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metavisual posted:When I talk to my mom about the Exorcist (I wasn't QUITE born yet when it was in theaters) she basically says the buzz was similar. The parent aspect is the only part of The Exorcist that works for me. The mother's concern for Regan and her terror at not understanding what's happening to her is very relateable, and watching it makes me anxious for both of them. But once the actual exorcism begins, Regan goes from being a victim to being the object of horror herself, and it just... doesn't work. She just doesn't feel like a credible threat to two grown men in positions of authority. I don't even know that it's the movie's fault, because the actress playing her does a fine job with her transformation into a demon, the effects hold up fine, and it's not as if I haven't enjoyed and even been unnerved by other exorcism films.
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May 8, 2015 16:35
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InfiniteZero posted:I found this reaction amusing because while some of the kids doing that were trying to be hip, I believe that many or most of them were actually laughing in a defensive/nervous way in an attempt to disarm the experience for which many people of that age had no context for or previous experience of. Everyone had that friend that couldn't keep their mouth shut during horror movies, and yea its almost always because they didn't feel comfortable actually absorbing the movie and potentially getting scared. To get freaked out or scared would of course be the ultimate disgrace, you'd pretty much have to move away at that point.
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May 8, 2015 17:03
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Tuxedo Catfish posted:She just doesn't feel like a credible threat to two grown men in positions of authority. Did you watch the movie until the end? I think at least one of the grown men demonstrated that the demon was a credible threat.
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May 8, 2015 18:54
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InfiniteZero posted:Did you watch the movie until the end? I think at least one of the grown men demonstrated that the demon was a credible threat. Yes, I've seen it twice. I know what happens. I was talking about impressions, not the literal course of the plot.
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May 8, 2015 19:01
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Heteroy posted:I love watching The Exorcist, but for whatever reason (probably that I had already absorbed so much of it through pop culture osmosis), by the time I got around to seeing it for the first time it had absolutely no impact as a horror film. It's hard for me to believe the stories of crowds losing their poo poo when it first hit theaters. Some of that was clearly hyped up to help market it, but clearly it really got to some people. It really can't be over-emphasized: it was 1973. This was before Halloween, this was before Jaws, this was before The Shining, this was before Alien, this was before The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Nobody had ever seen anything this visceral in horror before The Exorcist. One thing I always marvel at is that everyone knows The Exorcist was a box office sensation, but it's pretty eye-opening just how huge of a sensation it was: it made the equivalent of $800 million domestic in 2015 dollars. Yes, yes, this was before home video, etc. But even with that in mind, an R-rated horror movie making Avatar numbers is insane!
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May 8, 2015 20:17
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Tuxedo Catfish posted:Yes, I've seen it twice. I know what happens. I was talking about impressions, not the literal course of the plot. I actually don't think whatever physical threat(and yea obviously you find out that it is very much a threat) the demon poses to Karras and Merrin is really supposed to be a point of emphasis in those later scenes. Its about the demon transforming Regan to where you start to really fear for her life and assume the worst. It just doesn't seem like there's any going back for Regan, by the end Pazuzu has completely degraded her whole body and mind. That's whats always been scary about it for me. The threat to Karras is that he will lose his soul, which in the end he doesn't only because he chooses to die instead. But we don't know he will have to make that choice until there very last scene. Basebf555 fucked around with this message at 20:27 on May 8, 2015 |
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May 8, 2015 20:22
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Tuxedo Catfish posted:Yes, I've seen it twice. I know what happens. I was talking about impressions, not the literal course of the plot. I understand. I guess part of the threat comes from whether you're willing to go with the fact that she's got a literal demon inside of her with all sorts of supernatural powers. We don't get to SEE the most threatening of those though, or at least not the most outwardly threatening.
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May 8, 2015 22:25
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Mercedes McCambridge is the real star of The Exorcist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzAHP-Ww5oc
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May 8, 2015 23:37
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it's interesting and funny to me that the two most famous users of creative, memorable profanity in film are R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket and the Devil in the Exorcist. also, i always think of the demon in this movie as Pazuzu. does that even come up in the first one or am i strictly getting that from The Exprcist II?
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May 9, 2015 00:43
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There were some batshit movies coming out of the 60s and early 70s, you can't really say the film world was entirely virginal. But the Exorcist is a drat fine film and Satan tends to have an effect on crowds.
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May 9, 2015 02:49
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lizardman posted:
Keep in mind ticket prices were actually more expensive in the early 70s then they are today.
