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The Exorcist
Posted on 2/8/21 at 1:30 pm
Posted on 2/8/21 at 1:30 pm
Watched for the first time Saturday night. A few thoughts:
It must have been crazy to see her head spin in 1973. I thought it was visually well done by today's standards. The audience must have gone nuts. Not much else like that out there at that time.
The first 10 min in Iraq was the low point of the movie. There are better ways to foreshadow a second meeting b/w priest and demon. I didn't even understand how that scene added to the storyline until I sat and thought about it after the movie.
I didn't understand that a Ouija board summons demons. I had to google to find out how the girl got possessed. Kind of a risk to bank on the audience knowing this little know fact as common knowledge.
Besides those matters, I loved it... but only b/c of the demon-child. She was so unpredictable in what she would say I couldn't wait for her next line. They did a great job of presenting her at the beginning as the sweetest girl ever to contrast the monster she evolves into.
It must have been crazy to see her head spin in 1973. I thought it was visually well done by today's standards. The audience must have gone nuts. Not much else like that out there at that time.
The first 10 min in Iraq was the low point of the movie. There are better ways to foreshadow a second meeting b/w priest and demon. I didn't even understand how that scene added to the storyline until I sat and thought about it after the movie.
I didn't understand that a Ouija board summons demons. I had to google to find out how the girl got possessed. Kind of a risk to bank on the audience knowing this little know fact as common knowledge.
Besides those matters, I loved it... but only b/c of the demon-child. She was so unpredictable in what she would say I couldn't wait for her next line. They did a great job of presenting her at the beginning as the sweetest girl ever to contrast the monster she evolves into.
16
Posted on 2/8/21 at 1:36 pm to bagboy333
by far the scariest movie i have ever seen.
watched this as a kid at a drive in, in the dark. the walk to the concession stand was pretty spooky.
watched this as a kid at a drive in, in the dark. the walk to the concession stand was pretty spooky.
Posted on 2/8/21 at 1:37 pm to bagboy333
(no message)
This post was edited on 8/22/21 at 1:50 am
Posted on 2/8/21 at 2:26 pm to bagboy333
quote:
The first 10 min in Iraq was the low point of the movie. There are better ways to foreshadow a second meeting b/w priest and demon. I didn't even understand how that scene added to the storyline until I sat and thought about it after the movie.
Blatty based Merrin on a real archeologist he knew in the Middle East, so that's likely why the setting was chosen. I think it also sets up the concept that evil is everywhere and timeless, rather than just dropping directly into Georgetown off the bat.
Like the other poster said, I appreciate that Friedkin/Blatty didn't spell everything out, but I can understand how some of it doesn't make sense when watching it for the first time. How would you have handled the opening differently? Just curious, because I've never really considered it before.
This post was edited on 2/8/21 at 2:27 pm
Posted on 2/8/21 at 2:47 pm to bagboy333
It was smart of them to delete the spider walk scene; that was just camp and would've ruined the serious tone of the movie.
Posted on 2/8/21 at 2:50 pm to bagboy333
I saw the movie when it came out and loved it, so I decided to buy the novel it is based on and read it.
I was single at the time and had just bought my first house, an old barge board shotgun single in the Lower 9th Ward. I'd often be reading that book late at night just before hitting the bed to sleep and that old house would often creak and groan some strange noises, especially if a big truck was passing on Caffin Ave. heading to the warehouses on the river. That would raise the hairs on my neck and arms for sure.
Great movie, great book.
I was single at the time and had just bought my first house, an old barge board shotgun single in the Lower 9th Ward. I'd often be reading that book late at night just before hitting the bed to sleep and that old house would often creak and groan some strange noises, especially if a big truck was passing on Caffin Ave. heading to the warehouses on the river. That would raise the hairs on my neck and arms for sure.
Great movie, great book.
Posted on 2/8/21 at 3:01 pm to bagboy333
The Iraq sequence is awesome. All of ominous bad omens happening once Merrin inadvertently releases the demon after finding the statuette. It’s show don’t tell, whereas a modern movie would have a big exposition dump explaining the entire backstory of Merrin’s previous encounter with the demon. Here it’s shown, and if you get it then you get it. And if it goes over your head, well then too bad.
Also without the scene there is no other possible way into the story to introduce Merrin, the title character of the movie. If that scene was cut and The Exorcist shows up for the first time in the last 20 minutes of the movie, no one would give a shite about his character. But because of that opening in Iraq, once he shows up again to face the demon it makes the stakes that much bigger.
Also without the scene there is no other possible way into the story to introduce Merrin, the title character of the movie. If that scene was cut and The Exorcist shows up for the first time in the last 20 minutes of the movie, no one would give a shite about his character. But because of that opening in Iraq, once he shows up again to face the demon it makes the stakes that much bigger.
