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The Exorcist

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Colton, Oct 17, 2013.

  1. Colton

    Colton Active Member

    Just received my copy of the 40th anniversary, blu-ray edition and it's tremendous.

    The extras, especially the cut, with all the scenes (ie: the spider-crawl-backward-down-the-steps scene) when watched with the commentary are excellent.

    Was too young to see it in the theater, but that didn't stop it from being the most disturbing movie these eyes have seen when it did happen.

    Watching it again, I wondered who did the voice of the devil and Google revealed it was an actress named Mercedes McCambridge.

    Which led me to this (wow, what an amazing voice. The voice she used in the movie creeps in every once in a while and when she demonstrates how she did the raspy breathing it was goosebump inducing):



    Turns out, she had a tragic back story regarding her son.
     
  2. kingcreole

    kingcreole Active Member

    Hmm, I may have to pick up a copy of it. I never considered The Exorcist a scary movie, but definitely one of the most disturbing movies I've ever seen. Right up there with Rosemary's Baby.

    The first time I saw the backward-crawling down the stairs I nearly caught pneumonia from the chills I got.
     
  3. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    SportsJournalists.com style is "Kill Your Idols: 'The Exorcist.'"
     
  4. Colton

    Colton Active Member


    Thanks for the heads up, sir.
     
  5. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    Saw The Exorcist in the theater for the 30th anniversary re-release in 2003. What struck me more than anything was how much everyone smoked back then. When Regan is first hospitalized, even the doctor is lighting up in the observation room.
     
  6. Colton

    Colton Active Member

    That's a great point, Steak. I remember my first time on an airplane, people were smoking and the whole darn cabin was like being in a fog.

    I'm hearing the might re-release The Exorcist for the 40th anniversary, though with all the scenes included, as they are on this blu-ray.
     
  7. Bradley Guire

    Bradley Guire Well-Known Member

    A character smoking will turn a PG movie into a soft R. My, how the times have changed.
     
  8. bigpern23

    bigpern23 Well-Known Member

    I didn't see The Exorcist until it came out on DVD in the early aughts and found myself profoundly underwhelmed. My parents saw it opening night in the theater and to this day my mother can't listen to the soundtrack without getting completely creeped out.

    It's a lot like Hoosiers for me in that, I think I get why people thought it was so great, but because I saw it so much later after its release and knew so much about it, it fell completely flat for me.
     
  9. kingcreole

    kingcreole Active Member

    I felt the same way after I watched The Exorcist the first time. Completely underwhelmed. Then I watched it again years later, and it freaked me out something awful. Maybe it was the added stuff that wasn't in the original, I don't know.
     
  10. Buck

    Buck Well-Known Member

    Absolutely terrified this young Irish Catholic boy.
     
  11. finishthehat

    finishthehat Active Member

    Bingo.

    It was an absolute event seeing it back then, too -- long lines of very nervous people, watching as those who just saw hit staggered out of the theater.

    What's surprising to me now is how long it takes to get to the "good stuff." You'd never see that pace today. The scariest thing in the first quarter or so of the movie is the CAT scan machine.
     
  12. Riptide

    Riptide Well-Known Member

    My sister saw the original release in a theater one night,
    but she didn't see me hiding behind a bush when she got home.

    Scared the hell out of her! You could hear her scream six blocks away.
     
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