The Exorcist is a great film and improves for me with each viewing (saw it first at my college's film club back in 1981 and several times since). I wouldn't call it scary as such, for that label would cheapen it in my mind (probably my prejudice about "cheap scares", etc), but it's certainly unsettling and disturbing, which I find more hard hitting than simple gore and "boo!" effects. In fact, it's more than that, it's full of feeling, despair, emotion and compelling storytelling; it really sucks you in. It's also great seeing the character development of Damien Karras. Scariest film of all time? Maybe not, but it's probably better for that.
That echoes the comments I made about the nature of what people define as 'scary'. These days it appears to be simply a series of moments in movies that are designed to make people jump.
But Exorcist created a very uneasy atmosphere that pervaded the whole movie, and I think that showed Friedkin's skill as a director to be able to sustain that sense of dread and unease.
You could cite the hospital scenes as an example. Many people I know have said that they find these scenes the most disturbing...and yet they take place in a very brightly lit hospital. But I understand it...a lot of people associate hospitals as scary places, not knowing what they might find wrong with you...waiting for the results of tests etc.
And apart from Father Karras character arc, lets not aso forget Lee J Cobb's Lt Kinderman, one of the few normal, sympathetic characters in the movie, bringing moments of normality and even light relief to the film.
Max Von Sydow's elderly priest, 'The Exorcist', and one of the few people to have performed actual exorcisms and knowing something about the demon posessing the child. And I still say Von Sydow looks younger now than he did then...the age old make up job on him was as good as anything else in the film.
William O Malleys Father Dyer, Karras friend who comforts him after the death of his mother. A priest and non actor in real life, he brings a sense of reality to his few scenes in the movie.
In fact, when watching the film for the first time, and coming from a roman catholic background, the notion of priests drinking alcohol and swearing was a bit of an eye opener at the time.
And as I mentioned before, that dream sequence...as random, bizarre and disturbing as any real life dream. With that added kick of the 'face' inserted in the middle.
Another aspect of the film that always disturbed me was the way the demon taunted Karras with the voice of his dead mother...that line 'Demi...why you do this to me Demi?' was supremely creepy.
Plus the face of the old tramp on the subway...'Father, can you help an old altar boy?' with the camera lingering on his withered face as the subway train passes and illuminates it.
So many such moments of subtlety, of portents, of dread and unsettlement which add to that cumulative feeling of unease.
Sad to think that a lot of people coming to this film for the first time seem oblivious to such moments and only know this as the movie with the girl who spits green vomit and makes her head spin round, and that it's 'supposed to be the scariest movie ever made'.
I guess it's hard for people of todays generation to appreciate the movie. 70's movies were made and paced very differently to what they are now.
You look at a lot of the classic movies from that era...Godfather, French Connection, All The Presidents Men, The Conversation, Bullitt etc...largely dialogue based, though often with excellent and celebrated action sequences.
Movies back then were happy to concentrate on story, and to take time to let the story unfold. It was not like today where a lot of movies are about keeping people attention using gimmicks like 3D, having explosions every 5 minutes, endless action sequences, tons of CGI and those cheap tacky 'make-you-jump' moments that seem to proliferate a lot of horror movies these days.
And that last bit is important, because Exorcist did not indulge in cheap shocks. Yes...it had shocking moments, sure. And you really cannot underestimate how shocking those moments were back in the 70's...that sort of thing had never been put on screen before. It really pushed the envelope of what was acceptable.
But at it's heart it was a story of good triumphing over evil, and you felt for the characters, the mother, and especially the girl because it took time to establish those characters so that you cared about them. There's no point in subjecting your characters to unspeakable horrors if you have not established them as human and believable in the first place.
And the problem with Exorcist is that people who have not seen it know it by reputation, the movie about the girl who spits green vomit, sticks a crucifix into her crotch, and it being the 'scariest movie ever made'. So a lot of people go in with unrealistic expectations, and are not willing to consider that it is a film very much of it's time, it was pre cgi, and obviously in a lot of ways it is going to look quite dated.
And yet you still get these idiots who like to wear this 'badge of honour', by saying 'I wasn't scared...in fact I found it funny' etc. It's almost as though they are trying to hide something, like they don't want to admit they were scared.
Because I just don't get how anyone can sit through that movie, a movie that is deadly serious and earnest in every respect, and say they laughed. My feeling is either that they watched it half drunk and just woke up for the scary bits, or watched it on dvd and just fast forwarded.
