I've watched this movie many times since I was about 9 years old. I love it so much but even then I was just utterly fascinated by it, still am, but never was afraid of it or went sleepless nights because of it.
What makes this film so scary to you? I'm sure it's something deeper than just the girl being possessed by the demon. Probably something that you experience after watching the movie?
WARNING: I'M SEXY!
Okay, I can undetsand that the movie never really scared you. My question is...where have you seen it? At a movie theater with an audience or on commercial television. I can never really get into a movie on commercial televiaion. Cutting to commercials ruins the mood the movie is trying to set up. The only way I can really enjoy a movie is in a theater with an audience, or on television on a commercial free channel or on one of the streaming services that I pay for where no commercial interruptions take me out of the experience.
I saw the Exorcist when it first came out, with a packed house, and it was an experience that I will never forget.
That it actually involved supernatural presence invading the familiar, not just taking place at some European or British castle.
shareI saw the movie when it was released and it had a powerful impact on me. I have watched it many times over the years and it is still powerful.
I would cite one scene as the one which is the most disturbing, and its tge dream sequence.
Partly because its the only dream sequence I have ever seen in a movie that actually feels like a real dream. Movies never really get dream sequences right.
This one is very random and disjointed as dreams often are. And like most dreams it shows stuff that is uppermost in the person's mind, like images of his mother, the tramp in the station, and similar images.
But the kicker is the demons face. Which is not quite subliminal but is enough to make you aware of it. The shot is actually from an early makeup test for the actress Eileen Dietz. But its enough to make you realise that the demon has inserted itself into Karras' consciousness.
Agree. It's Pazuzu's face--which is only shown in fleeting glimpses. It follows the classic horror approach--the less you see of the monster, the scarier it becomes.
Also, the fact that Regan was a normal kid. She wasn't using a Ouija board or doing seances. She did nothing to invite this evil into her life, it just...appeared.
You love it so much? I will never watch it again. It's a brilliantly realized film. But it is also the only film that has ever frightened me. I mean as an adult. We all see movies as kids that frighten us but we grow up and usually realize they aren't scary at all, even if we can still enjoy them. Halloween is a good example. But The Exorcist is at the summit. There's nothing close to it. It was genuinely upsetting and the best presentation of pure evil I have ever come across.
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