Jeff Gatie
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2002
- Messages
- 6,531
the idea of an 8 year oldNot to nitpick, but she was just turned thirteen.
the idea of an 8 year oldNot to nitpick, but she was just turned thirteen.
Do you have to believe in the main premise of the film for it to be effective/creepy/scary?In my case, the fear was enhanced by my Catholic upbringing and my familiarity with the subject matter. YMMV!
BTW (offered only as an explanation of the above), I consider myself a lapsed Catholic and really not a practicing one. But old habits die hard and maybe this is why I am so drawn to the "fallen" catholic character of Father Karras. It's that ol' Catholic guilt that keeps coming back:b .
Do you have to believe in the main premise of the film for it to be effective/creepy/scary?Not necessarily. Even though I personally don't believe in supernatural things, I still find it creepy in its execution though it no longer frightens me on a spiritual level. Friedkin directed this with such precision and skill, I'd find it hard to believe any viewer wouldn't be affected somehow.
I'll tell you one thing, though. I would kill to go back in time to 1974 and watch this with an unsuspecting audience! That would be beautiful!
Scary? I fail to see why.
That's because you're seeing it from the perspective of a 2003 movie goer, not a 1970s movie goer. It's the same reason people don't stand up and applaud the 'I don't give a damn' line when they see Gone with the Wind, or why we don't have riots in the streets at orchestral performances of Stravinsky's 'Rite of Spring.'
That's because you're seeing it from the perspective of a 2003 movie goer, not a 1970s movie goer.No. I'm talking about the perspective I had (and have had ever since) when I saw the film during its initial run in 1974. It had plenty of creepy ambience, but it did NOT scare me. I've mentioned before that I saw it with my father, who laughed out loud at some of the more outrageous effects (the head spinning, projectile vomiting, etc.).
I don't think belief in religion is a prerequisite for "getting" the movie any more than I think belief in zombies, vampires, aliens, or werewolves is a requirement for finding other horror movies scary. I just look at the religious aspects of THE EXORCIST the same way I look at silver bullets or ray guns in other films -- just a convenient fantasy plot device.Good point. I, for one, have a hard time understanding why more people cannot apply the same logic to other religiously-themed films, like Ben-Hur. You don't have to buy into its theology, but that shouldn't stop you from investing into it as a dramatic device.