I would'nt mind if these 'detractors' gave some sort of genuine critique, or some useful observations...but this 'I saw it with me mates after a few beers and we thought it was actually funny' stuff is pathetic.
Completely agree. Excellent post. Sadly i think some people who don't think it's scary probably think those watered down pathetic attempts at horror Paranormal Activity are THE scariest :rolleyes:
Completely agree. Excellent post. Sadly i think some people who don't think it's scary probably think those watered down pathetic attempts at horror Paranormal Activity are THE scariest :rolleyes:
There is an aura, an atmosphere when I watch the Exorcist even today with its pea soup and mechanical rotating head. How can one not feel a sense of dread as early as the Iraqi dig scenes. Its peerless.
I watched Rec and its sequel and I am afraid that in my opinion, neither film was found to be remotely able to create anything close to what even the DVD box art of the Exorcist can.
Horror is the wrong word, its supernatural drama - and I think supernatural drama is not in the slightest bit scary no matter how its presented (to an adult).
But there are films that are horrific and stomach churning - but these are based on criminal events that real people do in a real world, these scare me.
Our local Odeon had a 20th year anniversary showing in 1993 i think me and about 5 mates went the pub before it was on, from what i remember we nearly got thrown out for all the laughing we was doing.
its one of the worst films i have ever watched and i have watched alot of crap lol
You sound like the kind of person I'd love to kick out of the cinema, by foot. Cinema goers pay good money to watch a movie, only for morons like you to treat it like a drop in center.
And for the record The Exorcist is one of the greatest films ever made, horror or otherwise.
I musnt scare easily cos i dont find it that scary ..disturbing perhaps !..i find films like The Entity and Stephen Kings IT ..gives me the shivers !...i suppose differant horror films scare people at differant levels !
You sound like the kind of person I'd love to kick out of the cinema, by foot. Cinema goers pay good money to watch a movie, only for morons like you to treat it like a drop in center.
And for the record The Exorcist is one of the greatest films ever made, horror or otherwise.
Agree !..whatever the scare levels certainly a classic horror !
Scared the crap out of me I was 14-15 at the time still sends a shiver down my spine whenever I see it repeated on TV.Dont think I've ever watched the whole film again.
Of that period, i found The Entity more disturbing - it was the sinister music / sound when the entity was about that freaked me out a bit..
I seen The Entity quite some time ago and found it quite unsettling as well. I felt really bad for the main character because she was being raped by this unseen thing every so often.
This was the first video my dad rented for me and my sister, we were 12 and 14. Absolutely terrified us both back then. Strangely the 2nd film he rented the week after was Flesh Gordon which we all watched with my granny who was visiting. Strange childhood it was.
I kind of get annoyed when I see the comments saying "youth of today don't know what a good horror movie is" and just generalize everything about teenagers and their attitudes towards horror films. I am 19 years old. Of course the horrors made now are different, but I think to say that the younger people "don't know" horror as much as the people who watched the film in the 1970s are a bit ignorant. It's like someone saying to you that you "don't understand horror back then because you don't find this 1910s horror film scary".
I watched The Exorcist and I thought it was good, but overrated in my opinion. It doesn't enter my Top 40 of horror films. That;s not because I am young and wasn't the 1970s audience who was targeted , just because I appreciate other films better. I think The Omen is better, I think The Shining is better. I think Nosferatu is better. I think a couple of slasher films of the 90s are better (Scream in particular). Yes, it was shocking back then, but you can't slate people just because they like Saw and Hostel (both OK films, but not my faves).
The only bits that frighten me was what someone already mentioned. That white face, holy crap. It's a good scare, but not the best of all time, however I understand why people would rate it highly.
I kind of get annoyed when I see the comments saying "youth of today don't know what a good horror movie is" and just generalize everything about teenagers and their attitudes towards horror films. I am 19 years old.
I'm curious as to whether those who think The Exorcist makes no serious impression have seen it on the big screen or not.
I suppose some of them must have, but I remember when the film was released in the early 2000's. (I don't recall the precise year). I went to see it on a large screen and, after all the hype, the theatre was packed with a mixed and modern audience.
For the first part of the film, the audience was laughing at the film's out-dated mode, and a lot of it did seem dated by modern standards.
By the last part of the film, in the quite moments of the soundtrack, you could have heard a pin drop. A sense of atmosphere and supernatural menace really appeared to have hit home and everyone seemed transfixed, their attention well and truly captured. Not bad for a 30 odd year old film.
Comments
That echoes the comments I made about the nature of what people define as 'scary'. These days it appears to be simply a series of moments in movies that are designed to make people jump.
