Did people exaggerate about The Exorcist movie?

[EbbyEbs]

DH and I have just been talking about horror movies and we have both heard the same stories off our parents about how people were fainting in the cinema and how there were constant ambulances being called to the cinema etc

I saw someone saying this on a documentary about it too that there were “ambulances lined up outside the cinemas”

Surely not?

We’re not old enough to know for sure but these stories are exaggerated surely? It wasn’t even that scary! Most of the film is pretty boring if we’re being honest!

[Windbeneathmybingowings]

@balkanscot

I must have seen it every Halloween since the early 1990s and I still get petrified. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. The flashing demon face that subliminally appears throughout the film gives me the shivers .

“Don’t Look Now” with Donald Sutherland & Julie Christie. Yikes! I always go for atmospheric ones rather than full on blood & axe & chopping off bits.

Someone mentioned The Devils with Oliver Reed. Off to Google.

The Devils is fucking excellent.

and Don’t Look Now, just don’t look up spoilers. Honestly it’s perfection, slow build and such tension. Oh it’s brilliant.

[NeverDropYourMooncup]

@PuppyMonkey

I remember watching that 1980s Ghostwatch thing and being at how hammy and fake it was even at the time.

I lasted about 90 seconds before deciding 'this is bollocks and I bet they're going to have some fake ghost thing at the end' and fucking off to listen to music. As cynical teenagers do.

The then boyfriend completely threw me at a later date when he insisted that everybody was terrified of it and it was utterly real. He was there when I flounced off and agreed with me, but such is the pressure of this shite, people feel that they have to go along with the narrative that's been created by TV talking knobs heads programmes/schedule fillers.


When I went with a later boyfriend to see The Exorcist (at Hallowe'en, naturally), I watched it, could see that it was probably shocking to the audience at the time to have a girl appearing to say swearwords and doing blasphemous things with a crucifix, but it didn't bother me at all. That boyfriend was disgusted with me because apparently, it was absolutely terrifying.


Thing is, it's been a marketing hype thing since forever to go on about people collapsing, vomiting, having heart attacks (nobody ever mentions the times when people with heart disease have heart attacks when watching Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging or Peppa Pig The Movie) and the like. It's just that people can be very stupid suggestible, especially when in large groups such as at the cinema, so they've heard the marketing, see others who also believe the marketing, then get, frankly, a bit over excited.


I've never watched the so called classic slashers other than Halloween 1-10,000 (or whatever it is now). I had no interest in 80s movies such as Nightmare on Elm Street, Candyman, Child's Play, Bride of Chucky (did watch Gremlins and still can't see how it was thought to be an 18), couldn't be arsed with Bleurgh Witch, think M Knight Shymalan should probably give up his day job and go and do something less boring instead and actively despise torture porn for everything it stands for. But a proper religious horror movie is great, as are creature features.


None that changes the fact that it was all hype, some people bought into the hype too much - and yes, people are exaggerating about The Exorcist.

[Herja]

I used to really like it as a film and loved it as a book. Then I had a psychotic episode related to it (toddler DS's head was spinning with the malevolent eyes. Part of a bigger episode, but fucking terrifying; especially knowing I still needed to care for him). Never seen it since, to be on the safe side.

But, as it formed part of my literal living nightmare, I can see it affecting people badly, especially when a completely new cinematic experience.

[TisnotI]

I've NC'd for this as I've told so many people about this over the years.

When I was fairly young, maybe 9/10, my mum went to bed leaving me with my older brother 15/16. This was in the 1970s hen there were only 3 channels anthere was a Hammer Horror season n BBC2. The film that evening was Theatre of Blood and in one scene Arthur Lowe's character has his head cut off and placed on the milk bottles for his wife to find in the morning.

I genuinely thought that Captain Manwairing had been killed. I had to sleep in my Mum's bed for about a fortnight after that and I wasn't allowed to stay up with my brother for about another 5 years.

[ClaireEclair]

I saw it when it was rereleased in the cinema in the 90s and was terrified. Even seeing a photo of the cover scares me. I think it’s because I was brought up a Catholic 😄

[RosaMoline]

@Windbeneathmybingowings

I know the scene you’re describing, and all though I didn’t vomit, I did gag. It makes me queasy if I think about. I have a strong stomach too!

[RosaMoline]

@TisnotI - Theatre of Blood is one of my all time favourites! Fantastic movie & what a stellar cast! I’ve done the walking tour twice, that takes in all the filming locations. I’ve also stayed in THE ROOM at the Oakley court Hotel in Windsor that they used for the Arthur Lowe decapitation scene.

[CoffeeIsForClosers]

I saw it at school (A Level) and found it really scary even watching on a TV set in the daytime with my mates all around. In school, the most banal, least creepy place ever.

It's not about shocks and gore, it's the sense of cold dread and despair and powerlessness in the face of something ancient, unknowable and profoundly evil. You either feel it or you don't!

[Infinitemoon]

The Omen really affected me it took me a decade to get over watching it. I wouldn't be able to watch it again.

[woodhill]

@Hambledy

Salem's Lot was great I agree! It used to be available on YouTube. Terrible quality though.

