Monday, October 19, 2009

Fright Fest - The Exorcist

Nothing says "burn the Ouija board" like "Let Jesus fuck you."

I was maybe 6 or 7 when I first saw this one and, surprisingly, it didn't disturb me like Poltergeist did. Although I would never use a Ouija board by myself after that but that's besides the point. Doesn't negate the disturbing factor.

I mean, come on. An innocent girl likes having some fun with what everyone thinks is a toy and all of a sudden her bed turns into a vibrator without the coin slot, she cam mimic and owl and her mouth becomes a pea soup dispenser. Damn you, Milton Bradley!

But seriously, Hollywood better not fuck with this one. I understand they've sapped all of the original buckets and have nothing better to make than books into movie and remakes of classics and while they did re-release The Exorcist a few years ago with some bonus scenes, they left it alone. As it should be. No more touchy.

The original is the best. Even lacking all of the technological movie advances of today, the effects, and Linda Blair's acting, still make for some creeptastic scenes. Not only will make you look under the bed before you go to sleep, it'll disturb the hell out of you. Or into you, as it were. This was a movie of its time that was genuine horror. There wasn't any gore, no big boobied hoes screaming. Its purpose was to inflict genuine terror. Ask anyone who went to see the original release back in the 70s at the theater what their reaction was like. See if they were capable of sitting through the entire movie. Most weren't. Either they were afraid or so horribly disturbed that they couldn't keep watching.

What was more was that this was supposed to be based on a real case of exorcism. I think the boy was from Maryland. Obviously it was jazzed up for Hollywood. I'm not convinced that Linda's character (for the life of me I can't remember her name) would have survived after the exorcist twist (I mean, come on, that disconnected her brain stem from her spinal chord, she would have died when the thing left her) but the horror and the extent of the damage to the body was similar. While I'm disinclined to believe that people can actually be possessed, to think that someone went through something similar is enough to make my stomach churn.

If you're looking for a real bone-chilling fright, go with The Exorcist. Even I had a religious experience during this movie. And that's saying something.

7 comments:

Zia said...

This movie creeped me out and I love it.

Ellz said...

Ya, I think this one is creepy too. I don't think I could watch the whole thing, then again that was a while ago.

M.A.D. said...

Mary D

I have to admit that The Exorcist scared the absolute beejeezus out of me as well! I was just a teenager when I read the book, and I don't think I even finished it - but later on when the movie came out, it was almost worse seeing the possession stuff on the big screen ... ugh. I bet sales of green-pea soup totally hit rock bottom :P

I also have to say that after seeing and reading things like this, it took me a while to get comfortable with using the Ouija Board haha.

Personally, I don't believe in possession at all. From all I've read and studied, the situation lays in the subconscious. And things like the Ouija Board have a definite 'mirror' effect - if you are scared of demons or deli-subs, those are the first things you'll have 'reflected' back at you. You have to get past the nonsense of your own fears if this makes sense.

The subconscious can do weird things, like even produce stigmata or leave bites/bruises on the skin. Tools like the Ouija Board free up the subconscious, it has even been used to help autistic and brain-damaged people to communicate.

Still, knowing the mechanics doesn't help one iota when I watch something like the Exorcist. Those old school par-excellence horror flicks (like the Shining) go way beyond the gloss of mainstream (Donna, I got a kick out of your big-boobed screaming hoes LOL)horror movies because I think they grasp our basic fears.

Even though I know better, I can get the crap scared out of me, too watching movies like this :)

Nina said...

I was so scared by this movie, really! I never, ever want to watch it again, even though now I think i won't be scared. :)
Great post.

Unknown said...

The book was as scary as the movie, I thought. The little girl's name was Regan

Donna (Bites) said...

Regan, that's it. You know, they really knew how to make horror movies back in the 70s and early 80s. People are posting their 10 tens and most of them are all the old school horror. You know, the good stuff. Not surprising, really.

Rhiannon Hart said...

This film was so freaky--especially the beginning when things just started to get scary, when there'd be flashes of evil faces behind the mother's head she couldn't see. I found it not quite as scary as the shining (big, deserted house FREAK me OUT)and I know I'm going to lose heaps of cred for saying this but Blair Witch scared the bejeesus out of me, the last scenes at least. I watched it alone at midnight too so that may have had something to do with it!

I love horror. Especially the what's-behind-the-door-tension-tension stuff.

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