But Exorcist created a very uneasy atmosphere that pervaded the whole movie, and I think that showed Friedkin's skill as a director to be able to sustain that sense of dread and unease.
You could cite the hospital scenes as an example. Many people I know have said that they find these scenes the most disturbing...and yet they take place in a very brightly lit hospital. But I understand it...a lot of people associate hospitals as scary places, not knowing what they might find wrong with you...waiting for the results of tests etc.
And apart from Father Karras character arc, lets not aso forget Lee J Cobb's Lt Kinderman, one of the few normal, sympathetic characters in the movie, bringing moments of normality and even light relief to the film.
Max Von Sydow's elderly priest, 'The Exorcist', and one of the few people to have performed actual exorcisms and knowing something about the demon posessing the child. And I still say Von Sydow looks younger now than he did then...the age old make up job on him was as good as anything else in the film.
William O Malleys Father Dyer, Karras friend who comforts him after the death of his mother. A priest and non actor in real life, he brings a sense of reality to his few scenes in the movie.
In fact, when watching the film for the first time, and coming from a roman catholic background, the notion of priests drinking alcohol and swearing was a bit of an eye opener at the time.
And as I mentioned before, that dream sequence...as random, bizarre and disturbing as any real life dream. With that added kick of the 'face' inserted in the middle.
Another aspect of the film that always disturbed me was the way the demon taunted Karras with the voice of his dead mother...that line 'Demi...why you do this to me Demi?' was supremely creepy.
Plus the face of the old tramp on the subway...'Father, can you help an old altar boy?' with the camera lingering on his withered face as the subway train passes and illuminates it.
So many such moments of subtlety, of portents, of dread and unsettlement which add to that cumulative feeling of unease.
Sad to think that a lot of people coming to this film for the first time seem oblivious to such moments and only know this as the movie with the girl who spits green vomit and makes her head spin round, and that it's 'supposed to be the scariest movie ever made'.
Completely agree. Excellent post. Sadly i think some people who don't think it's scary probably think those watered down pathetic attempts at horror Paranormal Activity are THE scariest :rolleyes:
Hahaha!
There is an aura, an atmosphere when I watch the Exorcist even today with its pea soup and mechanical rotating head. How can one not feel a sense of dread as early as the Iraqi dig scenes. Its peerless.
I watched Rec and its sequel and I am afraid that in my opinion, neither film was found to be remotely able to create anything close to what even the DVD box art of the Exorcist can.
To put it bluntly, modern horror is absolute pwp.
But there are films that are horrific and stomach churning - but these are based on criminal events that real people do in a real world, these scare me.
Scariest movie of all time?
I don't know - but "The Excorcist" would be my immediate thought.
You sound like the kind of person I'd love to kick out of the cinema, by foot. Cinema goers pay good money to watch a movie, only for morons like you to treat it like a drop in center.
And for the record The Exorcist is one of the greatest films ever made, horror or otherwise.
Where's a swimming pool full of piranhas when you need one?
Regards
Mark
I thought the Shining was tedious though; not scary in the slightest. I watched it alone in the dark at 1am when I was 11. Not even a jump.
Agree !..whatever the scare levels certainly a classic horror !
I seen The Entity quite some time ago and found it quite unsettling as well. I felt really bad for the main character because she was being raped by this unseen thing every so often.
I watched The Exorcist and I thought it was good, but overrated in my opinion. It doesn't enter my Top 40 of horror films. That;s not because I am young and wasn't the 1970s audience who was targeted , just because I appreciate other films better. I think The Omen is better, I think The Shining is better. I think Nosferatu is better. I think a couple of slasher films of the 90s are better (Scream in particular). Yes, it was shocking back then, but you can't slate people just because they like Saw and Hostel (both OK films, but not my faves).
The only bits that frighten me was what someone already mentioned. That white face, holy crap. It's a good scare, but not the best of all time, however I understand why people would rate it highly.
Regards
Mark
I suppose some of them must have, but I remember when the film was released in the early 2000's. (I don't recall the precise year). I went to see it on a large screen and, after all the hype, the theatre was packed with a mixed and modern audience.
For the first part of the film, the audience was laughing at the film's out-dated mode, and a lot of it did seem dated by modern standards.
By the last part of the film, in the quite moments of the soundtrack, you could have heard a pin drop. A sense of atmosphere and supernatural menace really appeared to have hit home and everyone seemed transfixed, their attention well and truly captured. Not bad for a 30 odd year old film.
It did not have any greengrocers' stuff in it.