The Exorcist: 40th Anniversary Edition, hit Blu-ray from Warner Brothers on October 8th.
The Exorcist is the greatest horror movie ever made. No matter what director William Friedkin tries to tell you.
Calling something “the greatest” anything is a pretty subjective statement, but I’m willing to stand by my assertion. And no, William Friedkin probably wouldn’t take issue with someone loving his film, but he might take issue with calling it a horror movie if you take some of his comments in the bonus content of this release to heart. And while I agree that The Exorcist is a singular and masterful film, I don’t think it is entirely honest to try and distance it from the horror genre. It succeeds primarily as a drama where many “horror” films fail, but it also propels over the top and terrifying images into our eyeballs with relish. The infamous pea soup vomit, head spins, levitations, and crucifix masturbation imagery work so completely because they are balanced against an otherwise measured and richly detailed screenplay by the book’s author William Peter Blatty… but that doesn’t mean this isn’t a horror story.
What indicators are necessary when defining something as horror? Frightening content designed purposefully to scare a viewer or cause discomfort? Yep, The Exorcist has that. Eerie and discomfiting music? Certainly. Death and/or murder? Again, that is here. Exploration of the supernatural? Yes. What else is needed to plant this film firmly in the genre of horror? I think the case is made.
But I don’t in any way want to insult the horror genre when I suggest that The Exorcist brings something more to the table which elevates it to the very best of the best horror films. I love John Carpenter’s Halloween dearly, and I dabble with calling it my “favorite” horror film. But I would not blink twice before saying that The Exorcist is the objectively “better” film between the two. While Halloween should be commended for it’s streamlined and efficient terror, and even for tapping into wider fears of the boogeyman, The Exorcist tells a huge and epically-scoped tale. It feels efficient as well, but taps into a grander supernatural narrative while powerfully exploring innocence, redemption and true evil inside of a nuanced and authentic screenplay. The technical brilliance of the film, the phenomenal performances depicting layered characters, and the overall filmmaking craft astound me further each time I watch The Exorcist. I find the distance between it and any other horror film clamboring for the “best of” spot to be increasing all the time. I can’t imagine what would de-throne The Exorcist as the greatest horror film of all time, but I would love to see that movie some day.
Back in 2010 I did a full review of The Exorcist: The Version You’ve Never Seen when it had a re-release on DVD. You can read that full review at Hollywood Jesus to get my [more] complete thoughts on the spiritual themes and power of this film. If anything, as mentioned, my praise for the film has only become more effusive since 2010.
THE PACKAGE
This seems to be a somewhat controversial release from Warner Brothers for the film’s 40th Anniversary, and I can understand why. On the plus side, this release offers a stunningly beautiful transfer, both existing cuts of the film (theatrical and director’s cut), all the bonus content from previous blu-ray releases, and two new bonus features unique to this release. There’s also a nice box which the film comes in that includes a hardback booklet containing a chapter on The Exorcist pulled from Friedkin’s memoir entitled The Friedkin Connection. But, on the problematic side, it seems that this wonderful transfer of the film is no different than the one released in a Blu-ray “digibook” edition released just a couple of years ago. And with the only real updates from that edition being new packaging and two new featurettes, one could make a very good case that this release is more of a “double dip” than fans might’ve wanted.
I poked around on Blu-ray.com and read through some forums to try and even discern with certainty that this transfer is the same one from the previous blu-ray release, and the consensus seems to be that this is the same transfer. No one (literally no one) has issues with the quality of the transfer. It is stunning. But without a new 4K tranfer, it seems like most fans who already own the 2010 digibook edition of The Exorcist will be passing on this 40th anniversary set.
In the end, this is an awesome set. I personally have never owned the film on Blu-ray, so it is great to own both the theatrical cut and the director’s extended version in one package. And since I’d never seen the 2010 transfer, I was amazed at how wonderful the film looked on Blu-ray. My old DVD is already in the “to trade” pile. However, if I had owned the previous Blu-ray I’d probably hold off on picking up this edition. Fans who don’t yet own the film on Blu-ray should have no cause to hesitate when picking up this new set.
Disc One of this set includes the Director’s Cut of the film, which both Friedkin and Blatty are comfortable calling the best version of the film available. I personally have watched the Director’s Cut version of the film the last two times I’ve viewed it, including this most recent viewing. There are also a number of bonus features on this disc which were available in a previous release. I found the content to be compelling, with next to no fluff or filler.
Disc Two includes the theatrical cut which I did not really have the time to explore, but includes, yet again, bonus material that has been previously available on earlier releases. There are multiple commentaries, featurettes, and trailer galleries.
Either of these first two discs could keep you busy for hours.
Disc Three features two new featurettes not previously available in other releases:
Beyond Comprehension: William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist. At first feeling like a fluff piece about Blatty’s experience writing the book, this short eventually does offer some interesting content. Blatty hosts the featurette, touring you through the cabin where he wrote the original novel, and eventually taking us to Georgetown University to discuss his experience with the film on location.
Talk Of The Devil: Archival footage of Father Eugene Gallagher, a Georgetown Professor of Blatty’s and a priest who has performed exorcisms, talking about his thoughts on the book Blatty wrote. This is mostly interesting because it is archival. Hearing this man’s thoughts about the author and giving an endorsement to the authenticity he was able to utilize in the novel was interesting, though not life-changing.
THE BOTTOM LINE
If you already own the most recent Blu-ray release of The Exorcist, I can’t imagine this being a good investment for you. The two new featurettes are fine, but nothing to drop $40 on. The big draws here are getting both versions of the film and watching them on amazing transfers, but the 2010 release already offered that.
Anyone who doesn’t already own The Exorcist on Blu-ray, but counts themselves as fans, will be happy with this, the most definitive edition to date of the greatest horror film ever made.
And I’m Out.