Reviews with content warning for Body horror - The Exorcist

Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

68 reviews

ocelotdoll's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

After my relatively disappointing horror experience with Rosemary's Baby, I decided to give the genre a second try with The Exorcist. Whilst it succeeded at being much more successful in scaring me, it failed to engage me with the same ease of reading. Having never seen the movie because I was already terrified of the few clips of the movie I had seen, it is possible that I was primed to feel scared by the book. Nevertheless, the book as a whole has a heavy atmosphere of despair, meaning that once Regan starts fully losing herself to the demon, the book stays persistently heavy with no levity to interrupt it. It is this atmosphere that and the few good genuinely scary scenes that carry the book for me, as the style and pacing both worked against my engagement with the book. Some of the stylistic issues can be attributed to the age of the book obviously, however, some dialogues can be particularly painful to read through with characters taking pages to get to a very simple point. Additionally, the vocabulary can sometimes feel a bit too repetitive to the point of negatively impacting the horror aspects. Regan moving her head like a cobra is disturbing once but when it is said in that way for the fifth time it loses a lot of its effect. The pacing is a different issue which unfortunately has no excuse. Regan's possession is a quick process, showing symptoms by the 10% mark and taking fully hold by 30%. However, reaching 30% felt like a trudge with chapters of character set up whose relevance is still unknown making them feel like needless delays to the demonic possession set up. Additionally, by the 60% mark, the attempts at scientifically explaining Regan's condition have ceased and the process of getting the exorcism done begins. This process is however mostly uninteresting, being a simple repeat of all of her symptoms until something clicks in the characters' heads making them accept the paranormal aspect of the situation (a click that is unecessary from the reader's perspective who is already aware of this nature). Thus, whilst managing much better at being unsettling, and sometimes genuinely scary, The Exorcist is not as enjoyable a read as Rosemary's Baby was.

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rbrtvzz's review against another edition

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dark hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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ishouldreadthat's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I've loved the film for years and finally got around to reading the book it was based on. The hype is real - I really loved this and the film follows it pretty closely. The author narrates the audiobook, something I don't always enjoy, and does a great job.

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ishouldreadthat's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The movie is a personal favourite, and it turns out to be a fantastic adaptation of the book. The audiobook is narrated by the author, not something I usually like, but he does a truly fantastic job!

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nicoletacilibiu's review against another edition

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Pe lângă că e foarte plictisitoare, a început să mă și îngrețoșeze.

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cinderrunner's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Brilliant example of a horror novel. Genuinely one of the best books i have yet to read in the genre. The horror isnt extremely in your face but it is still deeply unsettling. Its a bit of a slow burn. The way its written constantly challenges the notion of if Regan is truly possessed or just mentally ill, which mirror social beliefs and functions in a brilliant way. It really haunts you. The movie is, of course, iconic. But the way the book is constructed just flows and builds so much better. A must read for horro fans.

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socialpsysteph's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Given how creepy and iconic The Exorcist movie is, I was excited to pick this one up in October as part of my spooky reads. This is definitely not the norm for me, but I would 100% recommend the movie over the book. There were large chunks of the book that felt totally unnecessary and drawn out (I would even go so far as to say it was boring in parts). The main part of the story is exactly as depicted in the movie just without the boring parts so it's definitely the way to go here. Not much else to say because if you've seen the movie, you know exactly what happens in the book.

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