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Dubbed "the scariest film of all time" by Entertainment Weekly in 1999, Oscar-winning director William Friedkin's 1973 shocking thriller THE EXORCIST has arrived in a Blu-ray 2-Disc Extended Director's Cut edition, reviving all the chilling terror and head-spinning suspense in High Definition. Two different cuts of the film possess this 2-Disc set: Friedkin's original theatrical cut which shocked audiences in 1973, and his expanded Director's cut which restored 12 minutes of deleted scenes, released as The Version You've Never Seen in 2000. Now both editions of the film are presented in Blu-ray High Definition for the first time ever, offering a double dose of must-see filmmaking for this Halloween season and for years to come. Based on William Peter Blatty's controversial best-selling novel and adapted for the screen by the author himself, THE EXORCIST continues to frighten and shock audiences after four decades — even a recent one-night only screening of the Director's Cut drew fans and newcomers to theaters just before this Blu-ray release so they could experience this unique film on the big screen once again. On the immediate yet terrifying surface, THE EXORCIST's tale is simple: an innocent young girl, Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), living in Georgetown is afflicted with a violent personality-changing disorder and her frantic mother Chris (Ellen Burstyn) exhausts every possible medical and psychological treatment in search of a cure. Finally Chris resorts to contacting Father Karras (Jason Miller), a Jesuit priest and psychologist at Georgetown who reluctantly agrees to visit Regan and diagnose her affliction. Suffering his own doubts of faith, Karras assumes that Regan's illness is the result of mental conflict and not the antiquated notion of demonic possession. When Regan speaks of Karras' dead mother, whom the girl could not have possibly known, the priest reports his diagnosis to his superiors who summon Father Merrin (Max von Sydow), the only priest with actual exorcism experience. Merrin quickly recognizes the truth of Regan's spiritual possession and enlists Karras to perform the ancient Catholic rites of exorcism to save this girl before she dies. The resulting finale is a deadly conflict between forces fighting for good and evil that challenges the viewer's sense of reality, faith and ultimate redemption of the human spirit. THE EXORCIST dramatizes the religious battle between good and evil better than perhaps all other attempts in cinema history, but this war of faith only speaks so directly to a portion of its audience. So why does this landmark shocker stay so popular today? A main reason for its lasting success is that Blatty grounds his quite fantastic story in the mundane details and touchstones of normal, everyday life. Even the supposed glamorous lifestyle of Chris MacNeil's movie acting career is presented very much as her work-a-day job with drearily early morning wake-up calls. Yet Chris and Regan must confront the emotional uncertainty of divorce, teenage angst and even the spectre of rats in the attic. Themes of personal isolation and insecure faith layer atop each other scene by scene in a very normal yet unnerving pace, eroding both the characters' and audiences' confidence in their dominance of events. Capturing such normality with Friedkin's documentary film sensibility and Owen Roizman's unflinching cinematography and the utterly unbelievable quickly spins into identifiable, palpable anxiety. A typically 1970s cynical viewpoint casts the coven of medical and psychological experts treating Regan as high-tech, high-cost torturers, putting the girl through a painful and terrifying gauntlet of diagnostic devices which are filmed and recorded to look and sound as frightening as possible. Chris' obvious anguish watching her daughter endure this medical inquisition is understandably heart wrenching, utterly disarming a mother from protecting her child from forces beyond both their control. Once sympathetic to the characters' cause, Friedkin builds anxiety into terror as he raises the unholy stakes of Blatty's tale. Robert Knudson and Christopher Newman's Oscar-winning sound design quietly and boldly attack the ears and daily sensibility of viewers, further selling the realistic dark magic of Regan's possession. Nothing short of a frontal assault on the audience's grip on reality, THE EXORCIST's carefully simulated normalcy sets up the climactic moment when Friedkin and Blatty simply pull the rug out from under a viewer's own rationality. That widening crack in perception of the real waking world lets this devil's fever dream slip under our skin to repeatedly unnerving effect, and entertainingly so every time. Warner Brothers' 2-Disc Blu-ray release will possess your player with the best-ever edition of THE EXORCIST in two feature versions backed up by hours of new and compelling bonus material. DISC ONE delivers the Extended Director's Cut of THE EXORCIST in a High Definition transfer from the original camera negative of the longer Version You've Never Seen cut released in 2000, restoring about 10 minutes of deleted scenes for a 132-minute running time. These added scenes include a short montage of the MacNeil house fading into the Blessed Virgin Mary statue before the title card, an earlier doctor consultation scene diagnosing Regan, the infamous 'Spider Walk' scene and final scenes between Father Dyer and Kinderman restored after the original theatrical cut ended. After decades of debate between Friedkin and Blatty over these scenes he