What can be said about William Friedkin's The Exorcist at this point. It's easily the most critically praised horror film on our list aside from Psycho. So instead of talking about how great it is, even if it is a masterful piece of film making, I want to talk about how scary the film is.
The film follows a single mother (Ellen Burstyn) and her daughter (Linda Blair) who is possessed by a demon. They bring in two priests, played wonderfully by Max Von Sydow and Jason Miller, to conduct an exorcism.
The plot really isn't what wows in The Exorcist. It's the atmosphere that creates what is so memorable about the film. Individual scenes build towards a real sense that this little girl is truly possessed and that spiritual forces of this nature are as scary as anything else. The acting serves to support this. All the performances here add believably to the proceedings. The Exorcist walk a tight-rope. The film so easily could descend into using religion as a cheap tactic. Instead the film wisely uses religion to ground the crazy shit happening, making the audience all the more receptive to it.
For me, The Exorcist scares the hell out of me because if there really is a devil, this has to be what a possession looks like. From the green vomit to the crucifix masturbation, it's all so horrible yet plausible. If you choose to look past the religion then mental illness could easily explain the things that happen, to a point.
All and all The Exorcist is just plain scary. It's scary because it happens to real people. It's scary because the characters believe what is happening. The film remains a technical achievement on so many levels but what lasts are the performances. It's a hell of a film.
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