Exorcist Nightmares!

Had quite a few in my time. Not for a long while now, but they are certainly terrifying when they do occur.

Actually a couple of nights ago I had a really weird dream, not really a nightmare, about the Exorcist. I was living with a friend of mine and we were sharing a room. Somehow, she got the cuts all over her face and I was like, “Well, you should probably let me at least clean those out,” so I did and after I was done I said, “You’re probably gonna get really possessed now, so I’m not sleeping in here. They’re coming in to strap you down.” It was one of the weirdest I’ve had in a while…and I can’t for the life of me figure out why. I haven’t seen the movie in a good month.

The nightmares used to be really bad, especially when I first saw the film at the tender age of 12, and I slept in my parent’s room for longer than I care to admit. I haven’t had a full blown nightmare in years now, this one’s as close as I’ve gotten. I just woke up with that ‘weird’ feeling.

Oh yes. My friends and I thought we were being sooo cool by watching the movie we weren’t allowed to see. It was right around the time it was re-released in 2000. I stole my brother’s VHS version and brought it to a sleepover. We tried to be all big and bad, laughing (quite nervously) at the inappropriate parts, but the truth came out that night when none of us went to sleep.

Nightmares about this film have pretty much come and gone for me since 1974 after listening to my mother describe in detail about how Linda Blair looked and things that she said that were so utterly blasphemous, that in those days, one did not even dare to THINK those words if one was a Catholic.Then in the 80’s I would get the kind in which I was possessed just like the character….I would be strapped in bed, I felt like I was burning up as though having a bad fever and you could feel that the room was icy cold.In one nightmare, I was aware that I was hissing like a snake.In some other dreams, it usually involved the Regan and Chris characters after the events of the first film…or even more significantly, a lot of stuff that would have happened offscreen.One recent dream that I had was actually kind scarier than the film itself…and it involved 13 year old Linda Blair as Regan….more of Sharon, and Chris…The next time I get one, I must remember to take notes.

Can’t say I do. I feel that I’ve been so attached to the film and those responsible for it now, over the years, that I’ve become immune to any fright that can be drawn from it, consciously or otherwise.

I’ve told the story a thousand times. When i was around 5 or so (early 80s), my parents pretty much forced me to watch the film (though they deny it). I was infatuated with the devil (cartoony version), so they kept telling me the ‘devil movie’ is coming on. This was on regular tv, back when a movie premiere was a big thing. I was excited. I lasted to the edited masturbation scene and freaked out. Tried turning on the stereo, block it out, etc. Had terrible nightmares for years- if there was a door in my dreams, i feared Regan was beyond it. Tried watching it after that, but always wussed out until I was like 13. Thats probably why it became my favorite.

For all the years i feared the movie, I had a weird version of the movie in my head. With no internet, and the way the vhs box was, you weren’t desensitized to the makeup effects like one could be now.

I still occasionally get the dreams of Regan possessed, but they don't jar me like they used to when I was a kid.  I was 5 years old when I dragged my parents to go see this movie at the drive in…and  I had NO idea what I was getting into.

As a kid, I would have dreams of Regan, and they would jar me right out of bed.  I never screamed, but they did keep me awake for hours.

Now, I can have dreams of Regan possessed, and they just don't phase me.  It's as if I've taken my revenge on the movie by being able to just sleep right through the dream.

I do remember one dream in particular, and please don't think me creepy for this:

In the dream, I was roughly Linda Blair's age at the time the movie was shot.  For some reason, I was lying in “the bed” with Regan, and she was not in her evolved possessed mode yet….I say..yet.  Regan's back was turned to me.  (Don't worry, there was nothing sexual or even physical going on….we were just lying in the bed there.) However, in the dream, I could hear Regan's breathing start to have that asthmatic sound, and I could hear a mild gurgling in her voice.  Now, don't ask me what possessed me to do this (no pun intended), but my dream avatar suddenly decided to egg the situation on by breathing in growls….growling at Regan, whose back was turned to me.  Regan's growling started growing more pronounced.  I intensified my growling.   And the next thing you know, Regan's head turned around, full 180, with the cuts and those eyes in full effect, and she roared at me, and said in the voice of Pazuzu “What the F*** do you think you're doing, boy?!”

 

Now that was freaky, I admit, and I am getting chills up my spine just remembering that dream.  LOL!