Friedkin Uncut (2018)

Friedkin Uncut is special because it doesn’t just celebrate William Friedkin’s greatest hits—it lets you sit across from the man himself as he thinks out loud, provokes, confesses, and reframes the choices that made his films feel so dangerous and alive. Director Francesco Zippel keeps the vibe intimate and brisk, weaving Friedkin’s own razor-edged storytelling with admiring, often delighted reflections from filmmakers and collaborators like Quentin Tarantino and Ellen Burstyn, so the documentary feels less like a lecture and more like a late-night conversation with a legend. Even if you’ve only seen The Exorcist or The French Connection, the film is gripping in the way it connects craft, obsession, and cultural shockwaves without turning reverent or dusty. Fair warning: Friedkin’s personality is unapologetically blunt and occasionally abrasive, but if you’re curious how bold cinema gets made—and what it costs—this is a deeply enjoyable, insightful watch.

Friedkin Uncut wants to be an intimate, director-driven self-portrait of William Friedkin, letting him trace the obsessions and battles behind his most notorious films while famous admirers chime in. The problem is it often feels like a respectful victory lap rather than a probing documentary: the questions don’t bite, the visuals rarely add much, and Friedkin’s version of events is largely taken at face value. If you’re hoping for hard scrutiny, fresh revelations, or a formally inventive film-essay, this may strike you as flat and a bit rehearsed. But if you simply enjoy hearing Friedkin talk, and you want a comfortable, fan-friendly recap of The Exorcist-era mythology with some solid talking-head cameos, it does the job.