CaptainHowdy.com The #1 Exorcist Fansite Since 1999
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I was lucky enough to see her at Kings Comics in Sydney yesterday. Talk about a dream come true ! Apart from getting a few things autographed and my picture taken with her, I also gave her one of my Regan wall hangers which I make. She seemed very impressed with it and I hope it finds it's way onto her wall someday.
I thought the opticals in TVYNS only served to make it into a 'movie' whereas the original which used only physical effects was to me more real and believe me when I saw it in the cinema as a 17 year old back in 1974 it wasn't just a movie; it was an ordeal which affected me like nothing before or since.
I don't really think you have to have an explanation about this as it lends an air of sinister mystery to the story as far as I'm concerned. Actually I remember when I saw it back in '74, my 17 year old mind just thought that the devil had done it and didn't really take it any further. That's probably an unsatisfactory or even silly answer today for some but I don't think any explanation that has Regan running around at night doing the task holds much weight either.
I had a recurring dream for years where I'd be watching The Exorcist alone in a dark, filthy, cinema and just like the first time I saw it, I am utterly terrified. In the dream I continually look away to avoid the horrifying visuals (like I did the night I first saw it) but the I am still terrified by the sounds, and as in a typical dream am unable to leave the cinema. I find myself trying to find a way out but there is only darkness and that dreadful audio keeps hammering at me.
Finally it reaches a point where I wake up but still I feel uneasy for a while.
I've had that one many times.
I never once thought that the demon died with Karras. I would think that being entities of a spiritual nature they wouldn't be able to die in the sense we physical creatures know which reaffirms my original point about what is and is not truly frightening.
When I saw The Exorcist for the first time I was suddenly forced to consider the possibility that evil, or the Devil in this case, wasn't some almost comical being who sat on a throne amidst a sea of flames and admonished sinners for being a 'bad boy' as depicted in so many movies and TV shows which I'd seen over the years. I was confonted with real power which dripped with spite, cruelty and none of the restraints which even the most evil mortal would have. Standing before it you'd have no options or escape.
Watching The Exorcist brought me face to face with a type of fear which I'd never known from any real life experience or watching years of horror movies. It was almost as if a door into my psyche, which we all probably have, was opened and I was looking into a place so dark it cannot be described -only experienced. It made all the monsters and axe weilding maniacs which previously scared me look positively anemic by comparison and if I was forced to choose then I'd gladly share their company any day rather than confront that kind of fear.
The Exorcist is in a class of it's own and nothing else comes close. That movie redefined my views on good and evil(especially evil) and what true fear is all about. True fear doesn't comes from chainsaw wielding lunatics or quick scares that make you jump for a second and then have a laugh; in my opinion it comes from dealing with something unexplainable that cannot be shot, stabbed or dealt with in any physical way and comes from outside the realm of our idea of normality.
To say The Shining (which I consider one of the weakest horror movies ever) is scarier than The Exorcist is the biggest load of absurd nonsense I've ever heard. For me it's impossible to have a big name star in a horror movie and expect to be scared.
I'm too aware that the character is a famous international celebrity and cannot possibly allow myself for even the slightest moment to suspend my disbelief and worry about what is happening to them on the screen. In The Shining, every time Jack Nicholson appeared I kept thinking about his other movies and was continually distracted by this. Â
As much as I like some of the other 99 movies in this programme, I have to say that none of them can come close to the Exorcist. They are entertaining, and frightening to a degree (Blair Witch especially) but ultimately it's like comparing a water pistol to a shotgun: one is fun and will get your attention but the other will seriously mess you up.
And that's what the Exorcist did to so many people.
It's not bad but the trouble with most Exorcist kits is that they just represent a generic possessed girl and not Linda Blair underneath the makeup. They aim for the sensationalistic aspects of the character instead of getting her bone structure and facial features correct then building up all the scars and so-on afterwards.
One thing that always helps me ‘get into’ a movie is when I’m not familiar with most or all of the actors.When I saw The Exorcist in 1974 at the age of 17 I had no idea who any of the actors were and it helped make it more believable.This is where movies like The Shining fall apart for me.Besides not being scary at all ( for me at least)all I kept thinking was ” oh there’s Jack Nicholson running around trying to be frightening.” It doesn’t work for me when I see a big name star in a horror movie.I guess I know too much about them to believe it could really be happening.Can you picture Blair Witch starring Tom Cruise or Jessica Alba?
Uh-uh.Personally I hate what they did with TVYNS.All the technical effects (especially the blood in the Spider-walk)just reduced it to another movie and I will only ever watch the original.
Unfortunately these days most ‘Horror Fans’consider blood and guts to be the scariest thing imaginable.Saw was just plain outright cuelty and nothing more.A real horror movie should have you lying in bed wondering what is causing all those strange noises in the room,while being too scared to move.There’s no way any of the main characters from Saw or any other similar films will be lurking in the closet, but when it comes to Supernatural possibilities, then you can’t be as certain.I’d rather be stuck in a room with Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers and Jason instead of being in Regan’s bedroom for even a few minutes.But the gore fans will no doubt disagree.
Drexul,I like your last paragraph.As much as The Exorcist has affected me for the last 35 years,I still wish for another movie to actually scare me as much as that did.I guess being only 17 at the time helped plus this movie re-wrote the book as far as horror movies was concerned and I had no point of reference for the things I witnessed that night.Let me also say ( and I hope I’m not alone here )that the nightmares I had – and still have – are every bit as bad as what happened in the movie and seem to dredge up something dark and deep from in my psyche which can’t be experienced while awake.To this day, as much as I love the movie, I still, at the age of 50,won’t watch it alone.
For atmosphere and REAL terror you can’t beat The Blair Witch project.I’ve heard people say they were disappointed that ‘nothing scary happened’in Blair Witch,meaning there were no blood,guts,and demons, but I watched it hoping for exactly that.If there had been one special effect or a trace of background music then it would have been ‘just a movie’and not the ‘real’ video footage the viewer was asked to believe they were watching.From that movie on, I support the ‘less is more’ approach to horror movie making and just wish more producers would follow on from there.
