Post by petrolino on Oct 14, 2020 0:37:10 GMT
Hubris is a wonderful thing, ain't it?
Of course you aren't frightened of The Exorcist, especially after watching any number of blood splattered, gore movies dished out by Hollywood in the last couple of decades.
People in the 1950's weren't frightened of the 1925 Phantom of the Opera or the Universal classics of the 1930's either, although when they were new they scared the popcorn out of everyone.
I can assure you audiences who saw The Exorcist in 1973 were petrified because nothing like it had ever been seen on the screen before. I was in the second line to see the film. When the first audience came out of the theatre in dead silence, looking like they had just been lobotomized, a lot of people in my line were having second thoughts about going in.
You didn't say where you saw The Exorcist, but I bet it wasn't in a movie theatre where you had no idea what was coming up and where the reaction of the crowd goes a long way toward how you see the movie. I would guess it was on video in the comfort of your home and with friends. How could anyone expect a 47 year old movie to scare them under those conditions?
This boast about The Exorcist being overrated and boring comes up every so often, and always by those who didn't see it when it was new. Future generations will say the same thing about horror movies of today. I'm sure someone somewhere is posting The Blair Witch Project is overrated and not scary at all.
You can like The Exorcist or you can hate it, but at least give it the acknowledgement that it was a groundbreaking, influential movie that paved the way for the slasher cycle that has lasted to this day.
It does come up every now and then. People regularly tore into it on the old imdb horror board. imdb users Leroy Gomm and bensonumum (who reviewed classic horror movies online) would usually be first up to defend it. The attackers would say things like, "Hoo hoo! What a crappy laughfest, it's so bad its good, terrible effects, grandpa etc ..."
Gomm was a make-up artist himself, and a talented one. Also a bouncer, a catholic, a metalhead from New Jersey, his favourite band was Blue Oyster Cult. He would explain about Dick Smith's work. I'd add, "hey, everybody I know from Screaming Mad George to John Carl Buechler, Tom Savini to Steve Johnson, and beyond, seems to hold Smith's work in the highest regard". They'd say, "I pissed my pants laughing, what an overrated for softies" (now, they'd call you a snowflake). Proud boys, tough boys, these boys are badder than me. That's all I can say on the matter.