The Exorcist film review

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THE EXORCIST

In a small district of Washington DC, actress Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) spots something amiss with her previously carefree daughter Regan (Linda Blair) when she begins levitating her bed and screaming obscenities - the little devil.

Exhausting a string of baffled physicians, Chris turns in despair to Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller), who concurs that saying unpleasant things about his mother and projectile vomiting of pea soup is hardly normal adolescent behaviour.

But suffering a crisis of faith, Karras calls on Father Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow), a man with a successful history of exorcism and who pauses on arrival to stand silhouetted in the house light before beginning the biggest battle of his life.

Possibly not the greatest film ever made, but a powerful and disturbing story, nonetheless. Director William Friedkin has distilled the full terrifying essence of the novel, and is responsible - in league with his actors - for efficiently fleshing out believable characters.

Miller is outstanding, Blair's performance also remarkable, and contrasting well with von Sydow's dogged, unflinching determination. Not light viewing, but in the face of today's more sophisticated techniques, there's a significant achievement in creating a picture that's largely undated despite the passage of twenty-five years.