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Not sure what I could say about The Exorcist that hasn’t already been said. Even though I own a DVD copy, I haven’t watched it in years and it feels like a new movie when I do watch it. I can say that I will never be as scared as when I caught it at a friends house on HBO a billion years ago as a pre-tweener. It scared the living shit out of me. Now when I watch I end up laughing during the scary bits.
In case you didn’t know, 12 year old Regan admits to playing with a Ouija board by herself with a spirit named Captain Howdy. Captain Howdy actually turns out to be Pazuzu, an ancient demon ready to do some possessing, shake some beds, maybe slip in a quick murder, say all the dirty words and projectile vomit with amazing accuracy. Megan’s mom Chris can’t take any more doctors or psychiatrists telling her Regan needs more tests, so she turns to Father Karras, who doesn’t even believe in exorcisms… until Pazuzu gets under his skin with a lot of talk about his deceased mother. I totally had forgotten about these other side characters, Burke Dennings (murdered off screen) and that detective guy coming around for info on the murder.
Mostly I am amazed The Exorcist came out when it did. So much controversy surrounded the film, barely escaping an X rating, communities trying to ban it in their towns, and a theater actually convicted in a trial (that was later thrown out). Some of the reported audience reactions included fainting and nausea, with one woman claiming she miscarried during the movie. A few theaters even provided Exorcist ‘barf bags’. Another reviewer said there was so much vomit in the bathroom at the showing he attended that it was impossible to reach the sinks. Other theaters arranged for an ambulance to be on-call. Some individuals even had to be coaxed out of hiding places inside the theater after the movie ended. People were being straight-up traumatized by this movie. I know I was disturbed out of my gourd when I first saw it.
Basically The Exoricst is one of the best horror films ever made, if not THE best. 10 bullseye projectile vomit blasts out of 10.
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