Horror Show

[kensei]

Here's a nod to something else weird and bizarre about "The Exorcist," that being the pure timelessness of Max Von Sydow. I haven't followed his whole career but have only seen him in a handful of films. I think we can all agree that he looked pretty darn old in Exorcist, even frail. That was 1973. Then in 1980 and 1982 I saw him as Ming the Merciless in "Flash Gordon" and as King Osric in "Conan the Barbarian," both of which had him looking dramatically younger. Finally I saw him play a lawyer in 1999's "Snow Falling on Cedars" in which he looked about the same age he looked in Exorcist. In a courtroom scene in that film he is reprimanded by the judge to please act his age, and he responds, "If I did that, Your Honor, I would be dead." At that point I just had to look him up and see how old he actually was. He was born in 1929 and is 84 today. When he played Father Merrin in Exorcist he was actually only 44! I swear, that had to be one of the greatest makeup jobs that has ever been done to age an actor in the history of cinema.

[kensei]

I saw a lot of those on late night TV when I was in elementary school. They were probably even edited for TV, but they were just the right amount of scary for a kid. I saw the edited-for-TV Exorcist when it made its broadcast TV debut sometime in 1978 or so, when I was about 11. It was just the right amount of scary also. I got to see it unedited, in a theater, when I was in college, and that was when I first realized how much camp was in it.

The original 1973 audience probably consisted of a lot of people who'd just taken windowpane, which is why people were running, screaming, and fainting.

Tv comedian Craig Ferguson recently mentioned something hilarious about the edited-for-tv version of "The Exorcist" and one of its particularly offensive lines when Regan was spouting all of her profanities. The line as it appeared on tv was "Your mother darns socks in Hell, Karras!" And if anyone doesn't know what that line was in the original version, too bad, I'm not going to quote it here.

I saw the film in a theater only once, when it was re-released in I think 1998 for its 25th anniversary, with a couple of restored scenes never seen before and some kinda-cool CGI added in here and there, such as the demon manifesting as a vague apparition on Regan's bedroom door just after her mom walks through it, unnoticed by her, and other stuff like that. The ending was also different- I mean the very end, when Father Dyer looks down the staircase and then walks away. In the anniversary version he was joined by Lt. Kinderman, who closed the movie by asking if Father Dyer wanted to come and see a film with him. Apparently an alternate ending just not used before. In my opinion it was just as scary as ever.

Just curious- which parts exactly are you referring to as "camp"?

[RivkahChaya]

I love the Hammer horror movies. None of which are particularly "scary", but are fascinating. Other movies like The Creeping Flesh, from the same time, are haunting rather than scary.

I saw a lot of those on late night TV when I was in elementary school. They were probably even edited for TV, but they were just the right amount of scary for a kid. I saw the edited-for-TV Exorcist when it made its broadcast TV debut sometime in 1978 or so, when I was about 11. It was just the right amount of scary also. I got to see it unedited, in a theater, when I was in college, and that was when I first realized how much camp was in it.

The original 1973 audience probably consisted of a lot of people who'd just taken windowpane, which is why people were running, screaming, and fainting.

[Scorpio]

To elaborate on the earlier discussion of "The Exorcist"-

In the opening of the film, Father Merrin in Iraq senses that he is being called to go back to America to do battle with the demon, and before he leaves he seeks out a site where there is an ancient statue of the demon. We are left thinking, well, surely this is a very stylized and fanciful rendition of what ancient peoples imagined the creature to look like. But then during the exorcism of Regan in the final part of the film, during a very jarring and confusing sequence there comes a moment where we get a two or three second look at the actual demon manifesting beside Regan's bed and grabbing her by the arm, and it looks EXACTLY like the statue seen earlier. Do you think we are to take this literally, or as Father Merrin flashing back to his earlier viewing of the statue?

Kensie, I would be wary of taking the imagery to literally. Friedkin was perhaps suggesting a symbolic link between Regan, who represents contemporary Western society, and the old world's intuitive and emotional
representation of this same phenomena.

[Cogidubnus]

The only two excepts, for me, were The Shining, and The Dead Zone--the latter being one of my favourite King adaptions ever

Now you're talking, Magpie...both classics!

