In 1973, William Friedkin produced The Exorcist.  Based on the best-selling novel by William Peter Blatty, this horror film put its' stamp on society and ranks as one of my "TOP TEN FILMS OF ALL TIME." 

A year after it was released - when I was six years old - I was, first, tormented by this picture.  I had two mischievous cousins - one a little older than myself and one about 16 years old.  They thought it would be funny to sneak me into a horror movie.  After listening to Kiss' first album for hours and rocking out we departed to the movies where they would sneak me into see what would, ultimately be, the greatest horror film of all time. It was shocking.

That evening, after the movie, I could not sleep.  My imagination ran wild and I had visions of a demon-like spectres of  Gene Simmons coming out of the wall with his massive tongue and i was, pardon my french, scared to shit.  I did not sleep for a week, easily.

However, far from not enjoying it, I became a horror film buff.  I love them - if they are well-made.  Not many make my list of "good" but, this one takes #1 of all time.  I will write a few reviews of some others, here, in the near future but, for now .......

What Friedkin did in and (with) this film is paint a picture of the moral decay of society and its' people losing sight of spirituality and meaning and, in some ways, the disbelief  in GOD.  It is a moral assault on the conscience that had me so frightened into wondering if I was going to church enough....could something like this ever happen to me? - I asked myself so many times in my youth.  Fortunately,  I was my own devil by the age of 16 and this was, all, cleared-up.

Nevertheless, I have loved horror films, ever since.  The struggle between the priests and mother and doctors and what they go through in trying to put a label on this atrocious condition that has Regan, played by Linda Blair, is like nothing the world had ever seen.  Gyrating, twisting, green, projectile vomit, rising up from the bed while the room grew ice-cold and the frosty breathe funneled out of the possessed, young girl's mouth toward the dimly lit ceiling.  This film was meant to shock.

Deeper than shock, though, is that moral turpitude - that construct which, truly, played upon the question making so many people ask themselves if they were right with God.  Although fantasy - and great fantasy and horrific fun- it took a hard look at the decay of morality in modern times.

Even more than what the message of the film was trying to convey, the intensity of The Exorcist was, truly, something our culture wanted.   It is something that the world wanted, regardless, if it made us think, realize, or even question our own behavior and beliefs.  It scared the crap out of us, all.  Essentially, it set the tone for a genre of horror films to come and they, still, keep coming.  It is one of the best movies that I have ever seen.  I, still, try to watch it once a year.

A great wine pairing for this film, I have determined, is a cool-climate syrah or shiraz.  Why shiraz, you ask?  This I chose, for at the beginning of the film on an archaeological dig in the middle east, we see an evil relic - a statue of a demon, unearthed, on a dig where its' power is, now, released.  Syrah, originally, came from this region and a very well-made one like that of Armagh Cellars in the Gateway to Wine Country - Petaluma(rated at 91pts by Robert Parker) is a deep, dark fruit syrah that is powerful in character but slides over the palette like mysterious and slippery, Satan.  Enjoy- but, not too much!