excised before the 1973 release, the director came around to the author's point of view and (mostly) agreed to restore these scenes to clarify certain story points. Blatty always felt, much to his chagrin, the truncated ending led audiences to believe the demon had won the battle over good. For years he lobbied Friedkin to reconsider returning the final scene with Dyer and Kinderman to underscore that Karras' sacrifice was indeed a victory over the demon and that his positive influence would live on between the priest and the detective. Also, with advances in digital effects, Friedkin was finally satisfied that the Spider Walk scene could be augmented to speed up the action and visually remove the supporting stunt wires to make this bizarre scene more believable. While some of the semi-subliminal flashes of demon faces and figures added into shots via CGI effects may seem ineffective if not corny in this version, one can easily consider this Extended Director's Cut the fuller, richer and more structurally sound version of THE EXORCIST. The Extended Director's Cut looks and sounds as powerful and provocative as ever experienced. The crisply restored 1080p image erases any hints of age in the film, with momentary CG enhancements to fix or enhance the visual effects capability of the early 1970s, but sparingly so. The Blu-ray's DTS-HD Master 6.1 Audio soundtrack delivers a very well controlled punch, skillfully balancing the dialogue with the eccentric music score while the demonic sound effects play across the surround field. Given the dynamic range of highs and lows in the film's sound mix, clarity is never sacrificed for surround directionality and the result truly puts viewers in the middle of THE EXORCIST experience.
The devilishly good additions are only beginning as Disc One also boasts three new documentaries created by Laurent Bouzereau exclusively for this Blu-ray release:
Disc One also collects seven Trailers, TV and Radio Spots promoting the film's 2000 Version You've Never Seen theatrical release. DISC TWO offers the original 1973 theatrical cut of THE EXORCIST, remastered and premiering in High Definition on Blu-ray with this edition without the restored scenes and CG effects enhancements at a 122-minute running time. William Friedkin introduces the film in a standard definition prologue, and two audio commentary tracks supplement the feature film: the first is full-length by director Friedkin, and the second by author Blatty is more of a one-man discussion of the topic and runs about half the film's length, followed by a lengthy and rare treasure of audio cues by voice actress Mercedes McCambridge dubbing the Regan/Demon voice onto the character. The High Definition 1080p transfer shows a little more grain on the original cut, but the DTS-HD Master 5.1 Audio soundtrack sounds quite strong and sharp across the surround field, considering the age and original mix of the film. A feature-length 1998 BBC documentary, The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist, offers what was up to that point perhaps the definitive making-of examination of this film. Presenter and horror film critic/historian Mark Kermode examines the cultural and cinematic impact of THE EXORCIST, replete with cast and crew interviews including Friedkin, Blatty, Burstyn, von Sydow, Blair, Miller and nearly all the production team leaders. This is a very thorough documentary, bolstered by Kermode's trademark enthusiasm of delivery, and now joined by the three new documentaries on Disc One, together they represent the most comprehensive and engaging studies of this landmark legend in American filmmaking. Additional interviews with William Friedkin and William Peter Blatty discuss and practically relive their decades-long disagreement over the original cut of THE EXORCIST, detailing their arguments for including/deleting key moments like the Spider Walk and the lengthened finale of the film. Their comments and opinions practically blueprint what would become the Version You've Never Seen released in 2000 and now transferred in High Definition on Disc One. Featurettes supplement this discussion by recreating the Original Ending of the film, as well as offering a Sketches & Storyboards gallery along with seven more Trailers & TV Spots promoting the 1973 version of THE EXORCIST. Finally, this Blu-ray 2-Disc release includes a 40-page book insert highlighting the characters, crew and history of THE EXORCIST in a photo-driven promotional format, and including vintage and contemporary context for the film along with bits of trivia about the film and the Roman Ritual itself. William Friedkin's personal message is slipped between the book and Disc One, recapping his fortunate involvement in making THE EXORCIST and his gratitude to Warner Brothers for presenting the best-ever version of his groundbreaking, record-shattering movie. Believers and non-believers, along with film fans in general, have good reason to embrace the mystery and power of THE EXORCIST which shines undimmed years after it first shook and scared the world. This 2-Disc Blu-ray release with both versions of Friedkin's film, backed up with hours of excellent bonus material spanning decades of its legacy, stands as a handsome, must-own addition to the collection of EXORCIST admirers old and new. Be sure you treat yourself to this Halloween season masterpiece, turn down the lights, heat up the pea soup and enjoy this classic fright fest . . . before the Devil makes you do it!
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THE EXORCIST on Blu-ray Extends Earned Reputation as 'Scariest Film' Ever
