I hate The Exorcist. Well, hate is maybe a strong word. Hilarious is closer to the mark. I cannot believe all of the apocryphal tales of people fainting in the aisles back in the 1970s whilst The Exorcist was on the screen. The only hysteria The Exorcist inspires in me is hysterical laughter - except for the medical experimentation scenes on Regan - they are nasty to watch. But the rest of the film is an absolute hoot - the vomiting of the pea green soup, the profanities, the turning of the head and the self abuse with the crucifix. I am a Christian, I regularly attend church but The Exorcist didn't scare me or offend me in the slightest. Everything in the film is too overblown and over the top to really offend people unless they are pottering around looking to be offended by something. I cannot believe it was banned for so many years, Mary Whitehouse must have rubbed her hands in glee. The problem with watching the film today is that it has been overhyped and turned into an 'event' movie. The viewer has heard so many stories about people collapsing and how the film is the 'scariest' film ever made that they are bound to find the film either stupid or laughable (the latter was my reaction). And another thing annoys me - some people call it the most important horror film ever made. Just how exactly is it important? I don't see its influence in horror cinema - not even on the Italian horror film circuit which was too busy cranking out cannibal, Nazi and zombie movies, which even the most pitiful of these offerings was better than The Exorcist. The Devil/demon in the movie must be pretty boring if all it wants to do is possess a young girl and get her to talk like The Incredible Hulk and puke green stuff. Why did the demon not inhabit someone important and wreak real evil on the world instead of just confining a girl to her levitating bed? Regan is more comical than anything, definitely not scary, and all of the 1970s decor, hair dos and clothes date the film horribly. For a scary film about the devil, watch Rosemary's Baby, The Omen or Race With the Devil. If you want a cartoon, watch The Exorcist.
My first film watched was Carrie aged 2 on my dad's knee. Educated at The University of St Andrews and Trinity College Dublin. Fan of Arthouse, Exploitation, Horror, Euro Trash, Giallo, New French Extremism. Weaned at the bosom of a Russ Meyer starlet. The bleaker, artier or sleazier the better!
