On seeing the title of this, you’d be forgiven for having the initial thought of “Not another film about the making of The Exorcist, but Robin Bextor’s documentary is certainly not just another film about the making of The Exorcist, choosing to focus much of its runtime on the lead up to the production and how the dream (nightmare?) team of William Friedkin and Peter Blatty came to collaborate on a movie which has become the subject to so much debate in the fifty years since its release.
Of course, there’s a fun vox pop segment early on in which often shell-shocked cinemagoers try to make sense of what they’ve just seen on screen – one particularly bewildered soul says they’re not going back in there (I’ve a feeling they did) and a dubious defender of 70s female virtue proclaims he wouldn’t take his wife to see it – but the main thrust of the piece soon settles into the backgrounds of those two iconic driving forces. There’s also a liberal sprinkling throughout of academic takes on the William Castle-esque origins of the marketing machine behind the phenomenon, plus the change on the sociopolitical landscape of the time, when the freewheeling, free-loving attitudes of the 1960s gave way to something darker as New Hollywood showed the American Dream to be just a mere reverie for the impossibly idealistic.
As to “Untold,” that’s open to question. Stories of Friedkin firing guns on set and punching actors are ten a penny but the less sensational details of his fledging career in the business are seldom covered, regardless of their importance to Blatty realising that there was clearly only one man for the directing job. Similarly, Blatty’s pre-Exorcist days are generally downplayed, almost to the point of irrelevance at the side of the monster he created, and Bextor redresses the balance with some fascinating and often amusing detail, demonstrating his create smarts via a fine appearance on You Bet Your Life and a serendipitous, last minute guest slot on The Dick Cavett Show.
As an unauthorised view of a horror juggernaut, the footage used tends towards the low budget and the lack of big names involved in front of the camera may be jarring to some, but this opens up the piece to contributions from those who would have otherwise fallen by the wayside in a glossier production’s haste to cram in as much Blair and Burstyn as possible while telling you about the “curse” hanging over the shoot. Yeah yeah, we know.
A roster of potential, big name directors – all initially preferred to Friedkin – is detailed, as well as initial casting choices which are ripe for post-doc discussion. If you want to ponder a version of The Exorcist with different actors filling out the lead roles (save for Blair, who seemed pretty much a shoo-in to play Regan from the get-go), here’s your chance. And as for the editing process, it’s arguably in line with Friedkin himself – possibly insane, but ultimately perfect.
I’ve left it until now in the review to out myself properly as a huge fan of The Exorcist, but you may have guessed that already. I’ve seen the film more times than I would dare admit and, yes, when I took a holiday in Washington, the temptation to wander over to Georgetown to walk down those steps was too great. A passer-by asked me “Do these steps mean anything?” and my initial response was a short but definitive one: “Oh yes.”
That particular piece of architecture is allotted its own segment in The Exorcist Untold, showing the dedication ceremony as a recognised monument and the added poignancy of the event being the final occasion on which Blatty and Friedkin would be together. That a stairway, albeit one as lethal in appearance as the those on the corner of Prospect Street and 36th Street NW, should be burned into the conscience of generations of movie watchers, says all you need to know about Blatty’s writing and Friedkin’s visual flair, combining in a truly unforgettable few seconds of celluloid.
The resolutely unsensational approach The Exorcist Untold may drive away those seeking more lurid accounts of the movie’s development. Equally, rabid completists of the project may not be told anything they don’t already know. However, if you’re looking for a different angle on a classic horror film that was never conceived as a horror film at all (that’s an argument for another time) then this is well worth seventy-one minutes of your time, even if it is simply to view evangelist Billy Graham getting all hot and bothered about the Devil lurking in the prints or to chuckle at the inevitable shade thrown on Exorcist II: The Heretic.
The Exorcist Untold is available on VOD now.