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May 9, 2015 03:36
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Uncle Boogeyman posted:also, i always think of the demon in this movie as Pazuzu. does that even come up in the first one or am i strictly getting that from The Exprcist II? It does come up in the first one but Merrin rebuffs this, saying that "There is only one.," like all demons are one demon. The "Evil against evil" comment he makes when holding both the Pazuzu figurine and a St. Joseph's medallion was in reference to how Pazuzu brought pestilence, but at the same time was invoked to protect children during childbirth and keep them free of disease. The same way we pray to God but at the same time are raised with the fear of God. The Pazuzu statue itself is based on a common depiction of the mythological figure.
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May 9, 2015 05:03
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The Exorcist is boring and dumb as gently caress. There, I said it. It's not interesting, and however beautiful it's shot or how well its effects work, it's still a bad dumb slow, plodding 70s beast, and has very little to offer someone unless you're a Catholic or some other dumb poo poo.
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May 9, 2015 05:20
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Everblight posted:The Exorcist is boring and dumb as gently caress. There, I said it. It's not interesting, and however beautiful it's shot or how well its effects work, it's still a bad dumb slow, plodding 70s beast, and has very little to offer someone unless you're a Catholic or some other dumb poo poo. The opposite of what you said.
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May 9, 2015 05:57
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I rewatched The Exorcist a few days ago and it was fuckin dope, Max Von Sydow owns
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May 9, 2015 06:03
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Everblight posted:The Exorcist is boring and dumb as gently caress. There, I said it. It's not interesting, and however beautiful it's shot or how well its effects work, it's still a bad dumb slow, plodding 70s beast, and has very little to offer someone unless you're a Catholic or some other dumb poo poo. Whoa getta load of this tough guy! The first time I saw the film was only a year ago, and while the old school effects did not seem scary at first, the story lingered in my mind for weeks afterward.
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May 9, 2015 06:08
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Good movie but the book is better.
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May 9, 2015 06:11
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I should clarify I have never seen the movie nor have I read the book.
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May 9, 2015 06:15
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You should watch the movie it's on Netflix now
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May 9, 2015 06:31
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Neo Rasa posted:It does come up in the first one but Merrin rebuffs this, saying that "There is only one.," like all demons are one demon. The "Evil against evil" comment he makes when holding both the Pazuzu figurine and a St. Joseph's medallion was in reference to how Pazuzu brought pestilence, but at the same time was invoked to protect children during childbirth and keep them free of disease. The same way we pray to God but at the same time are raised with the fear of God. The Pazuzu statue itself is based on a common depiction of the mythological figure. The name Pazuzu doesn't come up until part 2. Initially they don't believe Reagan is actually possessed and apparently it's very uncommon to actually claim you're possessed by THE devil. In the movie it's being treated as Reagan being possessed by Satan, naming it Pazuzu in the crappy sequel is just silly minutiae.
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May 9, 2015 10:35
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rewatched it last night, forgot how hard that first big exorcism scene hits after all that buildup
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May 9, 2015 12:07
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VincentPrice posted:The name Pazuzu doesn't come up until part 2. Initially they don't believe Regan is actually possessed and apparently it's very uncommon to actually claim you're possessed by THE devil. In the movie it's being treated as Regan being possessed by Satan, naming it Pazuzu in the crappy sequel is just silly minutiae. That was the point of my post? Merrin says "There is only one" because it doesn't matter if it's called Pazuzu, Satan, the devil, or whatever in terms of what kind of effect it has on us.  It's true that in the first movie they don't mention Pazuzu by name but the figurine/etc. are all clearly it which is why that conversation even happens (Karras wants to learn more about the others and stuff Regan vaguely hints at during some conversations, and actually in the script Pazuzu is mentioned by name multiple times).They play with this again in the third movie in an interesting way where the Brad Dourif mentions "others" and vaguely implies there's a large quantity and hierarchy of evil demon folks. And like the first movie, this is seen as a distraction, a mistake to try to codify and classify something inherently beyond human comprehension, which is a type of temptation we don't see presented in most of the Exorcist's numerous ripoffs (even Heretic has the possessed Regan attempt to seduce Richard Burton instead of any of the more hauntingly presented conversation that occurred in the first movie).
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May 9, 2015 16:19
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I haven't watched this since my first time in high school, but it's remained in my mind as one of the most profound and memorable character works I've ever seen. Father Karras is undergoing a crisis of faith akin to that of the priest in Bergman's Winter Light, and has an even better justification given that the world has a child-possessing demon in it. And in spite of this, he ultimately challenges the world's ugliness with a valiant act of sacrifice. His capacity to rise out of his own misery is simultaneously devastating and inspiring. Maybe I'll hit it up tonight. Friedkin is such a force of a filmmaker.
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May 9, 2015 21:29
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Neo Rasa posted:(even Heretic has the possessed Regan attempt to seduce Richard Burton instead of any of the more hauntingly presented conversation that occurred in the first movie). At least we got slutty doppelganger Linda Blair out of this! 
