At 18, I had just entered Marine Corps boot camp & missed out on any news of the outside world for 3 months. I missed ALL of the hype & excitement. A lot of it had died down, when a friend dragged me to see 'The Exorcist' in the summer of 1974. I went in completely blind. Didn't even know what an exorcism was. He only said it was 'sort of scary'....I thought I'd be bored, but left the theater traumatized...LOL. Got my money's worth. It STILL haunts me to this day. I LOVE it..
Hahahaha this movie just made me laugh, especially when Regan squeezes the psychiatrist's balls, also when she vomits in the face of the father Damien Karras, and when she grabs the mother's head and puts it in her crotch and smears her face with her vagina blood . Hahahahaha it's a super funny movie. I don't understand the terrified reaction of those people in 1973. People at that time were very strange. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I was in the ARMY when this film came out, saw it in a theatre an Augusta . Several weeks later in an ARMY base surrounded by thousands of fellow soldiers and I was scared to walk into a dark room, I was not the only one.
Back here in my country, (Nigeria) we didn't get to see the movie in theatres cuz it was certainly not allowed. But it finally came out on VHS sometime in the 80s and caused a frenzy in video clubs of those days. Everyone was talking about it. And it even used for a popular dare at the time. People who could sit through the movie actually won money....lol. the memories. ♥️
I was living in Georgetown after college about the time the movie was being made, I did not even know it was being made. A friend of mine and I decided to fly up to Nantucket for the weekend so we got a plane ticket. We flew from DC to New York. Then the connecting flight to Nantucket was canceled due to weather. It was about 10 o’clock at night. We decided to rent a car. A young lady was sitting near us and heard us talking about it and asked if she could go with us as she was trying to get to Nantucket also. We said sure. We rented the car and the three of us took off to Woods Hole Massachusetts. Of course we were talking along the way. I asked her what she did she said well she is an actress. I said what have you been in? She said she had just finished filming a movie in Georgetown called The Exorcist. I think I had heard of the book but did not know the movie was even in process. She said she played the secretary of the mother. Her name was Kitty Winn. At some point, I remembered, I had actually seen her in the movie Panic in Needle Park with Al Pacino a couple of years before when I was in college. I talked to her about that movie, I had no idea what phenomenon was about to descend upon the world for this movie she just made.I really wish I had known that. Anyway, she was very nice, we got to Massachusetts, rode the ferry to Nantucket and that’s the last we saw of her. Just my story about almost being there.
Thanks for sharing! Too bad you all didn't stay in touch. After Exorcist 2: The Heretic she has laid low and stayed out of the spotlight. Good actress.
My mom saw this the week it was released with a group of her girlfriends. Coincidentally, her parents (my grandparents) were out of town and she had to stay home alone after watching it. She said that she left the lights on all night and could not fall asleep, one of the worst nights of her life haha
I had to fly to Baltimore, MD in 1976 when I was a Junior in High School to take care of my niece because my sister injured her shoulder. They planned to take me to see the exorcist one night and told me that it was based on a true story and occurred only a few miles from where they were living, my brother in law was in the Air Force. Hours before we left to see the movie, they played Tubular Bells and my sister told me this movie was going to scare me to death. At the theater, the first time Reagan flopped back and forth on the bed then her eyes rolled back in her head and she growled, I was shocked out of my mind and my right arm was over my face the majority of the rest of time during the movie. The majority of the people in the theater were laughing and I couldn't understand this, I was so glad when the movie was over and sitting in the back seat next to the door, every car we passed or passed us, I saw Reagan's face. My sister had to sleep with me that night because I was convinced the dresser they had next to the bedroom door was going to fly across the room at me at any time. When I got back to Indiana, the movie haunted me for months.
