The Exorcist
1973 · Directed by William Friedkin
Original language: English
- horror
The story
When a mysterious entity possesses a young girl, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.
What it’s like
Cold, grey-brown Georgetown daylight and dim, shadowed interiors give way to sickly lamplight and hard fluorescent glare, with a muted palette of browns, ochres and sallow skin that makes every room feel slightly unwell. Friedkin's camera is restless but precise: handheld drifts through a family home, slow zooms into faces, long unbroken takes of medical tests and nighttime vigils, and a rigorous sense of geography in the city's stone steps and autumn streets. The sound design does much of the work, with ambient hums, creaks, and sudden silences that drop out before jolts, while Mike Oldfield's sparse, hypnotic themes and eerie orchestral stings come and go. The vibe is slow-burning dread with a grim, weary sadness at its core, best suited to a late night alone or a dark October evening. Pacing is deliberate and clinical for long stretches before erupting. Its emotional centre is a mother's desperate, uneven faith and two troubled priests, one a doubting man carrying old grief, slowly finding something to hold on to. Intensity is high: sustained psychological dread, profane language, a few visceral body-horror sequences, and some graphic violence and cruelty, especially in its climax. Not gentle. Made for viewers who want unsettling atmosphere, serious faith questions, and horror that unsettles more than it splatters.
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