Posted on 2/8/21 at 3:43 pm to bagboy333
quote:
The first 10 min in Iraq was the low point of the movie. There are better ways to foreshadow a second meeting b/w priest and demon. I didn't even understand how that scene added to the storyline until I sat and thought about it after the movie.
That part was good in the book. This was the first “mature” book I recommended for my son when he was young. I had forgotten about some of the stuff Regan did though.
Posted on 2/8/21 at 3:49 pm to pevetohead
quote:
the demon
Pazuzu
Posted on 2/8/21 at 7:41 pm to bagboy333
Keeps getting funnier everytime i watch it
Posted on 2/8/21 at 8:14 pm to bagboy333
Posted on 2/8/21 at 8:30 pm to bagboy333
quote:I grew up around that period, maybe a little later (early 50s now, I was 9 when Star Wars came out). As a kid, I loved horror movies, my dad and I would watch them when we could.
It must have been crazy to see her head spin in 1973. I thought it was visually well done by today's standards. The audience must have gone nuts. Not much else like that out there at that time.
Up until then, most occult stuff was suggested or innuendo, even stuff like Rosemary's Baby. The Exorcist threw it right into your face, with incredible visuals and sound. My understanding is that it freaked the frick out of the audiences; it definitely led to some serious nightmares for me when I saw it the first time.
quote:I take it differently, I thought it brought additional weight. To each their own.
The first 10 min in Iraq was the low point of the movie. There are better ways to foreshadow a second meeting b/w priest and demon
quote:Maybe I grew up afterwards and thus it was more a result of the movie's influence, but I found this to be pretty straightforward.
I didn't understand that a Ouija board summons demons. I had to google to find out how the girl got possessed. Kind of a risk to bank on the audience knowing this little know fact as common knowledge.
Stuff like Ouija boards were taboo to the churches, but you have to remember the groovy counterculture movement of the late 60's and early 70's. Taboo was cool back then. Remember, mama was atheist, she had no concern of her daughter playing with such stuff like it was a toy. That also sets the kid up.
The whole gimmick of a Ouija board is you have 2 or more people with hands on the board, so you don't know who is really moving it. You give yourself thrills this way. Doing it alone, if it moves by other than you... BIGTIME bad news, like go to the priest right now level. It isn't being answered by Google.
The possession concept is: 1st you open yourself up to being receptive (playing with the board), 2nd you hit the Obsession phase where you're being manipulated by external (being groomed, basically), and then Possession is where you lose all control, and the external takes full control.
Posted on 2/8/21 at 9:01 pm to bagboy333
1981 I was 4 yrs ol, watched it on National TV and yes, she forked herself with a crucifix THEN went to commercial 
Posted on 2/8/21 at 9:44 pm to bagboy333
Maron's interview with Friedkin about making The Exorcist is one of the very best interviews with a filmmaker. The interview covers Friedkin's entire career, and the entire interview is gold. But The Exorcist discussion is absolutley gripping.
William Friedkin on WTF
William Friedkin on WTF
Posted on 2/8/21 at 9:47 pm to bagboy333
Saw that movie as a kid and it fricked me up. Won't watch it to this day and really don't like scary movies to this day.
Posted on 2/9/21 at 9:44 am to bagboy333
Your mother sews socks that smell
Posted on 2/9/21 at 11:37 am to bagboy333
I saw this for the first time pretty recently, though I read the book years ago. I like the book a lot better than the movie.
That said, one of my very favorite movies is Exorcist 3. It was written and directed by Blatty. The original cut was quite subtle and there was pressure to add more excitement. Which normally would be annoying (such as when Terry Gilliam was pressured to give Brazil a happy ending) but in this case the added content is a lot of fun.
My favorite Friedkin movie is Sorcerer.
That said, one of my very favorite movies is Exorcist 3. It was written and directed by Blatty. The original cut was quite subtle and there was pressure to add more excitement. Which normally would be annoying (such as when Terry Gilliam was pressured to give Brazil a happy ending) but in this case the added content is a lot of fun.
My favorite Friedkin movie is Sorcerer.
Posted on 2/9/21 at 11:39 am to slough
Never found The Exorcist to be real scary but it was definitely creepy and unsettling. Good movie.
Posted on 2/10/21 at 12:40 am to Marciano1
Depends on your age and first scary movie seen. The Exorcist for its time was the epitome of horror movies. I cant think of any other move where much of the audience left the theaters because they were scared shitless. No one had seen anything like it/. These days we're so desensitized that nothings scary....
Posted on 2/10/21 at 6:33 am to bagboy333
Great movies simply hold up well for decades. This is one of the best.
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