The Exorcist UNEDITED REACTION (all access)
Added 2023-05-13 17:41:32 +0000 UTCWatch along with your own copy and enjoy!
We watched this one on YouTube
Comments
You definitely missed out by not watching the Director's Cut. In that one, we do get an additional scene with Regan at the doctors where he first puts her on the Ritalin and we see the first hints of possession, including her temper and the first example of her swearing. It doesn't get as out of control as quickly as it seemed in this version. Regan didn't kill Father Merrin, he died of heart failure. And Father Karras did not lie about his mother dying in a psych ward. He had taken her out and let her go home as she wished and she died there.
China Andronicus
2023-07-28 23:59:09 +0000 UTCI was riveted... 😄
Em McG
2023-05-27 06:18:14 +0000 UTCThanks! I was wondering if anyone would bother to read all that.
Heida
2023-05-21 23:00:24 +0000 UTCI thumbed up. Wow that was actually a good read.
Em McG
2023-05-21 03:10:43 +0000 UTCI just finished watching, I like these reactions. In the old days, this is an old movie, this is how movies were - the time that it takes "is" the movie. I think. Also this was the first movie of its kind and therefore all modern "horror" types are descent from this. Anyway I think it's almost impossible to imagine 1973 and what it was like back then and the time before that, because a time is a product of what came before it, you'd maybe have to know the 60s too to begin to understand the 70s. Just look at the doctor light up a cigarette, wow that's just nuts, lol. Those are clues that it's from another time, but I feel this movie is still effective. Yes I've seen several full reactions to it by now but the first time I saw it again with a watch along reaction it was surprisingly good I thought. In fact the movie is insane! This is how I interpret elements of the movie and story, Since the church is involved yes, hell and the devil are factored in but this should be just a minor demon or something. This isn't about the devil, it's just a demon - possibly represented by that stone statue. It could be the same demon Merrin fought in Africa but I doubt they explicitly said so - it's inferred that demons can know about things that they shouldn't know about and also they mix truth with lies so what the movie lays out is not necessarily facts. Anyway I still think it's a fantastic classic. The effects like when Regan's body is whipping up and down on the bed 😲 yikes! It's nuts because obviously it's practical!
Em McG
2023-05-21 03:09:28 +0000 UTCGood reaction! I'm biased because I'm a big fan of the older horror, and not so much today's horror that seems to over-rely on CGI, gore and jump scares. In your recap you said that today's movies are doing "much worse" things in terms of being visually disturbing. Really?? Like which movies? More gore, yes, I agree. But the sexual abuse of a child with a crucifix while she screams in a demonic voice "Let Jesus f&$& you"... do you really think that would get made today? I think no movie studio today would touch that scene with a 10 foot pole. That and maybe two or three other scenes would have to be edited heavily just for this film to get released now.
sixstr1ng
2023-05-19 14:48:03 +0000 UTCThe film was adapted by William Peter Blatty's 1971 novel of the same name. Aspects of Blatty's novel were inspired by the 1949 exorcism performed on an anonymous boy known as "Roland Doe" or "Robbie Mannheim" by the Jesuit priest William S. Bowdern. The true identity of the boy was revealed in late 2021. His real name was Ronald Edwin Hunkeler, who grew to be a successful NASA engineer. He contributed to the famous Apollo missions of the 1960s, and helped to put humans on the moon in 1969 by patenting the technology that helped space shuttle panels withstand extreme heat. He never discussed his experiences and always feared exposure. He died in 2020, just before his 86th birthday. The debate over whether it was a genuine possession or mental illness is still ongoing, however. The Exorcist is the first horror film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It won Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sound. The movie's director, William Friedkin, insisted on realism, filming the prologue in political unstable northern Iraq, using live special effects and casting real priests and medical personnel. Crew also recalled that he was temperamental, often firing people without warning. He also deliberately made the cast uncomfortable and went to great lengths to manipulate the actors to get genuine reactions. Like putting the set where the exorcism scenes took place to temperatures down to −20°F (−29°C) to make their breath visible, and slapping them or firing blanks without warning to generate a shaken reaction. This behavior led the crew to call him "Wacky Willy". Ironically, Friedkin's office was at 666th Fifth Avenue in New York. Also, a fire destroyed most of the set (except for