Why is the Exorcist Scary?
 

So I have seen the exorcist several times hoping I will experience what is so scary about it, and i haven't seen what is so scary about it. So if someone could explain to me what makes the movie so scary i would love to know.

Its a rare film that is scary. The last film that scared me was Pet Cemetery when I was about 10 or so. Maybe 12.
Who said The Exorcist was a scary flic?

I know at least one person who thought it was scary because of how uncontrollable the situation is. If Jason is hunting you down you can run, don't go to sleep in case of Freddy, but unless somebody else steps in there's nothing you can do to prevent the possession. You can't avoid "getting" it, you can't yourself fight against it, and you can't escape it. Something enters your soul and takes control. That's what freaked them out.

everyone classifies it as the scariest movie ever made, its on alot of top ten list as being the scariest and the fact that it is one of the very few horror movies that was nominated for an academy award. So their has to be something scary about it even if its subliminal.

That makes sense.

My older brother & sister were babysitting me when I was 3 years old. They had me watch The Exorcist with them that night. It traumatized me so badly that I spent 3 months sleeping with my parents, right in between them. If we didn't leave the lamp on I went into hysterics. I had never seen a scary movie before that. I didn't sit down & watch it again until I was about 21, & it still gave me the creeps. It didn't keep me awake or anything, it was more of a feeling like this still creeps me out..... unpleasant childhood memories. I feel like it's still remembered as "so scary", because there wasn't anything else like it before it came out. To kids today it's probably nothing, but in the 70's it terrified a lot of people who weren't desensitized just yet.

What makes The Exorcist so scary to me is that there are certain images that you can't get out of your head for days after watching it. I've seen the movie maybe 4 times now, and it still scares the shit out of me.

I can say that children of today do have a lower standards on what is scary but I am not like that I find the original The Haunting( 1963) to be very scary.

Partly because of its reputation. Partly because religious sacrament is very controversial. Partly because its a young girl it happens to. Partly because when you first see her being possessed its shocking partly because of the legendary spider walk lick me, and head spinning scenes and partly because that sort of film with an affected kid in was unusual for the time. Personally I don't particularly like the film, it was one of those films where you often here a lot about it a long time before you actually see it

From what I understand, a lot of it has to do with context. Many people that say it was really scary actually saw it in its original theatrical run or a re-run of some sort during the 1970s. Back then, it probably was legitimately scary to them. In my opinion, there are plenty of other examples of films that were both higher quality and scarier even from the same time period or even before.

When I first saw the Exorcist I was of age where horror movies didn't really freak me out anymore. At least I wasn't crawling into bed with mom and dad. But that spider walk scene, shit even I was a little unnerved by it. It may not be what one would call 'scary' but most people's standards, but it certainly is unsettling to the right audience. The effects were done with props and traditional mediums for that's what they had back then, and in my opinion they always come out looking more realistic. No doubt it added to the effect to scare the piss out of kids and adults of all ages when it was first released.

i never get the sppider walk scene, it looks comical to me, why are people scared by it? What is it about it that creeps people out?

The special effects/makeup/music are superlative, but have never found this movie to be particularly scary or particularly good either for that matter. Maybe I heard so much about it as a JR High student and not seeing it until I was in my twenties.
Didn't see what the fuss was, so watched a couple more times. Still think it's not a good film by any stretch and incredibly overrated.
Just my opinion..if someone likes it, more power to them.

Agreed, The Haunting is very unnerving to me as well.

Scary is all in the eye of the beholder. Fear is a very personal thing. Some people think Paranormal Activity was scary, I think it was silly. To each their own.

You have to remember when it was made.Times have changed and moved on from when it was released.

It is the same as the Universal monsters,are they scary,no course not but if you watched it back in its days then yes.try to remeber the age of the movie before condemming them.

How bout it! My grandmother was actually afraid of the Godzilla movies. And the only ones made back when she watched it were the ones with a guy in a suit stomping on models! I find it laughable now, but I can see where she's coming from.

When THE EXORCIST first came out, there had never ever been a film like it. It was extremely scary back then in 1973, because that type of story and special effects just wasn't done. The book made it seem like those events were possible. It was truly horrifying back then.

But now today, we've seen over 1,500 Exorcist copy-cats. We're now desensitized to it.

the Exorcist is still the only movie that truly truly has scared me. I was younger when I watched but my whole body actually froze at parts.

possession is scary, losing complete control of your body and mind, being taken over my an unknown force (demon). i find that scary as it is.

the girl, she was amazingly scary with her face, the crab walk down the stairs, the head spin, movements, voices, everything how it was put together. great creepy stuff.

subliminal... the face of the demon popping up here and there ,the statue as well sometimes.


i dont know, i just loved it... always thought it was the scariest movie ever. If you're a kid, teenager... i really believe it would still traumatize or at least scare the crap out of you for awhile.

That's exactly it. The Exorcist had become that influential that each scene had been parodied, copied and diluted to a point that the movie feels familiar.
Similar to how of you watch Seinfeld reruns the comedy seems very derivative of today's sitcoms, even though it was 20 years before hand.

