THE EXORCIST

A young girl shows symptoms of an unknown disease; the mother, after having her examined by the best doctors with no results, seeks help from a young priest who understands that the little girl is possessed. With the help of an elderly exorcist prelate, the young priest will manage to drive the demon out of the girl's body but at an extreme cost. A film that has indelibly marked the entire horror genre and beyond, entering the history of world cinema. It is probably the film that has frightened the most viewers in the world, hence numerous polls appearing in the most important cinema magazines such as "Entertainment Weekly" and "Total Movie" have declared it "the scariest film of all time." The first screenings in theaters were accompanied by a series of "incidents" with people fainting and people leaving the theater in a panic, to the point that the film was banned for people with heart problems! Based on the novel by William Peter Blatty, which documented in a more or less truthful manner a case of possession that occurred in Maryland in 1949, the film was scripted by the author himself. A superb direction, perfect performances (Linda Blair and Max Von Sydow above all), makeup and effects superb, all pervaded by an extremely unsettling atmosphere. It must be said that Friedkin, who meticulously oversaw the realization of makeup and effects, focused more on tension, a sort of "programmed suspense." Just think that for the entire first hour of the film almost nothing happens! Yet the viewers remain glued to their seats waiting for the "Devil," evoked through small signals (noises, fleeting appearances, even subliminal images). In 2000, twenty-seven years after its first release, it was re-released in theaters in a restored version, with digital audio and enriched with eleven minutes of previously unseen footage. Friedkin's masterpiece is, if possible, further improved thanks to the higher audio-visual quality compared to the original version and the addition of some previously unseen scenes that, due to their brevity and fragmentary nature, are for the most part negligible (mostly fleeting appearances of the Demon and brief additions to some dialogues that only the most attentive viewers will be able to identify), nevertheless give the film new life. Special mention deserves the most famous and recognizable previously unseen sequence, the infamous "spider walk" in which little Regan (Linda Blair) descends the stairs of the house walking on her back on all fours as if she were a spider. It is a well-conceived scene that is disturbing and anguishing even if very brief. Friedkin himself, interviewed for the release of this new edition of his cult film, confessed to regretting having cut (pushed by technical-production problems) this sequence in the first version of the film, not listening to the screenwriter Blatty who instead believed strongly in the visual impact it would have on the viewer. It is the only horror film in the history of cinema that can boast eight Oscar nominations (it then won only the one for best screenplay and best sound effects), an absolute masterpiece that must absolutely be seen! Curiosity: there are numerous legends and anecdotes linked to the making of Friedkin's masterpiece. We point out two in particular. At the request of the director himself on the set, the Jesuit father Thomas Bermingham was called, to whom it was even asked to perform an exorcism to free the crew from the influence of Evil, after a series of incidents had occurred (the disappearance of some objects, a bad fall of the actress Ellen Burstyn and even a fire that caused nine deaths!). But "The Exorcist" did not have peace even after it was completed: the evangelical pastor Billy Graham indeed stated that the devil himself had taken possession of that film and that it was therefore necessary to exorcise one by one all the copies of the film!