The Exorcist

Every so often you are shamed into watching a movie that has been around for longer than you've lived. The problem with that statement is that nobody shamed me into watching this movie except myself. In fact, Cale recommended it a while ago, and a light (not the light) went off in my mind: I've never seen this classic. Why in the world not? I'll tell you, it's scary.

And here's something that I need to address and admit. This may be more for myself (which is to say, everything in this blog is about myself), after all, acceptance is the first step. I joke around with my friends that certain things are too scary - mainly horror video games - but I've always hyped myself up with anticipation before things. This typically leads me to avoid such "things" such as games, or movies. I'll be sitting down in the theatre and start getting anxious on the level of terror that I'm about to subject myself to, and always in the end, I laugh at my past self for being so naive and weak. The same can't be said entirely for video games: Condemned is a game that I watched my buddy play but could never pick up myself. I tried the sequel on my own but couldn't handle it: bums jumping out of the shadows with lead pipes while I had an inferior weapon was too much. There are other horror games that I just can't do (Doom 3) but others that I've successfully forced my way into, such as the Resident Evil series. Movies on the other hand, are a mixed bag: depending on the subject matter I'll happily watch by myself, and if it gets a little too scary I can pop open my laptop and distract myself.

What am I so afraid of though? Everybody is "afraid" of the shock: that bum jumping out when you least expect it, or a loud noise placed perfectly with perhaps some incredible visual shock to go along with it. Those are givens. It's the psychological scare that is going to really get to you, and keep you up at night. As an example, The Fourth Kind really stuck with me; it's not a movie I could watch alone. I guess it goes along with what you're willing to believe; do I believe in aliens? Yeah. Do I believe in demonic possession? Not really, but I like the idea of believing in that stuff, which is probably why I psych myself out with them so much. The Exorcist deals with possession, AND exorcism, a double whammy of sorts. It seems to me that exorcism is a great subject for people to get themselves worked up about; people want to believe in this stuff. They almost always have "based on true events" attached to the project, this film not excluded (it never says so in the film, but it's based on a book based on true events). I just wondered how much of this film would stay with me as I tried to fall asleep later on. As it turns out - and as it always turns out - I had no problems sleeping afterwards, but that doesn't detract from the quality of the film.

Do I really have to talk about the greatness of the film? You know where it stands, and if you haven't seen it you really should. I feel shamed, as I mentioned earlier, because it's taken me so long to watch it. It was worth every second. As it turns out I watched a fairly recently cut version of the film (around 2000) which restored some elements, including the famous spider-walk scene and some more subliminal demon face pop-ups throughout the film. The slow buildup was really fantastic: you get proper character development and a huge setup. The slow burn is ever present here, and when something happens the significance is that much more profound. As for the scariness of the film: I won't question it. There's a reason my dad didn't let me watch The Exorcist as a child, but let me watch things like The Omen and The Amityville Horror. The latter films are great, mind you, but don't really hold a candle to The Exorcist. Seeing this when I was younger in all likelihood would have stayed with me and given me nightmares. Absolutely fantastic film making here.