One curious way to look at The Exorcist is through the eyes of the mother. She is watching her child being taken over and has no way of stopping it. Going so far as to beg both medical and religious people for help.*
Is it scary? That is for each individual to decide, personally I think it hasn't aged too well, but for the reasons laid out before*

well said by both of you guys... i agree.

when i watch horror movies, though they truly arent going to "scare me" or "terrify me" i try to stay quiet and really get into the scenes, the set-ups, the story... its more fun getting creeped out in some way. with a great story, great characters you totally can.

now a days, you cant scare anyone, especially the "tough guys" that speak or laugh during the movies... not fun, not enjoyable.

like you said, think about the mother, the psychological aspects they are all going through, the complete loss control of ones body... that stuff is scary, creepy... but you gotta be willing to get into it.

Classic horrors
 

The Exorcist like so many other films bases its fear factor on the supernatural. Humans fear what we have limited knowledge about. The movie as a whole fails to keep the tension in the film. It becomes more investigative as to the cause of the demonic possession. It is not scary because well supernatural themes have been over done.

We need movies that literally screw our minds over. The kind of film that plays with your mind like a cat does to a ball of yarn. For example Little Timmy Turner is swinging on a swing in the distance. You walk closer and discover that his swing is made from human hair. He turns around and says "some of the school girls were being mean to me...especially Sam". Timmy jumps off the swing and the base of it is Sam's head. Simple and very effective. The Excorcist is not scary simply because it has been done too many times before

i like that greg, that's actually better than a great deal of horrors i've actually watched

And by "before," you really mean "since then." Back when The Exorcist came out, before all the copycats, it was pretty much the scariest movie phenomenon that had ever occurred. People fainted in the theater. Every showing had people leaving the theater to gather themselves. See for yourself:



This is the one movie that I was actually too afraid to watch as a kid, and waited until I was 20 or so to see it. It freaked me out, even at that age. It still gives me chills just thinking about it. It's the only movie that does that.

These days, everyone's desensitized, and have seen it all "before" in one of the countless films whose sole purpose is to attempt to be as good and as scary as The Exorcist.

Why is it scary? Well, for me the thought of the devil himself taking over my body and brutalizing it is horrific. The thought of that happening to my daughter is obscene and unfathomable. I also happen to believe in God and the Devil, which might make a difference.

Very well said, Gigantic! It seems the post prior to yours has missed the contextual significance of The Exorcist. No doubt, what you see in the film has been copied at least a hundred times, but when The Exorcist was released, the themes it examined had never been handled that way before. Saying it has all been done before is incredibly shortsighted and can only be a result of a lack of horror film knowledge.

I have to give the poster credit for confidence though. That bit with the swing and Sam's head..lol.

Yes that was a bizarre tangent, but pretty freaking awesome.

I don't think it is scary.

All I can suggest is that it scared people because it was so radical and shocking for its time.

Absolutely!

Lion Taken Down by Goat
 

The putrefaction of adolescence/awakening might destroy the momentum of talents yet to show themselves fully manifest in life. Such is the terrible nature of insanity. Fundamental horror.

Personally I think it's story is more plausible than, for example, Nightmare On Elm Street or The Howling; a teen becomes possessed and priests are bought in who are struggling with their faith.

I've seen scarier films; I love a good splatterfest, but the creepy ones that get your brain thinking do it for me.

I thought it was very realistic too. Shot in a very serious semi cinema verite style.

What films were scarier than the Exorcist to you?

I enjoyed The Strangers. While it's not up there as a really scary film, the thought of 3 masked psychos terrorizing and killing a random couple "because they were home" is a very plausible concept and something that could actually happen.

Handyman I like because his story is something that could realistically have happened and it's transition into an urban legend is well done, more so because it deals with the uncomfortable subject of racism.

The Banshee Chapter had me on the edge of my seat wondering where it was going. I'm a fan of H.P. Lovecraft too.

Sounds like you mean "Candyman" as opposed to Handyman, right?

You found those three scarier than Exorcist? I know a lot of people who found Candyman scary. For me it came off a bit more weird than scary, but I'm afraid I had too many distractions the first time I saw it. I don't think I've seen the other two. If you're saying they're scarier, I'll have to check them out.

After consulting someone older and wiser then me, because I do not find the Exorcist scary, I was told that the reason was due to it being cutting edge for its time. There weren't a lot of slashers, or gore or high special effects movies during that time period. Most of the scare tactics in Exorcist were new when it was released.

Not really. The FX were nifty, even by today's standards, but they weren't ground breaking for 1973. The concept, subject matter and it's presentation was new. The sound and makeup are just fricken wicked -- again, I don't know if we'd want to slap on the "cutting edge for its time" on those either. Rather they are just expertly effective for all time.

The Exorcist scares people today. I'd assume movies don't scare you anymore, period. Maybe... maybe, if this was the third horror film you ever saw, it would have scared you. After someone's seen some 300 horror films, they're pretty darn desensitized to horror films in general.