The Exorcist - William Peter Blatty

This is the book behind the famous horror film. It tells the story of a little girl who becomes mysteriously ill, and when doctors can't help her, her mother turns to a priest. The book is unfairly overshadowed by the film and is a great horror read which should be recognised as a classic in it;s own right.



So we've all heard of the Exorcist right? The classic horror film from the 70's which caused much controversy and is surrounded by legends and myths about the production, which involved so many accidents and a few deaths in the crew and their families, leading to the rumour that the film itself is cursed. The film is great, though maybe a bit dated nowadays, and rightfully thought of as a classic in the genre.

But we're here for the novel behind the movie, not the movie. It tells the same story as the film - an actresses daughter suddenly starts behaving strangely. The actress believe little Regan is ill, so off they go to the doctor. Regan's behaviour starts getting worse and worse, with foul language, creeping around and moving objects about with her mind, and the doctors are running test after test trying to find out an explanation for what is going on. They rule out split personality, hysteria and a litany of other conditions, and eventually draw a blank. One of the physicians they see suggests trying a priest, since some of Regan's rantings are religious based, maybe a priest could help through the power of suggestion.

This is largely the plot of both the book and the film, but the book has a few sub plots that give it a lot more depth than the film has. There is a death in both the film and the book, which is investigated by a detective, Kinderman. If memory serves, this is really not mentioned in the film much at all, but in the book it serves as a fairly major part of the story. Also one of the priests, Karras, is going through a bit of a crisis regarding his faith, he is starting to doubt his beliefs and his priesthood when he gets involved with the Macneil family. There's also the story of the housekeepers and their daughter. The main difference between the book and the film is that the decision to jump to an exorcism is not taken lightly, by anyone at all. The doctors don't suggest it until they have exhausted every avenue they can, the mother doesn't want to go for it until she is sure it will help, and the priests take more convincing than anyone else that it is needed. For me, this all adds to the tension and makes the climax of the book - the exorcism itself - a much more exciting event. In ways, I found the book more hard-hitting than the film.

I really enjoyed this book. The story flows excellently, even though the exorcism doesn't get going until the very very end doesn't matter at all. The investigations and the build up and the backstory add up to create a tense atmosphere and sense of mystery behind it all. We all know going into this book that there's an exorcism and that Regan is possessed, and you will be screaming at the character's to just get on with it, but the trepidation and caution that they all act with makes the act of the exorcism itself carry some real weight. This isn't something they just bash out and throw around everyday, this is a serious, dangerous ritual. Not to mention of course, that Regan is creepy and her symptoms and behaviour and the interactions with other characters have a real unnaturalness to them, and she becomes really unsettling.

I'm sure horror fans have all read this, but if you have a passing interest in horror or have overlooked this one, do yourself a favour and check it out. One of the best horror's I've ever read, and in my opinion it was better than the film.

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