It will be 50 years for me watching this movie when I turned 16. My buddy was old looking and us 16 year olds got in to watch this classic. Young people today or even 20 years ago cannot understand the gravity of this movie. Nothing like this had ever been done. I had seen a horror movie when I was 7 years old and the movie was the classic Psycho. And that affected me but I was 7 years old. Here I am a tough kid at 16, and when we were watching these scenes you heard the reactions in the movie theatre. You heard people crying, gasping for air, Or screaming. You were looking at the film and watching others too. The chills that ran through my body was something you never thought could happen. My knees were knocking and I was shivering and my hair was standing up on my arms. I was F**king petrified. I can’t even explain it. My buddies had both food to eat, since back then you snuck it in. Well that was no way happening. I personally watched people leaving and seen a few just stumble or fainted as they were exiting. There will never be a film like this. It’s because we today expect anything. Back then we had no internet or even cable television. So this was so out of the realm it was so unbelievable. So when I hear a young person today or Millennials talk about how overrated it is they just don’t understand the times we were at in 1973-4. By the way, it scared me so much, I wouldn’t dare watch it again. Only 3 movies I wouldn’t watch and that is Psycho and House of Wax with Vincent Price, when I was young. And The Exorcist. And The Exorcist I can’t watch one scene without having my hair stand up and goosebumps. A classic and masterpiece by the late William Friedkin. And the story by the late William Peter Blatty.
It's hard for people today to realize the impact this movie had back then, even harder to try and explain how much better a place the world was all those years ago.
First saw the movie back in the 80s when we had our family movie nights. My dad used to rent those VHS tapes back in the day and The Exorcist happened to be one of them. My eldest sister and my dad knew roughly what the movie was about but we all had no idea what to expect. Boy, The Exorcist scared the heck out of everyone especially my mum. She literally screamed to shut it down. Coming from a non English-speaking family, my mum would call it, "that spinning head movie".
I was 6 years old when my parents went to see this... I remember them coming home (my family is very catholic) my mother crying still and actually mad at my father for taking her to it. :) -crazy but it stuck with me because of her reaction. Therefore, when I got a little older I had to see it. It makes you feel alive watching this incredible story. My best friend and I would watch in our downstairs basement with all the lights off... not moving to get soda or chips or anything until it was done. Scared *&%*less and nightmares galore.
The key here is Ammunity. The reason kids today don't find this movie scary is most will not sit through a movie at home without picking up their stupid cellphone phones. They also have a higher ammunity and tolerance to horror than those who saw this movie for the first time in 1973. Most kids today won't sit through the first 10 minutes of this movie due to no blood and guts every 4 minutes
I can attest to that actually. I saw this movie when it was re-released in theaters back in the early 2000's, everyone in the theater was laughing and cracking jokes at every scene, killed the mood....
@@adamsultana8380You have to put it in context, asking kids today to be scared of a 50 year old movie that has been made fun of in comedy shows and cartoons just isn't realistic. It would have been the same as asking the people back in 1973 to be scared of the original Dracula movie.
I began reading the book at age 10 from all the hype. My mom worked selling to pharmacies and while she was there I'd grab the book and read then pick it back up at the next one. When i asked to see it at 11 my mom said no and then when i told her id read it she allowed me to see it. She said I was the most well behaved child for 6 months after seeing it. Still my favorite movie of all time.
First time I ever saw the exorcist it was on tv. The next month I finally saw the theatrical version on VHS I finally saw it on the big screen in 1998 when a local theatre had the warner brothers film festival. Then I. 2000 saw the director cut three times in the theatre. One of the best movies I have seen. .Linda Blair and Ellen burstyn were both supperb
I keep scanning through the crowds to see if I can find my mom and stepdad. My stepdad was actually somehow able to get tickets for the two of them for the opening night in New York City, literally on 12/26/1973!
Anyone who's heard of this movie but never watched it should see this! I was born in 1971, didn't see it until I was 14, & it blew me away... it still does! Watch the film (y'all can always cover your eyes at the worst bits, if needed lol!)
