Analysis of the Movie Exorcist - Essay Example

Descriptive Essay on the Movie the Exorcist The movie "Exorcist" is considered a most terrifying film of all times which attracts and impresses millions of people around the globe by its undisguised violent, rude and horrible scenes. The film gains its success because of skillful combination of: scenes of violence, never shown in the movie, unusual and magnetic plot, unusual sound effects and technical effects, and actors staff. From the very beginning the signs in the film suggest that maybe evil can prevail even in the presence of good.

The severity of this notion carries much weight in the "real" world. In real life, evil can win, at least that is how it is portrayed every night on the evening news. The documentary-like and gritty feel of the film also gives an added realistic mood and that might signify the reality of everyday life. Damien Karras is the main character who is both a psychiatrist and a priest. He is depicted as a torn man with doubts that are wiped away once he confronts the Devil. The scene where he visits Regan and records her growling voice while speaking to each other in Latin is probably the only humorously peculiar scene in the entire movieThe trend towards more graphic violence in movies parallels the transition of the general viewing audience to a higher shock level.

Audience are shocked by physical harm for instance fist fights or slapping, movie monsters like demon Pazuzu, urination scenes and vomit, gratuitous blood scenes. These scenes are supported with green projectile vomit, spinning heads, shaking beds and gross makeup. The movie is full of graphic domestic violence, documentary film violence (executions and accidents) and the desecration of the Virgin Mary. Expansive landscapes of death and demons walking like horrible spiders add the impression of the Beyond.

From the emergence of the Hammer horrors on films have shocked the audience further by the fact that evil is so often allowed to triumph at the end of more recent films is as much connected with this change in the tolerance threshold as with the incidence of a darker, more pessimistic outlook on life. Sound effects play an important role heating up the atmosphere of constant horror. For instance, the slingshot sound effect and shadows create the impression of something terrible and unknown. Regan's demonic giggle when Karras tries to bring back Father Merrin, irritate the audience by its unnatural tone.

Mercedes McCambridge's gargling, deep, multilayered voice, but Blair's facial expressions that run the gamut from happy, innocent and confused to angry, pathetic and fearsome is clearly a greet work of acting. The wearing and transformations are also impressive. For instance, Linda Blair undergoes a thrilling, painful transformation from a pretty girl to a raging, raving maniac with green eyes and a disgustingly long tongue - interestingly, she is not that different from the way Burstyn acts in her manic episodes, or image of the white-faced Demon Pazuzu with red eyes staring down at the screen looking frighteningly gaunt and skeletal-like.

On the next scene Regan's face and a superimposition of the demon's right eye and part of its mouth are depicted. One more important detail adding mysticism to the plot is effective use of the light and the dark. This is vividly shown in the scene when a silhouetted Father Merrin stands outside of Regan's bedroom where a shaft of light and fog illuminates the scene. The levitating bed, the subliminal fast cuts of a demon in white face, the way that Jason Miller circle Regan's bedroom while she spews obscenities galore and vomits and rotates her bed 180 degrees are the most impressive.

There is genuine tension and terrific horror imagery throughout this amazing sequence. So, it is possible to conclude that the make-up and costumers of the heroes, sound and sight effects help to sustain the plot and create the message of the movie, and makes it the most impressive film I've ever watched. References1. The Exorcist. Directed by Friedkin, W.. Warner Studios, DVD release, 2004.