The Exorcist

[JN News]

I'm thinking about watching The Exorcist somewhere on Roku. My parents (God rest their souls) saw that movie in 1973 when it came out into theaters. My father went on record by saying it scared him shitless and he couldn't sleep for almost a month. I've heard MANY stories about how frightening it is. I'm mentally preparing myself to watch that movie. I'm not saying that I'm ready to watch it right now. I'm just saying that I'm preparing myself for it.

Is it really as horrifying as everyone says it is?

 

[AA484]

It depends on what you've already seen horrorwise. With that said, it's still pretty hardcore, even for today.

 

[Incandenza]

It's still effective by today's standards, but it scared so badly my then 17-year-old mother upon its original release that she's refused to see another horror movie ever since, lol

 

[JN News]

I heard on YouTube that when this movie was released into theaters in 1973, the people who saw it either fainted or they went totally crazy. In fact, there were so many 911 calls made at the theater, it actually made headlines. Everyone who watched it was scared to death.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

People saw Exorcist II: The Heretic were frightened too.

Frightened that they had just wasted their money!

(Sorry. Reading my dad's rejected monologue joke submissions for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson)

 

[JN News]

I'm currently having trouble finding somewhere on Roku where they carry the movie. Something tells me that it's going to be a while.

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

I think something a bit lighter to start would be a better idea. You might have some issues with some of the subject matter

 

[Valeyard]

It's one of the greatest movies there is, not just horror. Everything hits, the effects hold up, the performances are all great (Jason Miller is incredible and my favorite, personally). Everyone should see it once in their life.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

It's a great film, as @Valeyard stated. Just remarkable filmmaking from start to finish.

Knowing you're religious and likely inexperienced with horror, I'd take CWM's advice here and tread on lighter fare to start. It deals very heavily with overtly demonic themes in addition to a crisis of faith. Start with something like Poltergeist (the 1982 original), or at least similar 70s religious horror like Auggie Rose, before diving in. If you can handle those then you should be able to take a crack at it.

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

It's a fantastic movie. My parents always tell me how when they went to see it in theaters, they took my dad's mom. His dad was in the hospital, so his mom wanted to take her mind off of it. He always tells me how when they walked out after the movie, he had black and blues all the way up both arms from my mom and grandmother grabbing his arm so hard.

According to JustWatch.com (a great site) it's available on HBOMax if you have it, otherwise you have to pay to rent or own it through other sites like Apple or Amazon. If you're not totally into horror, as other have said, I might start with something else. My dad showed it to me when I was about 6 (I was already into horror having watched Night of the Living Dead at 5), and I had a lot of trouble sleeping, and I didn't even watch the entire movie at the time.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

The Omen and The Changeling (with George C. Scott from 1980) are also good alternatives from that time period if you don't want to deep dive immediately into a heavy religious horror movie. The Omen is one of the classic "evil kid" movies while The Changeling is a great little haunted house movie that often goes under the radar.

You could even do a double feature with the 1960s Village of the Damned & The Omen too.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

My dad showed it to me when I was about 6 (I was already into horror having watched Night of the Living Dead at 5), and I had a lot of trouble sleeping, and I didn't even watch the entire movie at the time.

This is a big factor in why so many of us are into horror, I think. We were all introduced at early ages and just let it grow from there. I remember being the weird kid (@King of Summer Kamala : "No shit," likely) who could quote Dawn of the Dead in third grade and the joy I felt after The Ring came out and all of the other kids were asking for horror recs.

So you've come to the right place, @The Franchise , because there's enough of us ghouls to help you out.

 

[Valeyard]

I watched it in the exact wrong way because I unintentionally saw a documentary on it first. Spoiled everything but gave me a much different appreciation when I was finally able to see it.

I will also say that, in my opinion, the most terrifying parts of the Exorcist happen in hospitals.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

Yeah. The rest of it is hilarious.

 

[Valeyard]

It's one of the best movies there is to show to someone who has never seen it. It gets very underrated or unjustly put in the same pile as way worse movies.

 

[JN News]

I managed to get a free account on HBO MAX. It's definitely on there. But I'm doing a re-watch of all my favorite wrestling PPV's on WWEN on Peacock. Then, I'm going to finish my Catalyst Wrestling binge. But after all that, THEN I'm going to watch The Exorcist. However, I'm NOT going to watch it at night. I'll probably watch at daybreak, which is means when I get up in the morning. Something tells me I'm going to scared shitless when I'm done with it.

 

[JN News]

I just got done watching The Exorcist, this morning. I'm pretty sure that it's the scariest movie of all time, despite the fact that I really wasn't scared silly like Mom and Dad obviously were when they saw it when the movie came out in theaters all over the country back in 1973. I do believe that it lived up to the hype, even though it really didn't scare me at all.

However, the reason why it didn't freak me out is because I have schizophrenia and showing lack of emotions is an actual symptom of schizophrenia. Plus, I had spent many years of seeing on TV or wherever that many said came from The Exorcist. But I still saw some "OMG" and "Whoa" and "Holy Shit" and even "DANG, MAN" moments, and stuff like that.

However, it really didn't frighten me like it definitely did to Dad back in the 1970's. Dad said many times that he had serious problems getting any sleep after seeing that movie.
But I do think that The Exorcist is STILL the scariest movie of all time. If I wasn't schizophrenic, I'm pretty sure that I'd be as scared shitless like Dad was after he Mom first saw that movie.

I'll be okay, everyone. No need to worry about me. I'm fine.

 

[JN News]

EDIT: Jason Miller passed away at the age of 62 in 2001.

 

[JN News]

I need to say that ever since I first saw The Exorcist, I've having delusions of actually being demonically possessed, which was why I had to go to the nuthouse back in 2023.