That was terrifying and a pet Cemetery is really creepy

[XenoBitch]

My dad told me it was banned for years, and that people were dropping dead from shock in cinemas after watching it.
So, I have never seen it. From what I gather nowadays, it is pretty dated and boring anyway. Trauma in 2022 is far different to when the film originally came out.
My dad also told me I was too thick to watch Dune, so I have not seen that either.

[OnTheBoardwalk]

I think the thing is before these films no one had seen images like this before. They are everywhere these days

my lovely uncle bought the tapes, exorcist, Carrie and hills have eyes on video from the market. He used to put them on for us on a Saturday afternoon and fast forward the gruesome bits. Seeing them in fast forward made it worse!

as no 'gruesome' bits he left the Omen playing for us. As other people have said, that’s the one that disturbed me the most

[garlictwist]

@EbbyEbs

The Blair Witch Project is very boring.

Paranormal Activity is another bore-fest

I first saw BWP on DVD and thought it was pretty dull but then I watched it on a big screen and it was terrifying! The scariness is more subtle.

[astorsback]

I was a child when it was released, so too young to see it but the papers were full of it. My sister saw it on video in the early 80s and said it terrified her.

Dont forget, religion was still a huge force back in then. People believed it.

I agree with a pp who said wr're desensitised to horror now, plus, most of us dont believe in demonic possession.

[tillytoodles1]

I watched it at the cinema when I was 17. I got home at midnight and everyone was asleep so I got into bed with my 20yr old brother as I was too scared to sleep by myself. I've watched it since and I was fine.

[tillytoodles1]

@woodhill

That was terrifying and a pet Cemetery is really creepy

I still can't sleep with the curtains open thanks to that vampire kid.

[TisnotI]

@RosaMoline

@TisnotI - Theatre of Blood is one of my all time favourites! Fantastic movie & what a stellar cast! I’ve done the walking tour twice, that takes in all the filming locations. I’ve also stayed in THE ROOM at the Oakley court Hotel in Windsor that they used for the Arthur Lowe decapitation scene.

@RosaMoline
Wow, I didn't know there was a tour. I'm in northern Scotland but I'll suggest my brother and I take a trip now he's got a senior's rail card 😃

[ManateeFair]

The ambulances lined up outside cinemas were publicity stunts. But there were certainly a few cases of people fainting.

It’s not hugely uncommon for people to faint during horror films. I’m a massive horror fan and I’ve seen it happen three times.

[ScrambledSmegs]

The Blair Witch Project hype was due to an early internet viral marketing strategy in the US. You should read the Wikipedia page, particularly the section on Marketing. It was pretty ahead of it's time, and quite dark. For example:

^When The Blair Witch Project premiered at the Sundance Film Festival at midnight on January 23, 1999, its promotional marketing campaign listed the actors as either "missing" or "deceased".*

Many people in the US believed that the 'footage' was real. Sadly by the time the film was released in the UK it was widely known to be a work of fiction. I remember walking out of the cinema thinking 'was that it?'.

[Ormally]

Had a film night in my student flat to watch the 90s remastered version. I'd got slightly drunk and fell asleep on the sofa sandwiched in between people after about 3 minutes. Woke up for the last 3 minutes, everyone else was wide eyed and terrified and I was a bit 'Uh, What?' Still haven't seen the middle!

[GhostCastle]

@EbbyEbs

Yes! Pipes the ghost? They made out it was a live investigation? Now THAT was scary. It was in the news that someone committed suicide after watching that as they thought it was real and it terrified them so much

I couldn’t sleep after watching that as a kid. I missed the very end when it got really silly. Went to bed terrified then realised it was all made up the next day.

[mogsrus]

I saw it every day for 2weeks when I was a projectionist, no one fainted or anything else for that matter, We did however have lots of people outside with placards, which of course only helped the takings, which of course did very well

[alwaysdarkestbeforedawn]

@ScrambledSmegs

The Blair Witch Project hype was due to an early internet viral marketing strategy in the US. You should read the Wikipedia page, particularly the section on Marketing. It was pretty ahead of it's time, and quite dark. For example:

^When The Blair Witch Project premiered at the Sundance Film Festival at midnight on January 23, 1999, its promotional marketing campaign listed the actors as either "missing" or "deceased".*

Many people in the US believed that the 'footage' was real. Sadly by the time the film was released in the UK it was widely known to be a work of fiction. I remember walking out of the cinema thinking 'was that it?'.

I remember seeing that marketing and being confused about whether it was real or not. They even published obituaries and the actors were listed as deceased on IMDB. By the time I actually saw it I knew it was fiction but I can imagine it having a much bigger impact if I still wasn’t sure…

[TisnotI]

@mogsrus

I saw it every day for 2weeks when I was a projectionist, no one fainted or anything else for that matter, We did however have lots of people outside with placards, which of course only helped the takings, which of course did very well

Careful now😀

[alwaysdarkestbeforedawn]

@Mrsjayy

When my dd was 14/15 she was caught with a fileshare of the human centipede I found it on the PC that was horrific!

I remember my friend telling me about this film. It sounds so grim. Never wanted to watch it after her descriptions.