F*ck THE EXCORCIST! F*ck it up it's stupid-a$$! For any kid who grew up in the immediate DC, Maryland, and Virginia trifecta, there were 2 certainties:
1) Saturday Mornings still meant cartoons.
2) The Excorcist was real!
The third was a rite of passage. Every "DMV" kid, after the film's original 1973 release, got that fearful message. Satan was the ultimate evil, and if you don't behave yourself he's going to make you spew pea soup and fornicate with a crucifix!
Somehow, director, William Friedkin had managed to inspire more pants-$hitting than Sunday school, Dad's leather belt, and a bad report card combined.
But the thing here is that Friedkin's shudder-inducing masterpiece inspired trepidation well past Freddy, Jason, and Kevin Williamson wore out their welcome. Why? Well, I can't speak for the rest of the country, but the clincher for any native in and around Washington, DC was this: The Exorcist did happen!
Somehow, director, William Friedkin had managed to inspire more pants-$hitting than Sunday school, Dad's leather belt, and a bad report card combined.
But the thing here is that Friedkin's shudder-inducing masterpiece inspired trepidation well past Freddy, Jason, and Kevin Williamson wore out their welcome. Why? Well, I can't speak for the rest of the country, but the clincher for any native in and around Washington, DC was this: The Exorcist did happen!
Oh, yeah it did! It happened in Mt. Rainier, MD waaaaaaaaaay back in the day. Some white kid got possessed by the devil. They sent in a priest and…I forget what happened after that but...but...but the house caught on fire and...and...and then they tried to build another house and then that caught on fire somehow! So then…uh, they put up a playground and...now no kid's play there. Oh! Did you know the movie was filmed in Georgetown too? The part where they killed the priest was right at the big steps!
Right. Needless to say, the best horror are the ones that blur that comfortable line between reality and fiction. Case in point, The Exorcist.
Eventually, I got over my phobia of a Linda Blair and watched the film's re-release a few years back. It wasn't as scary (it kind of hurts when you understand the SFX tricks of the film trade) but that damned "spider-walk" is jarring!
Like any 12-step program, now that I've conquered that fear, I had to move on to bigger, better, bloodier things. I've been disappointed in horror, regularly, since then…but with a few rare exceptions. Queue up your illegal downloading with these disturbing pieces of work. These are the type of horror films that would make Linda Blair's head spin! Smart, disgusting, and unrelenting. Happy Halloween:
INSIDE
Se7en
Audition
The Tripper
Teeth
28 Days Later
Right. Needless to say, the best horror are the ones that blur that comfortable line between reality and fiction. Case in point, The Exorcist.
Eventually, I got over my phobia of a Linda Blair and watched the film's re-release a few years back. It wasn't as scary (it kind of hurts when you understand the SFX tricks of the film trade) but that damned "spider-walk" is jarring!
Like any 12-step program, now that I've conquered that fear, I had to move on to bigger, better, bloodier things. I've been disappointed in horror, regularly, since then…but with a few rare exceptions. Queue up your illegal downloading with these disturbing pieces of work. These are the type of horror films that would make Linda Blair's head spin! Smart, disgusting, and unrelenting. Happy Halloween:
INSIDE
Se7en
Audition
The Tripper
Teeth
28 Days Later
Silent Hill
2 comments: