The Daily Stream becomes the Daily Scream for spooky season!
You probably don’t need me to tell you that the classic 1973 horror flick The Exorcist makes for excellent Halloween viewing. But you might need me to alert you to the fact that, for those readers in the UK, the film is streaming free (as long as you have a TV license, of course) on BBC iPlayer for 11 more days, so almost till Halloween. (It’s streaming on Max, the former HBO Max, in the US.)
Half a century old now, this tale of a young girl (Linda Blair) possessed by a demon is spookier than most of what passes for horror these days — this was true when I first reviewed the movie 23 years ago, and it’s even truer today. Recently deceased director William Friedkin leisurely and deliberately builds a tower of fear in a way genre movies no longer have the patience to attempt. Very little blood is spilled: instead of lingering on the disgusting and gory, Friedkin allows us only quick glimpses of the unearthly, which is infinitely more frightening. Indeed, the horrible medical tests Blair’s Regan is put through, in search of a scientific explanation for her affliction, are as awful as the grotesque effects of her possession. Also shocking: watching a doctor light up a cigarette in a medical facility. Terrifying. (Read my 2000 review.)
US: stream on Max (via Prime); rent/buy on Prime and Apple TV
UK: stream on BBC iPlayer through October 29th; rent on Curzon Home Cinema; rent/buy on Prime and Apple TV
See The Exorcist at Letterboxd for more viewing options.
