The Exorcist (1973)

[Sunbreak]

At the time I saw it when it first came out it, I thought it was just a scary horror movie. I didn’t give it much thought after I saw it.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

I thought the movie was scary. The part about the twisting head, is weird in my opinion. I thought it was a lot scarier than the Rite.

Does anybody have any idea what happened to the boy who was possessed? I am curious to see how he lived his life, and if faith plays a large role in his life.

He converted to Catholicism, recovered completely, and went on to a career in the State Department. For obvious reasons, he has never wanted his name released.

 

[punisherthunder]

A little while back, I saw the extended film version in a local movie theatre.

The crowd had it’s share of teens and during the Crucifixion/Masturbation scene, I was taken aback by several of the people in attendance who mocked the whole thing and treated it like it was some twisted comedy.

Most of today’s youth have no concept of Satan or the demonic and most of them are increasingly becoming atheist.

 

[ett]

There’s a video online called Terrifying True Life facts about Horror Movies and in it it mentions this movie saying that “so many bizarre things happened that an actual exorcism was requested on the set, but the Reverend refused.”

“The first set of the Macneil home mysteriously burnt down
9 cast and crew members were said to have died during the filming and release”

Is there truth to this or just twisted facts?

 

[John_Jerpe]

What would happen if I tried to sell a ouija board on e-bay?

 

[MrZoom]

I finally watched this movie over the weekend. It’s on Netflix Streaming through the end of the month.

Certainly dramatic, and I’m sure it was shocking for the time, but I’ve seen other horror movies (made much later) that freaked me out more. Event Horizon springs to mind.

The language they had coming out of the possessed Regan’s mouth was, frankly, more disturbing to me than the infamous pea soup vomit.

Still, it’s well made, and as another poster commented, they don’t overdo the dramatic music like many movies today. I think the lack of music actually helped make the exorcism scene itself more dramatic.

 

[minion]

With the 40th anniversary of this film been in recent news I wanted to ask who here has seen the film and what did you think of it?

Have you read the book?

Said it before, one of the best horror movies ever made, imho. Read the book too, which has more theological insights.

The only downside is it left me numb to most of the other horror movies out there. Exorcist can still get me the creepy crawlers on my back if I watch it alone in the dark at night.

 

[Mary_Gail_36]

I watched it the first time when I was about 22. I had about 2 sleepless nights where I could not sleep until the sun started to rise. I might have watched it again at anothe point.

I remember it clearly.

One scene in particular is when the doctors thought she might have a brain lesion and the mom seemed hopeful but the test results were perfect. Still scares me.

 

[Inisfallen]

Fantastic movie. I didn’t see it upon release (I was too young), but I did see it some years later, in 1977 or 1978.

I got a little extra enjoyment out of it because my freshman year Greek professor, Thomas Bermingham, S.J., had a role in the movie, playing the president of the university (Georgetown, I guess) where Father Karras was on the faculty. Father Karras had to go to Father Bermingham for permission to conduct the exorcism.