The Exorcist Untold, 2023.
Directed by Robin Bextor.
Featuring Rich Cline, Julie Blatty, Dr. Sarah Crowther, Nat Segaloff, Prof. Chris McGlothlin.
SYNOPSIS:
Documentary covering the genesis and impact of horror classic The Exorcist.
The Exorcist Untold is a brand-new documentary from director Robin Bextor that looks at the enduring influence and legacy of William Friedkin’s 1973 masterpiece, which was based on the novel by William Peter Batty, and it is the word ‘Untold’ that is doing most of the heavy lifting in that title, mainly down to two reasons.
The first, and most obvious, is that there is very little here that hardcore fans – and there are quite a few of those – wouldn’t already know; in fact, anyone who has owned a physical media copy of the movie, from its 1998 VHS release through to the recent 4K UHD version, would have already seen the extensive supplementary material that covers pretty much every aspect of the production, including Mark Kermode’s definitive The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist documentary.
The second way that ‘Untold’ is an apt word is that you come away from it feeling that there was still quite a bit that wasn’t covered. Unfortunately, the two Williams are no longer with us and so their contributions are shown through archive clips, such as them receiving their respective Oscars, Blatty appearing on The Groucho Marx Show in the 1960s and Friedkin once again giving his opinion on the universally maligned Exorcist II: The Heretic, and the other talking head contributions are mostly anecdotal insights from academics, historians and film critics.
As such, we’re left with a narration that sets the scene for where America was in the early 1970s by offering up a tenuous link between the movie and the Manson Family murders, covers the main casting choices and a few of William Friedkin’s more controversial directorial decisions – such as regularly firing a gun on set, and slapping actor William O’Malley in order to get a shocked reaction out of him for the scene – and it also briefly touches on the real life case that William Peter Blatty took inspiration from of a boy from Maryland in 1949 who was given an exorcism in the hope of curing his bizarre behaviour, which it apparently did. However, anyone who already knows their Exorcist history knows there are numerous stories of strange goings on during the production of the movie, the alleged ‘curse’ that saw several cast and crew members die in a very short space of time, and some questionable practices that saw several actors get injured, and none of these are mentioned.
So, on the one hand most of what is covered here is readily available in several other places, and on the other, the more interesting parts that make the better story are left out, which begs the question as to what the point of it is, as the faithful already know this stuff and newbies would likely go to The Exorcist first before checking out any background information, which means they are likely to get access to DVD extras or The Fear of God first.
Of course, there will be the odd person who knows nothing of The Exorcist and may come across this documentary first, in which case The Exorcist Untold gives enough information to peak your interest and could encourage you to check out other material, but except for a few insights from William Peter Blatty’s widow Julie into how he developed the story after first reading about the boy from Maryland, it is very difficult to work out who this documentary is really aimed at.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Chris Ward
