The film revolves around an actress named Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) and her daughter Regan (Linda Blair). They’ve just moved into a condo in Georgetown, right outside of D.C. so that Chris can shoot a film. While there, strange things begin to occur in the house, mainly just noises. The noises move from the attic to Regan’s bedroom (after Chris opens the attic to explore the happenings) and soon Regan slowly begins to change. A normally sweet child starts turning brash and even downright violent at times and her mother simply cannot figure out what the issue can be. Chris takes Regan to various doctors who run various painful tests to pinpoint the problem. Regretfully, the doctors run out of options, so Chris turns to something she has never turned to before, religion. Father Karras (Jason Miller) and Father Merrin (Max von Sydow) show up to investigate the situation and soon find they are getting more than they could have bargained for.
What I really love about this movie is that it blatantly takes a large swipe at ‘science’ in general. Prior to seeing the one night showing in the theater, I hadn’t really noticed how obvious that ‘swipe’ was. The real horror show in the movie, outside of the vulgar language coming out of Regan (and the green spit), is that MacNeil puts Regan through hell and back determined to find something ‘scientifically logical’ about why Regan is acting the way she is. Had she listened to her daughter/devil she would have realized sooner rather than later what was going on. It’s such an obvious punch at science, but a good one.
Another element to the majesty of this movie also stands with the acting. The cast, while small in terms of typical movies these days, is quite perfect when placed together. The two headliners in the film have to be Max Von Sydow (Father Merrin) and Jason Miller (Father Karras). Both were veterans of acting before they did this film and both put together a powerful set of performances. Sydow especially, who had to act about 30 years beyond his age (he was 40 at the time). He captures the essence of an older, wiser, worn priest. Miller plays the opposite as a priest with his faith shaken by so much doubt around him.
With those veterans you also get two very good acting performances with Ellen Burstyn (Chris MacNeil) and Lee J. Cobb (Lt. Kinderman). Burstyn plays a great frantic mom that doesn’t quite understand what the heck is going on with her daughter. The tireless desperation and breakdown that occurs with MacNeil is just fabulously portrayed by Burstyn. If you’re a parent you will relate and feel bad for her character; just a perfect, powerful performance. As for Cobb, he plays a nosy detective that is always on the outside looking in, until the final moments of the film. He’s laid back and suspects everyone, which makes him a perfect police officer.
The biggest performance out of the bunch has to be Linda Blair as Regan. Having been only 14 she took the character of Regan and developed her without a hitch. The transition from happy girl to possessed devil was amazingly done. Hitting her lines, acting crazy and even spouting horrible things made Blair instantly a superstar after The Exorcist; and it certainly was all well deserved. Why she didn’t win an Academy Award for this character is beyond me.
Anyway, the film was well put together the first time around, as audiences in the 70s probably peed themselves in the theater. It’s a powerful film that was directed and written brilliantly. With that said, when Warner Home Video put together the extended director’s cut it became even more powerful. The new cut has about 12 minutes more of footage in it. One scene in particular, which I can’t believe didn’t make the theatrical version, has Sydow and Miller’s characters taking a break from the exorcism ritual. It has them sitting on the stairs discussing the situation and the conversation, while brief, is powerful. Not sure why this conversation didn’t make it into the film, but it belonged.
The great thing about this currently release is that you get both the theatrical and the extended cut on two separate Blu-rays. One of the things I always regretted (and many others have) with films that get ‘re-cut’ is that sometimes the originals are better suited. The Exorcist isn’t one of those movies, but it’s really nice to have both in HD in one package. Speaking of the HD, the high-definition clean up on a film that is 37 years old was done perfectly. Continuing the fantastic tradition of making classics into visual gold, Warner Home Video has cleaned up the original film to the point that you almost can’t see any artifacts resulting from the transfer process. The upscale is gorgeous and those ugly 70s colors that are somehow making their way back into society look perfect in 1080p. The only issue I have with this entire presentation is the audio, which seemed just a tad bit low (but it sounded great in a 5.1 setup).
The real treat of this collection is the amount of features you get with the release. Here’s what you’re looking at:
Disc 1 – Extended Director’s Cut (2000) plus Special Features:
· Commentary by William Friedkin NEW Raising Hell: Filming the Exorcist — set footage produced and photographed by Owen Roizman, camera and makeup tests, and interviews with director William Friedkin, actress Linda Blair, author/screenwriter/producer William Peter Blatty and Owen Roizman. BLU-RAY™ EXCLUSIVE
· NEW The Exorcist Locations: Georgetown Then and Now — Featuring a tour of the iconic locations where the film was shot. BLU-RAY™ EXCLUSIVE
· NEW Faces of Evil: The Different Versions of The Exorcist — with director William Friedkin and author/screenwriter/producer William Peter Blatty discussing the different versions of the film and featuring outtakes from the film. BLU-RAY™ EXCLUSIVE
· Trailers, TV Spots & Radio Spots from the film’s 2000 release
o Trailers
– The Version You’ve Never Seen
– Our Deepest Fears
o TV Spots
– Most Electrifying
– Scariest Ever
– Returns
o Radio Spots
– The Devil Himself
o Our Deepest Fears
Disc 2 – Theatrical Cut (1973) plus Special Features:
· Introduction by William Friedkin
· Commentary by William Friedkin
· Commentary by William Peter Blatty with Special Sound Effects Tests
The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist [1998 BBC documentary]
· Additional Interviews with William Friedkin and William Peter Blatty
o The Original Cut
o Stairway to Heaven
o The Final Reckoning
· Original Ending
· Sketches & Storyboards
· Trailers & TV Spots from the 1973 version
o Trailers
– Nobody Expected It
– Beyond Comprehension
– Flash Image
o TV Spots
– Beyond Comprehension
– You Too Can See The Exorcist
– Between Science & Superstition
– The Movie You’ve Been Waiting For
While most of these features are re-hashed releases they are still nonetheless interesting. The ‘Faces of Evil’ and ‘Locations’ feturettes were of particular interest to me. I thought it was fascinating hearing from the writer (William Peter Blatty) and director (William Friedkin) about the locations and also about what went into the production. Hearing from Linda Blair was also fascinating as she added her two cents through her 14-year old eyes at the time. The featurettes mixed with the commentary and other features we’ve already seen before makes this quite possibly the definitive collection of The Exorcist. If you want to know anything and everything about the film the features cover it all.
On top of all this the movie comes to you in a wonderfully beautiful booklet Blu-ray case. Packed you’ll find more details about the production and about each major player in the film. Like I’ve said before this type of packaging really makes a home movie more than it is; and I love that.