I’d actually not seen this movie before, even though I was aware of most of the plot, due to a lot of it being repeated and parodied in other movies/TV series.
I will say that I’ve noticed a pattern with ‘remastered’ old movies in that a lot of the sound is turned up to ridiculously high volumes. The scene right at the beginning of the movie, with the fighting dogs, was so loud, it was almost painful. Fortunately, it was only the scene right at the beginning that was actually physically painful.
I will say that this movie was very dated. I don’t mean in regards to special effects, though I imagine that what is tame and nearly boring now was really cutting edge at the time of the film’s initial release. No, it was very much dated with the attitudes towards women (locking them up in psychiatric hospitals) and medication (putting a child on medication and not using therapy as the first resort. In fact outright saying, ‘Let’s see how this medication does before we consider therapy’). This movie was definitely a product of its time and wouldn’t fly by today’s standards and progress.
Watching the movie for the first time, I can see why it became such an iconic horror. Unfortunately, I think a lot of that came from visual and audible shock value (a child using incredibly vulgar language and major desecration of churches/crucifixes), rather than powerful storytelling. I felt the movie did a lot of telling, rather than showing. For instance, the dream Karras has about his mother makes it clear that she died…and having Chris randomly told about the priest’s mother dying just spoiled the effects of that dream, which worked really well as a haunting visual.
One thing I did like about this movie was that, at least at first, it wasn’t clear whether Regan was actually possessed, or was suffering from some kind of mental illness. Of course, that ambiguity didn’t last for long…though my understanding is that the book kept it more of a mystery.
On the whole, I think I’m glad I did see the movie, as it is an iconic horror movie that I had missed out on watching for a long time. And considering that this movie was made long before special effects were really advanced, I think the movie did a good job with things like the demon’s face and voice. I found it really interesting to read about how the demon’s voice actually came about! However, I think that the movie focused more on shocking its audience and not on great storytelling…and I can’t really forgive movies using telling, rather than showing, in such an awful way. I don’t have any intentions of watching this movie again.
Ink of Blood 