Better the Devil You Overthrow: The Exorcist

So I saw The Exorcist for the first time last week, and never before had I been so hyped for a film. The records and legacy it had created made it sound like it belonged in the Lost Ark, causing melted faces to anyone fool-hearty enough to sneak a gaze. I was convinced that there was no hope of me ever being able to achieve my aspirations in film without seeing the movie that was seemingly the inspiration for everything, including Blair Witch, Poltergeist and E-Z Bed Recliners. So with all this in mind, was my initial viewing of one of the greatest films of all time skewed and watered down? Yeah, a bit. Was it still one of the best films I've ever seen? GOD. DAMN.

Pazuzu! You ungrateful gargoyle!

There's something about The Exorcist that sets it apart from any other horror film that's ever been made, before or since. The obvious thing is how much care and attention has been put into every shot, every scare, every line of dialogue. Today's horror films have a plot that can usually be explained in one dreary line ("they were performing an exorcist...........*cough*.........on her"). But The Exorcist manages to keep a plot that is both simple and fleshed out to the finest detail. Not a single time when I was watching was I just waiting for the next scare, because, in what is such a rarity in horror films, the scenes without scares actually mattered. I cared about the characters. Why? I don't know, maybe because they took a minute to develop them instead of throwing them in terrifying (for them, not us) situations. Of course, it helps that every single actor performs to an incredible standard, unheard of in horror films. I'm beating you over the head with the same point here, I know, but seriously, why aren't all horror films this polished? What Abner Doubledeal decided that horror will be the genre where corners can be cut, scripts can be half-arsed, and actors whose delivery wouldn't get them cast in an advert alerting people of the dangers of strokes?

I realise that there have been a handful of horror films that are very well made and don't deserve the scorn that The Exorcist has forced me to condemn them with. And I've always hated saying, in regards to great things, that nothing will ever top it, because how pessimistic is that? But if I ever see a horror film in my lifetime make as lasting an impact as The Exorcist, I'll watch the Paranormal Activity films back to back. That seems suitable punishment for my insolence.