AIBU?
Did people exaggerate about The Exorcist movie?
EbbyEbs · 09/09/2022 20:16
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!
Am I being unreasonable?
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GetThatHelmetOn · 10/09/2022 05:41
They were other times, when religious symbols desecration was not acceptable or common place these days, neither was the level of goriness we are used to these days.
The reason it is such an important movie in the story of cinematography is because it was ground breaking, if you get to see even more and more graphic and imaginative terror stories is because the making of The Exorcist opened the door to a lot of possibilities that were not acceptable at the time. So no, it is not that people in the past were more sensitive to us, they simply didn’t grow with a constant influx of violence and shocking stuff in their lives as you have by the simple reason of having access to internet and a bucket load of TV channels.
EbbyEbs · 10/09/2022 06:09
ScrambledSmegs · 10/09/2022 00:25
I think the lax/innocent parenting that many kids in my generation experienced might have something to do with not finding the Exorcist scary. DB and I conned my poor DM into renting 18 films from the horror section in our local store a few times until she cottoned on.
This was the era of late night horror as well. And it wasn't that late either! I remember watching Children of the Corn more times than I can count. I became really blasé about it.
Good point, I was 8 years old when I watched Nightmare on Elm Street for the first time. I watched it with my cousin at her house and LOVED it. I convinced my mum to buy me the VHS when I got home and I watched it almost daily throughout my childhood (along with the sequels). I am autistic (but this wasn’t known at the time) and the franchise became a full on obsession of mine. These days I watch the movies for comfort.
I never found them scary, just very atmospheric (especially the first 3) and I never get bored of watching them.
daisychain01 · 10/09/2022 06:18
EbbyEbs · 09/09/2022 20:34
😂 good point. You’d be waiting 4 hours now at least
NellesVilla · 09/09/2022 20:33
At least they could get an ambulance in those days.
I suppose you'd ring for the ambulance 3 hrs before heading off for cinema, in the hope it would arrive in time for the gory bits!
I've never seen it because there's a scene where she vomits and I've been emetophobic for long enough to know I don't put myself in situations of torture if I can avoid them.
sashh · 10/09/2022 07:06
PuppyMonkey · 09/09/2022 21:57
One of the best horror films I’ve ever seen was actually a TV mini Series - Salam’s Lot from the early 1980s with David Soul and, slightly amazingly, James Mason. Bloody terrifying.
Is that the one with nails scratching on glass?
I was about 10 when I was woken up by scratching, it just went on and on, and all I could think about was the kid in mid air scratching.
It was the cat, she'd got locked out and my bedroom was above a bay window that had a small roof type thing.
sayanythingelse · 10/09/2022 07:21
My dad watched it at the cinema when it came out and said plenty of people walked out as it was too scary. He thought the film was funny.
I'm still scared of it but due to my dad's amusement at the horror genre, he let me watch all these films as a kid. Child's Play REALLY messed me up and I made him get rid of all my dolls. I also finished all of my books, so I read Silence Of The Lambs which was on the bookshelf in the living room 😐
SaintVal · 10/09/2022 09:06
Salem's Lot totally messed with my head - I was about 15 when it was on TV. I had sleepless nights for years (not exaggerating) after watching that.
I've not watched The Exorcist or The Omen but I've seen the Amityville Horror (original) which was also bloody scary. Films from that era are definitely more creepy and 'real'.
Adversity · 10/09/2022 09:58
@Windbeneathmybingowings I remember laughing at the ear bit, thanks for the memory.
@avamiah Huge horror fan here as well, almost nothing scares me, DH hates horror films and I watch them when he is away with work in the dark. Which is how they should be watched. But I confess to not watching all of The Exorcist, I was a teenager when I watched some of it and I had to walk out but as many say it was a long time ago. Not at the cinema but at a friends on VHS. I have thought about watching it all but my teen fear of the time still gets in to my head. The only horror film that truly scared me. The only other that scared me somewhat was The Shining, again as a very young woman, I had a nightmare I was being chased through the maze that night. Have you seen the Horror film When the lights went out? I liked it because it was set in the blackouts of 1974 which I clearly remember as a child, it was just very different to any other horror film I have seen.
EbbyEbs · 10/09/2022 10:12
Funkyslippers · 10/09/2022 10:03
I remember hearing about people fainting/running out of the cinema etc when Blair Witch came out. I was really scared before the film started. When the credits rolled I was like "is that it?" Total non-scare fest. I found The Others far scarier
I LOVE the Others, it’s so atmospheric
oakleaffy · 10/09/2022 10:17
Adversity · 10/09/2022 09:58
@Windbeneathmybingowings I remember laughing at the ear bit, thanks for the memory.
@avamiah Huge horror fan here as well, almost nothing scares me, DH hates horror films and I watch them when he is away with work in the dark. Which is how they should be watched. But I confess to not watching all of The Exorcist, I was a teenager when I watched some of it and I had to walk out but as many say it was a long time ago. Not at the cinema but at a friends on VHS. I have thought about watching it all but my teen fear of the time still gets in to my head. The only horror film that truly scared me. The only other that scared me somewhat was The Shining, again as a very young woman, I had a nightmare I was being chased through the maze that night. Have you seen the Horror film When the lights went out? I liked it because it was set in the blackouts of 1974 which I clearly remember as a child, it was just very different to any other horror film I have seen.
I found The Shining very scary , but oddly, the horror film that gave me the most nightmares was “ Poltergeist “
The original one.
So say the skeletons used in the swimming pool scene were actually real, they just looked hideous bobbing up , slack jawed in their muddy cerements - Although I rationally know skeletons aren’t frightening, this scene unnerved me.
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