As with yesterday, I convinced my dad to watch a Halloween movie with me. But this time, my mom joined us without meaning to! She happened to be having dinner as I started the film, and this meant I had someone to freak out with me! My dad was the only one who had seen The Exorcist before.
In my younger years, I distinctly remember my sister and I pleading with our dad to let us watch this one. He told us he’d first seen it at a sleepover when he was 13, fueling our interest in seeing it ourselves. Ultimately, however, I don’t think my sister ever put this one on – and it took over half a decade for me to finally fulfill the task!
The Exorcist needs no introduction. Everyone knows the bare bones of it – the story of a possessed young girl in need of a priest – as well as the more grisly aspects. The spinning head, the vomit… hell, I even knew about that crucifix scene before sliding in the DVD. I thought I had braced myself well enough.
Yeah, no.
Despite knowing that the “crawling backward down the stairs” scene would show up at some point, it made a very sudden appearance. I said “Fucking shit” at the same time as my mom said “Oh Jesus.” And then the crucifix scene… we were both screaming. And my dad was laughing at us!
My mom and I also both gasped loudly at the “Take me!” scene – we didn’t see that coming! It made for a strong ending and a welcome relief to the horrors of the past 101 minutes!
Given all the body horror and disturbing content, I very much liked the long scene of the two priests’ ritual near the film’s end. Just something about them having irrefutable proof of a possession and doing all they could to save Regan was weirdly satisfying.
My DVD cover of this movie boasted itself as being “the version you’ve never seen.” For me, this could’ve been any version of The Exorcist, so they probably should work on their marketing. Anyhow. I found a great video on the changes made from the theatrical release to the DVD of today, so give it a watch if you’re curious.
Afterward, my mom said to me “That was a disturbing movie.” She’s not wrong! Tomorrow, I’ll probably have something a bit gentler on the eyes. See you then!