Regan's bedroom), some crewmembers and their family members died (along with the assistant cameraman's newborn child), Linda Blair (Regan) & Ellen Burstyn (Chris) suffered accidental long-term back & spinal injuries and actors Jack MacGowran (Father Dyer) and Vasiliki Maliaros (Father Karras's mother) both died before the film was released. Production took twice as long as scheduled and cost almost three times the initial budget. The accidents and deaths have made some people believe that the film was cursed. The scene where Regan projectile vomits at Father Karras only took one take. The vomit was intended to hit Jason Miller in the chest, but the plastic tubing misfired, hitting him in the face. His reaction of shock and disgust while wiping away the vomit is genuine. The film's sound was notable for its bizarre sound effects and, in some instances, a complete lack of sound. A disturbing fact is that many of the demonic sound effects used were actually recordings of animals being killed in a slaughterhouse. Originally, there was the infamous spider-walk down the stairs scene, which showed Regan sticking out a long, snakelike tongue and attacking the nanny - https://youtu.be/5Pr-I0V0ZOc. The scene is often miscredited to Linda Hager but the stunt was actually performed by Ann Miles. However, it was cut from the film just before it was released. Friedkin apparently cut it believing it was too early in the film for such a drastic effect on Regan to be visible and because there was no way to hide the wires from the harness. Almost 30 years later, Friedkin changed his mind and added the scene back for the extended 2000 version, with the wires digitally removed but instead showing Regan with blood flowing from her mouth - https://youtu.be/i33KwUtm4ks The voice of the demon was portrayed by Mercedes McCambridge, who went to extreme lengths to perfect the distorted voice. An alcoholic, she actually gave up sobriety and drank heavily, she chain-smoked cigarettes, ate raw eggs. She was also physically bound to a chair with torn sheets. McCambridge ended up suing Friedkin and Warner Bros because they didn't credit her for the voice of the demon. Additionally, Linda Blair’s double, Eileen Dietz, also sued for not being credited for the vomiting sequences. Linda Blair received a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the Oscars before it was known that she didn't actually provide the voice of the demon. The rules said once she was given the nomination it could not be withdrawn, but the controversy about Blair being given credit for another actress' work probably ruined her chances of winning. Once the film was released, many people in the audience fainted, vomited, ran out of the theater or had to be be carried in a stretcher. This was in mainly two scenes; when Regan undergoes a carotid angiography/arteriogram, in which a needle inserted into Regan's neck spurts blood, and the crucifix masturbation scene. The angiography scene caused audiences the most discomfort, most likely because they could identify with that more than being possessed by a demon. This procedure entails cerebrospinal fluid being drained to a small amount from around the brain and replaced with air, oxygen, or helium to allow the structure of the brain to show up more clearly on an X-ray picture. Medical professionals have described the scene, to reflect changes in medicine, as a realistic depiction of the procedure. Friedkin even claimed that the scene was used to train radiologists for years after the film's release. In the angiography scene, the blonde bearded man who assists the doctor is Paul Bateson. He was an x-ray technician at NYU Medical Center where that scene was shot and got to be an extra. In 1979, he was convicted of the murder of Addison Verrill, a film critic, and was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison. Bateson ultimately served 24 years and was released on parole in 2003. But he also became the prime suspect in what were known as "the bag murders" from 1977-1978, in which six male victims were mutilated and dismembered, their remains wrapped in black plastic bags and dumped in the Hudson River. He actually bragged how he picked up men in gay bars, had sex with them and then murdered & dismembered their bodies and put them into plastic bags "for fun". Although investigators believed his story, he was never officially charged and those murders have never been solved. These murders were the inspiration for another one of William Friedkins films, Cruising from 1980, starring Al Pacino. There are several sequels/prequels and a TV show, none of which I have seen though. But Blumhouse is making another franchise which is supposed to be a "direct sequel" to this one. Ellen Burstyn will reprise her role as Chris and Leslie Odom Jr. will be starring in it too. A theatrical release for the first film, The Exorcist: Believer, is scheduled for October 13 this year.
Heida
2023-05-14 02:09:00 +0000 UTC