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May 9, 2015 23:23
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The scariest part of the story is Chris trying to figure out what's wrong with Regan. Not to take away from the exorcism itself, which extremely well built up to (it's intense, but very simple and short), but the awful medical tests and the possibilities of what would cause this behaviour is the real horror, etched in Chris's face. Brain tumors? Resentment of her job and/or the absent father? Sexual abuse?? (what was Dennings doing in her bedroom anyways) Ellen Burstyn is just fantastic, your heart just goes out to her character.
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May 10, 2015 00:34
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Black Bones posted:The scariest part of the story is Chris trying to figure out what's wrong with Regan. Not to take away from the exorcism itself, which extremely well built up to (it's intense, but very simple and short), but the awful medical tests and the possibilities of what would cause this behaviour is the real horror, etched in Chris's face. Brain tumors? Resentment of her job and/or the absent father? Sexual abuse?? (what was Dennings doing in her bedroom anyways) the most genuinely upsetting part of the movie is when Regan gets that needle in her neck
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May 10, 2015 01:01
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Uncle Boogeyman posted:the most genuinely upsetting part of the movie is when Regan gets that needle in her neck Yeah that's some hosed up poo poo
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May 10, 2015 01:11
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lizardman posted:At least we got slutty doppelganger Linda Blair out of this! Oh mama.
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May 10, 2015 01:46
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can you help an old altar boy fadr?
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May 10, 2015 04:59
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Uncle Boogeyman posted:the most genuinely upsetting part of the movie is when Regan gets that needle in her neck I was going to say, the way all of the getting help/doctor scenes are shot are stunning, often being edited the way a torture or "the killer is about to enter the shot" scenes would be in another movie.
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May 10, 2015 05:03
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quote:Ellen Burstyn is just fantastic, your heart just goes out to her character. Well... except for that part where she chews out the operator over the phone because her ex-husband won't answer. I don't think Regan was even possessed at that point (or at least it wasn't apparent) so you can't blame it on her going through a harrowing experience. And if I remember right she'd only been waiting for "15 goddamn minutes". Obviously I can sympathize with her when the more horiffic stuff starts cause that'd be a horrible thing for anyone to have to go through, but yeeesh that character really is a spoiled oval office.
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May 10, 2015 11:34
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Black Bones posted:Ellen Burstyn is just fantastic, your heart just goes out to her character. And she broke her coccyx in the scene where she's thrown to the floor. The scream is real.
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May 10, 2015 13:08
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The medical portions all seem spot-on for what would have been the practice at the time, too. I love the film. I actually didn't see it until after college, when I had a co-worker who saw it on opening night and STILL made the sign of the cross any time anyone mentioned the movie. It must have been terrifying when it was released to audiences who weren't as desensitized as we are decades of horror films later.
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May 10, 2015 13:12
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lizardman posted:At least we got slutty doppelganger Linda Blair out of this! 
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May 10, 2015 13:50
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I saw it in a theater for the first time last year at a midnight showing close to Halloween and that really improved parts of the movie. The scenes where they're running all those horrible tests on a terrified Regan with those LOUD clanking, inhuman machines is pretty drat disturbing. I can see where the criticism of the movie being two hours of torturing a little girl comes from, but I think that was the most effective part of the movie (I could see how parents with a girl of a similar age would be more disturbed by the movie).
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May 10, 2015 16:49
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Neo Rasa posted:That was the point of my post? Merrin says "There is only one" because it doesn't matter if it's called Pazuzu, Satan, the devil, or whatever in terms of what kind of effect it has on us. Oh, I didn't mean that to counter you, more as an elaboration of sorts.
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May 10, 2015 17:54
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computer parts posted:Keep in mind ticket prices were actually more expensive in the early 70s then they are today. What? Definitely cheaper. Why are adjusted box office totals for older films higher? Ticket prices & inflation. In the mid 80s first run tickets were 4.50-5.00 in average US cities. The 70s were even cheaper! On topic: this movie is still scary today. And (older) Linda Blair had awesome boobs. That Oui photoshoot is hot hot hot. JeffLeonard fucked around with this message at 21:19 on May 10, 2015 |
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May 10, 2015 21:16
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JeffLeonard posted:What? Definitely cheaper. No they weren't. http://collider.com/movie-ticket-price-inflation-statistics/  The average price of movie tickets in 1973 was $9.27.
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May 10, 2015 21:32
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computer parts posted:No they weren't. Umm...that line says "adjusted for inflation". You want the green line, champ.
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May 10, 2015 23:54
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JeffLeonard posted:Umm...that line says "adjusted for inflation". You want the green line, champ. Take a guess at what "The equivalent of" means in this post: lizardman posted:
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May 10, 2015 23:58
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