The second Golden Age of Horror was born with the visceral 1973 masterwork, The Exorcist. Directed by William Friedkin (The French Connection) with the screenplay by the author of the 1971 novel, William Peter Blatty, it’s a film that many consider to be the scariest ever made.
The Exorcist
On the outside chance that there’s someone here who doesn’t know what this movie is about…it is a wholesome, coming-of-age story about a young girl named Regan (Linda Blair). Her mother is famous actress, Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn), and the two of them are temporarily living in Georgetown where mom is filming a movie. While she’s out doing her thing, Regan is stuck at home all alone (aside from their housekeepers, Willi and that “nazi bastard” Karl) with nobody to talk to.
To make things worse, her absentee daddy-o ditches her on her birthday. That’s enough to drag anyone down into the dark depths, but then one day somebody comes along who understands her pain. A kindred spirit who knows all too well what it feels like to be abandoned by their father, and left to dwell in darkness. They have come into Regan’s life to fill it with enchantment, wonder, and a whole lotta split pea soup. She knows this magical being as Captain Howdy, but his friends call him Pazuzu.
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This film received the highest honor that any horror movie can get. Critical acclaim, Academy Awards, pop culture immortalization, countless nightmares to countless viewers, and it’s safe to bet that the Catholic Church secretly thanks the film for the loads of people who ran to their doorsteps after watching it. To this day, people still freak out at seeing the mere image of Regan in full possession mode, and they can’t hear “Tubular Bells” by Mike Oldfield without a chill going up their yellow spines.
What Friedkin put Linda Blair through during the making of this was vile, and demonic (and also no pun intended). However, this doesn’t erase the fact that she gave one of the best performances of all time by any actor. So…is The Exorcist a horror, or a comedy? The answer is “YES”, and also it’s available to stream on MAX.
We go from a straightforward horror movie to an extremely weird, and complex psychological arthouse horror film from 1981 by weird arthouse director, Andrzej Żuławski. I’m going to try my best to describe this movie without giving too much away, or punishing my editor with one hundred paragraphs to sift through. Wish me luck…
Possession
Possession takes place in West Berlin. It start off when spy Mark (the always competent Sam Neill) returns home from his latest espionage gig to find his wife, Anna (Isabelle Adjani) demanding a divorce. Mark unwillingly moves out, and leaves their son, Bob (Michael Hogben), with Anna and then proceeds to go drink like a fish for many days.
After blowing off some boozy steam, he returns to his former apartment to find that Bob there alone, and obviously left for a long period of time. When Anna returns, Mark insists on staying with them, loath to leave Bob with her. She runs off her boyfriend’s house in the middle of the night, and then calls home to tell Mark that she’s staying with him.
Are you confused yet? Don’t worry. It’s about to get a lot weirder. Mark meets Helen, Bob’s schoolteacher, and he can’t help but notice that she’s an exact lookalike for Anna. Mark rolls up on the home of Anna’s boyfriend, only to find out that he hasn’t seen her in a while, and then gets his ass kicked by the boyfriend. Anna finally comes back home, and a fight breaks out immediately, but that ends when both cut themselves with an electric knife. She leaves again, and Mark hires a detective to track her down.
From there, the movie only increases in weirdness, and lots of toxic moments. Sam Neill shows up to his role on point (as usual), but the best performance goes to Isabelle Adjani. There’s so much coiled up on this inside that it’s palpable, but she eventually breaks, and believe me when I say it keeps getting even weirder. See for yourself over on Prime.
