Well I have watched the movie “The Exorcist” by William Peter Blatty at least a dozen times, that movie in my eyes is one of the best horror movies ever made, its make-up is so scarily real that once you have seen the movie you may never forget that face.
So, after a little talk with my brother during Kalipuja when we were watching “repossessed” I tried getting my hands on the novel, and got its pdf file in internet and started reading it. Well, honestly, the last time I remember reading a very long book (400 page) at a go, of course with the gaps of sleeping, eating and other necessary things that one does is when I read Dumas Key by Stephen King five or six years ago!
The interesting thing is the movie is scarier than the novel but the novel is far better than the movie in one too many ways! From the angle of humanity it has surpassed the movie with huge lead!
I was a bit curious to know if the movie is worse or the novel but this is the first time I will have to admit that both had their strong advantages.
The beauty with which Blatty has portrayed Father Karrass is overwhelming! It’s hard to suppress anguish and tear when Father Merrin and Father Karrass die at the end. They are so full of beauty that it hurts to see them die in hands of evil! Only solace was Regan’s recovery!
The way Blatty has built the character of Karrass is awesome-slowly he slips into your heart and conquers it! Father Merrin is overshadowed by other characters.
Have you read the novel? If you do beware of very strong language, I have a policy, I skip those parts, if you don’t and are Christian (believer) better watch out! They are disgusting!
I will say one thing at the end, Blatty has given exorcist a touch of classic excluding the profanities, if they were not in it… it would have been a complete classic, but as they are quite a part of it all I can say it is a semi classic adult story written by an awesome writer.
