.
More Exorcist Reviews:
Exorcist Review from Spliced WireExorcist Review from DVDFile
