“Are people so numb that they need movies of this intensity in order to feel anything at all?” – Roger Ebert
“[The film] makes no sense, but if you want to be shaken, it will scare the hell out of you.” – The New Republic
Hint: The full version of the movie used a subliminal message to crank up the fright factor …
Yes, it’s the Regan movie from the non-Reagan era – the 1973 horror classic “The Exorcist.”
Linda Blair stars as Regan, a girl who gets possessed by the devil, belches pea soup and gives movie goers nightmares. Myself included.
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
My first thought was Ace Ventura Pet Detective:)
Besides the subliminal demon face flashing on the screen didn’t Friedkin also add the sound of a buzzing behive to the soundtrack? Supposedly that sound raises people’s anxiety levels.
Easily one of the top five scariest movies I’ve ever seen, right up there with “The Shining” and “It”. No real “boo!” moments to speak of, but I don’t think any other movie has done a better job of getting under my skin.
The fact that an innocent young girl was being driven to do such disturbing things is truly horrifying to behold.
Considering the sources, I was thinking “BlackHawk Down” or “The Book of Eli” or “Hurt Locker.”
(granted, that’s unfair, but not excessively so.)
“When a Stranger Calls,” the first 30 minutes are suspense at it’s best.
I’ve tried digging up Roger Ebert’s original review of “Star Wars” to no avail. My uncle told me he refused to read or listen to film critics after Ebert gave it a thumbs down on his television show.
JimmyC is right. It is in my Top 5. Up there with EVIL DEAD (1 e 2, especially 1).
I remember “seeing” it as a kid … I use the scare quotes because I was scared enough to hide my eyes during critical moments. A classic.
I don’t know of any movie that made me hide my eyes more than “The Exorcist”.
Well, that and “Glitter”.
Come to think of it, I can’t tell which female lead did more disturbing things on screen between the two movies [shudder].
First, major “eye closer”: Alien. Not the least of the reasons why was because the pre-release publicity revealed NOTHING about the monsters in the film. When was the last time that happened?
Sorry, but The Exorcist was also kind of a “last time that happened.” The movie was taken from a major bestselling novel. I read the novel… basically in one extended all night read. Mostly because it was a major fright producer… via the imagination.
Frankly, the film came nowhere near the experience of the book. Of course, knowing the course of events allowed one to focus on the rather cheap tricks in the movie. Question: when was the last time a “scary” bestseller became a major box office success?
Arguably, The Silence of the Lambs was a “scary” bestseller that became a b.o. success, but even so, this nearly is a score of years back.
I guessed The Exorcist even though the hints were not that clear, and even though despite its approval even by the Church, it still is too scary a film for me to have watched in its entirety.
After all, indestructible hockey players, cannibal psychiatrists, and cancer-ridden torturers are works of fiction, but demonically-possessed Yuppie larvae? THAT could happen….[shudder]
D.