The movie begins with demonologist William Bradshaw explaining how exorcisms that are authorized by the Roman Catholic Church must be documented, so we get a little background information. He then says that, with all information we have about the well-known 1949 exorcism, it's his professional opinion that it was a real exorcism and not a case of insanity or delusion. Father Francis X. Cleary, Senior Jesuit priest and exorcism historian, tells how the priests got involved with the case, while exorcist Bishop James Long also discusses the case and how the little boy possibly got possessed by his aunt's encouragement of using a Ouija board. Numerous people give testimonies concerning demonic possession– including modern possession survivors–and they also share the testimony of the great niece of Father William Bowdern, the lead exorcist in the 1949 case. Original audio files and photos are shown of the boy, though his face is partly censored to protect his privacy. The Booth Brothers, along with other paranormal investigators, visit the various places that the boy was at (the site of Alexian Bros Hospital, White House Retreat, the "Exorcist" house) and perform paranormal surveillance. The results are quite shocking, even for a skeptic, and the images alone are frightening. Being a devout Catholic and knowing that the Catholic Church is very strict and protective over the events of actual exorcism cases, I kept waiting for the telltale flaw of the Booth brothers, where they claimed to have access to the files–but, to my surprise, this was not the case. The film is careful to state that the Church guards those documents, and that this documentary is based on the personal diary of Father Raymond Bishop who was with Father Bowdern during the exorcisms. I am very pleased that this documentary is not like other "documentary" films that have been released; it is an actual documentary and not a two hour reenactment of the events with altered facts or added information for entertainment purposes. There are clips of actors reenacting events, but they are brief and in between the interviews and events. The paranormal investigators came off as true professionals. It wasn't like many of the ghost hunter shows on TV where, when something strange happens, everyone freaks out and it looks like a bad found footage horror movie. They all kept their cool when unusual things occurred, like they're used to it. Christopher Saint Booth wrote an amazing score for the movie that really helps the film to flow; it's got a very dark, classical Gothic feel to it. And it works well during the reenactment sequences.
I had trouble blinking during this film because I was so into it and didn't want to miss a thing. The Booth Brothers score again with The Exorcist File; the perfect documentary companion for The Exorcist.
