It’s been 27 years since The Exorcist forever changed the nation’s perception of pea soup.  The film, which was nominated for 10 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director and three acting roles (it won for sound and screenplay), allegedly caused some people to flee theatres in a horrified panic.  But since its theatrical release in 1973, The Exorcist has only been seen via badly edited TV versions and fading, crusty old copies of the videotape.  The fact that the film spawned two lousy sequels (one from The General’s John Boorman, and one from The Exorcist’s author and screenwriter William Peter Blatty) didn’t help either.

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, The Exorcist has been restored with a cleaned-up picture, completely overhauled sound and about a dozen additional minutes that didn’t appear in the original version (although some were on a recently released DVD).  But one lingering question remains – will viewers today be as affected by the film as they were back in 1973?

The answer is probably not.  The screening I attended was plagued with mocking laughter and people leaving out of sheer boredom.  I should mention that the screening was sponsored by a local “modern rock” station, and most of the crowd was made up of young men and women that have been weaned on a steady diet of slasher flicks that prominently feature a grisly murder before the opening credits roll.

What these little douche bags don’t understand is that you don’t need a high body count, gallons of fake blood and things making you jump every five minutes to make a suspenseful film.  In fact, that’s the alluring part of The Exorcist.  Director William Friedkin (Rules of Engagement) paces the film so slowly, the ending almost becomes a reward in patience.

Just take the opening scene, where Friedkin takes a brief, five-page epilogue from the book and audaciously transforms it into a 12-minute segment that has little to do with the rest of the film.  In it, we are introduced to Father Merrin (Max von Sydow, Snow Falling on Cedars) an elderly priest on an archaeological dig in Northern Iraq.  He finds a creepy idol (not unlike the one Greg had in The Brady Bunch’s multi-episode Hawaiian vacation) and begins to shake uncontrollably while reaching for both the drink and his nitroglycerine pills.

Meanwhile, movie star Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn, Requiem For a Dream) and her 12-year-old daughter Regan (Linda Blair) are temporarily living in Georgetown while Chris shoots a film.  They rent a lovely home (complete with a staff of three), but their lives are interrupted by a demonic spirit that decides to take up residence in young Regan. Thinking there is something physically wrong with her daughter, Chris drags Regan to a bunch of clueless doctors that run a lot of pointless tests before sending her off to a shrink.  It’s really funny to watch the doctors whip out cigarettes while they give cheesy explanations for Regan’s odd behavior (Ritalin is their treatment).  They blow smoke in Chris’ face while they blow smoke up her ass.

Looking for alternatives to medications and asylums, Chris turns to Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller, Rudy), a Jesuit priest and psychiatrist struggling with his faith after the death of his mother.  Damian’s freaky nightmare montage of his dead mother emerging from the subway entrance is one of the best ever.

Friedkin takes his time developing the characters, which makes the ending that much more emotional for the viewer.  It’s over 30 minutes before anything makes you jump, 45 before anything remotely supernatural occurs, and an hour has passed before the real hijinks start.  The spooky events are spaced far apart and grow more disturbing as the film progresses.  You begin to dread each time Chris runs up the stairs and into Regan’s room.

Purportedly based on true events, The Exorcist was adapted from Blatty’s best-selling 1971 novel.  The film’s acting, especially from Blair and first-timer Miller, are fantastic.  At that year’s Academy Awards, the 14-year-old Blair lost to 10-year-old Tatum O’Neal (Paper Moon).  The redone sound is marvelous.  You can even hear the aquarium in Regan’s room, which is kind of exciting because you can barely tell she has an aquarium in the tape at your local video store.

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