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Original poster

To think 'The Exorcist' is the least scariest horror ever?

69 replies

Sallystyle · 28/08/2016 22:49

Well, maybe not ever but it is hardly scary is it?

The first time I watched it I was quite nervous because my mum and MIL watched it when they were in their 20's and they both said they couldn't sleep for weeks after. I thought it was quite funny and very tame.

My sister is here and she is now watching it for the first time.

I read something earlier that said it is still rated as one of the scariest films ever made.

OP posts:
ThePinkOcelot · 28/08/2016 22:53

I agree. I watched it when I was 11 (at a friends house when her mum was out) and I wasn't affected by it all. I have heard people saying they couldn't sleep after watching it, and wondered why.

Giratina · 28/08/2016 22:55

I didn't think it was that scary. I thought the Blair witch project was shit too.

Arfarfanarf · 28/08/2016 22:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Sallystyle · 28/08/2016 22:58

We have been completely desensitised after years and years of film makers trying to push the boundaries.

Yes, that's a good point.

My mum was really traumatised by it. I can't imagine she would be now but she wouldn't watch it again.

OP posts:
70isaLimitNotaTarget · 28/08/2016 22:58

It's very 'of its time' though.

In the late 80s/90s (when it wasn't available on Video unless you had an old or bootleg copy) one of the local cinemas used to show it about once a month (always at 11pm)
I used to drag DH along with me , he'd fall asleep Hmm.

In the bit where she's hypnotised, I could suss out the people who hadn't seen it before Grin

The book , of course, is 100% better and it always left me a bit deflated at the end, with the priest and what he does to protect her.

iklboo · 28/08/2016 23:00

Didn't scare me at all. I also thought the Blair Witch Project was overhyped tripe. Someone running around the woods at night keeping me awake should be scared of me (I don't like my sleep interrupted) Grin

SoleBizzz · 28/08/2016 23:06

The levitation from off the bed..I do not like that bit for the first few seconds.

beelover · 28/08/2016 23:08

I watched it as an 18 year old at the cinema when it was first released and it totally traumatised me and I didn't sleep for weeks afterwards. I have often wondered if I would be still be scared now but just can't bring myself to ever watch it again. I am a complete wuss though with a very over active imagination, can't imagine whatever made me see it in the first place. Earlier posters are right, it was a film of its time and totally terrifying, to the point that there were church people in the cinema lobby handing out cards to the queues with a helpline number for anyone who was disturbed by it and needed some help to cope.

TheHiphopopotamus · 28/08/2016 23:08

Agree it was of its time. My dm said it scared the bejeezus out of her when it first came out, but when they re released it (in the 90's?) everyone in the cinema where I watched it, laughed at the supposedly 'scary' bits Confused

Didn't help that French & Saunders had recently done a piss take of it though.

TwitTwatTwunt · 28/08/2016 23:09

Well, I still consider it to be one of my favourites! Along with The Shining, The Wicker Man and the Omen films. Don't like the modern gore & don't bother watching any horror any more (Blair Witch was seriously shit but that is old now i suppose). I'm soon to be 40 ☺

Boogers · 28/08/2016 23:11

The book terrified me. I was dog sitting overnight and I stupidly started reading it in bed and read it all in one sitting because I was so scared, even with two daft boxer dogs to protect me! I didn't even dare leave the bed to go downstairs to the loo!

The film was tame after that, but still one of the best films of its time. Like Arf says, some of the horror churned out today is far more psychologically frightening, and then you've got torture porn in the form of films like centipede and hostel and saw that is just sick. I haven't seen any of those films for that reason, and on another thread I read today about films you wish you hadn't seen it seems a lot of people who have seen them wish they hadn't because they're so disturbingly sick.

Gileswithachainsaw · 28/08/2016 23:14

Didn't scare me at all. No horror movie ever does.

I'm still searching for one that does

TwitTwatTwunt · 28/08/2016 23:17

With the sick shit that is about now, surely we have reached the limit? No more boundaries to be pushed? Or am I being naive? I dread to think what my kids will be watching through their early teens.

Boogers · 28/08/2016 23:17

Giles are you Mark Kermode in real life? Wink

RuggerHug · 28/08/2016 23:18

Didn't scare me at all, no traditional 'horror' film has. Threads on the other hand....ShockSad only panic attack I've had in my life and I wasn't right for months.

Gileswithachainsaw · 28/08/2016 23:19

I have no idea who he is GrinBlush

JellyBelli · 28/08/2016 23:20

The Shining is still scary, both the book and the film.The Exorcist book is a classic, a good read but not scary. The film is of its time but wouldnt give me sleepless nights.

It and 28 Weeks Later terrified me. Grin

TheoriginalLEM · 28/08/2016 23:22

i watched it back in the day and wasn't scared or upset by it. Guess i was about 14.

Now as an adult with children i see it as vile and offensive.

Ninasimoneinthemorning · 28/08/2016 23:24

It actually really fucking disturbs me. I can watch most horrors and cringe and laugh but this one really gets to me.

The entity does the same 🙈

Gileswithachainsaw · 28/08/2016 23:26

Oh the entity..

Based on a true story!

PNGirl · 28/08/2016 23:28

They're doing a remake! Airs in about a month on Fox. Not sure about UK dates.

It scared me; the trailer for the rerelease in the late 90s with the slot of light across her eyes and that voice is horrible. It mainly gets to me because of the excellent makeup and voice acting.

The scariest film I have seen in a long time is REC. We had to turn it off because the dread was building and we didn't want to see what was going to happen! Entire films don't usually scare me but scenes sometimes do (face in bathroom mirror from Amityville, mirrors full of figures in Poltergeist 3).

Assquatch · 28/08/2016 23:30

Yabu as I found that out 20 years ago I'm too old

Blair witch is also pants, but so many real life old age horrors are I suppose.

Boogers · 28/08/2016 23:32

Giles he's a film critic who has a weekly slot - Wittertainment - on 5live on Friday afternoon, and he did his doctorate on horror films. His favourite film is The Exorcist.

sandgrown · 28/08/2016 23:36

It was the scariest film I had ever seen and I could not sleep. I think it would still scare me ! I think it was worse because I had played with an Ouija board!

StillDrSethHazlittMD · 28/08/2016 23:36

I love horror films, although never been scared by any. But I find The Exorcist one of the most overrated and I do not get it at all. Seen it on TV and on big screen. I actually fell asleep seeing it at the cinema - only time I've ever done that.

Mind you, I hated The Shining when I first saw it on TV. However, when I saw it on the big screen, I found it far more effective and I could understand why people liked it so much.