All the best

Dave

[kensei]

To elaborate on the earlier discussion of "The Exorcist"-

In the opening of the film, Father Merrin in Iraq senses that he is being called to go back to America to do battle with the demon, and before he leaves he seeks out a site where there is an ancient statue of the demon. We are left thinking, well, surely this is a very stylized and fanciful rendition of what ancient peoples imagined the creature to look like. But then during the exorcism of Regan in the final part of the film, during a very jarring and confusing sequence there comes a moment where we get a two or three second look at the actual demon manifesting beside Regan's bed and grabbing her by the arm, and it looks EXACTLY like the statue seen earlier. Do you think we are to take this literally, or as Father Merrin flashing back to his earlier viewing of the statue?

[Magpie]

I recently saw "2001 Maniacs: Fields of Screams" and oh my.

What a load of dross. It's nasty, puerile, amateurish and just all round terrible, except....

Kevin Ogilvie--better known as Nivek Ogre of Skinny Puppy--is hilarious as Dr. Parker. It's amazing that for someone who has zero previous acting experience managed to out perform all the "professional" actors in this steaming heaping of movie.

I doubt I'll bother with the sequel, but I do hope that Ogre lands another role in something a little less dire.

[Magpie]

I don't believe horror films need to be scary to be entertaining. Seven and Silence of the lambs did not scare me, but they did engage me.

I love the Hammer horror movies. None of which are particularly "scary", but are fascinating. Other movies like The Creeping Flesh, from the same time, are haunting rather than scary.

[Magpie]

What is the scariest movie ever?.
My vote goes for The shining. Kubrick uses so many devices to get under your skin that it succeeds by a process of osmosis that mirrors Jack Torrance's descent into madness. This correlation between fear of the irrational forces and descent into insanity or surrender to irrational forces may be source of its effectiveness.The Shining is probably the scariest and smartest horror movie ever.

Stephen King movie adaptions (at least the early ones) always seemed to fall flat, even under the direction of some of the greatest horror directors.

The only two excepts, for me, were The Shining, and The Dead Zone--the latter being one of my favourite King adaptions ever

[Scorpio]

I would have preferred the film ending with Father Merrin's death and Regan's torment ending simultaneously. I just find the theatrical ending tasteless.

[kensei]

The excorcist is quite scary, but the ending spoils it for me. The far fetched demonic entity explanation is overplayed with Father Karras becoming the new host. With that scene both mystery and credibility went out the window along with priest. The Phenomena of possession was an enigma until then with a the purely psychological explanation provided by psychosis that was at least as scary.

Further, I think it had been pretty well established before the ending that something genuinely supernatural had to be going on with Regan, unless we're talking about extreme telekinesis powers being part of a psychosis, which many people don't regard as natural anyway.

[kensei]

The excorcist is quite scary, but the ending spoils it for me. The far fetched demonic entity explanation is overplayed with Father Karras becoming the new host. With that scene both mystery and credibility went out the window along with priest. The Phenomena of possession was an enigma until then with a the purely psychological explanation provided by psychosis that was at least as scary.

Actually I think the ending of "The Exorcist" was based on the exorcism that takes place in the Bible, performed by Christ, in which He drives the demons out of the possessed man and they need somewhere else to go so they enter the bodies of a nearby herd of pigs, who then go mad and throw themselves off a cliff. Just as Father Karras throws himself out the window.

[Scorpio]

The excorcist is quite scary, but the ending spoils it for me. The far fetched demonic entity explanation is overplayed with Father Karras becoming the new host. With that scene both mystery and credibility went out the window along with priest. The Phenomena of possession was an enigma until then with a the purely psychological explanation provided by psychosis that was at least as scary.

[kensei]

What is the scariest movie ever?.
My vote goes for The shining. Kubrick uses so many devices to get under your skin that it succeeds by a process of osmosis that mirrors Jack Torrance's descent into madness. This correlation between fear of the irrational forces and descent into insanity or surrender to irrational forces may be source of its effectiveness.The Shining is probably the scariest and smartest horror movie ever.

I'll vote for "The Exorcist." It made people feel that if demonic possession is real then it could literally happen to anyone at any time, right in the safety of your own home.

I'll assume you're asking from a purely adult point of view. As I've already written, when I was a kid I saw movies like "The Vulture" that I was sure were the scariest movies possible, and when I rewatch them now as an adult they are just total cheese-fests.

[Scorpio]

What is the scariest movie ever?.
My vote goes for The shining. Kubrick uses so many devices to get under your skin that it succeeds by a process of osmosis that mirrors Jack Torrance's descent into madness. This correlation between fear of the irrational forces and descent into insanity or surrender to irrational forces may be source of its effectiveness.The Shining is probably the scariest and smartest horror movie ever.