We as 21yr olds showed it to my mate’s mum in around 1998, she was born like ‘55 and she was gobsmacked soon as the devil voice hit. We were stoned off our nuts and fighting back the tears of laughter
Shown in maybe 30 theaters on it's initial release on December 26th, 1973 in only large cities in the U.S. because Warner Brothers didn't expect it to do well. Almost immediately there were huge lines outside those few theaters and all of them broke box office records which led quickly to wide release by Warner Brothers. The reports of people fainting, vomiting in the theater, the lobby, the bathrooms were all true. One movie reviewer wrote that the bathroom he saw the movie in was so covered in vomit that you couldn't get to the sinks. The movie was released in England in March 1974 I believe and by then theaters had ambulances stationed outside many theaters beforehand. Some Christian groups in England lobbied to ban the movie and were successful in two counties there. Many people said the scenes where Regan is in the hospital and having the procedure done on her neck were as disturbing as the rest of the movie. That scene by the way was used to train medical personnel on the real procedure for some time afterwards. It was a real procedure at the time, though later they started using an artery or vein in the leg I believe. Even the director said he only watched that scene one time and one time was enough for him.
I was too young to see it during its original release in 1973, but did for its 1976 rerelease and I regretted it for years. Even in a crowded station wagon in a drive-in theater it’s potent scenes of horror and shock were not diminished. I could hear women screaming in the cars next to us. But the worst part of the evening was having to go back home. In the night. In the dark.
Hahahaha this movie just made me laugh, especially when Regan squeezes the psychiatrist's balls, also when she vomits in the face of the father Damien Karras, and when she grabs the mother's head and puts it in her crotch and smears her face with her vagina blood . Hahahahaha it's a super funny movie. I don't understand the terrified reaction of those people in 1973. People at that time were very strange. 🤭🤣🤣
I wish I could go back in time and watch this movie and witness the audience reaction. I was only 5yrs old and watch this movie with my brother and sisters in a drive in theater in 1973....So I remember only the scary parts😩😩😵👻
I was 5 years old and in the hospital. I had some visitors who left HBO on when they left and this movie came on. I guess I haven't been the same since.
I SEEN IT IN THE 70s and it took it's toll when you got home. And you were alone in bed that night and you thought you weren't alone in the room,.. it lasted about two weeks.. I WENT HOME FROM THE MOVIE AND THREW OUT MY OUIJA BOARD SOON AS I GOT HOME...true story
I love how everyone who was alive then has a story about seeing this movie. My grandmother told me she went and saw it with her boyfriend at the time and he almost threw up.
I had read the book so I was excited to watch the movie. My girlfriend at the time wanted to watch The Way We Were. The movie was great and terrifying and affected Catholics a little more as the reporter said. My girlfriend broke up with me for my movie choice. She ran out during the violent cross scene.
True story: I put this movie on when I was cleaning the house one time, and I was away from the TV so I put it on kinda loud. As I was cleaning, two Mormon missionaries came and knocked on my door and I answered it... It was funny to hear about Joseph Smith while hearing "let Jesus f--- you!" in the background while they talked!
The world was talking about it. The Exorcist movie had hold on people. Like no other movie before it. Stephen King himself said the talk and the advertising. Helped out with the hype. Then two years later. People were afraid of the water. Because of sharks. Thanks to Jaws.
It's still a scary movie for people who have never seen it, but millennials who post their reaction videos have a tendency to cheat; They will pause the movie to 'take a breather', or to make a comment, or whatever. There were no 'pause' buttons in the movie cinemas of the 1970s.
This is hilarious. I've watched this movie like 30 times, first time back in like 1996. I can't imagine watching it in 1973 if this was the reaction. I remember being a little scared but nothing like fainting and vomiting.
There was over 20 years of other films copying and trying to out do The Exorcist between when it was released and when you saw it (pretty much every movie about possession steals from The Exorcist). Before 1973, there had been nothing like it before.
Because every depiction of demonic possession has been copied from The Exorcist. Not only other horror films but in comedies and parodies. Imagine seeing it when there had never been anything like it before.
@@richardb6260 Exactly. When I read reviews from the current generation that it wasn't very scary it makes me sad they won't be able to experience it the way I did. I think it gets lost on this generation that has the internet and every bit of news and data at their fingertips. We knew nothing about this movie. Seen nothing like it. Reaction videos show people watching it mid-day with the lights on and headphones with laptops. Watching it in a theater in the 70s and 80s was such a different experience. Theaters today are so modern and comfortable. I'm talking no stadium seating and just completely dark. It felt so visceral watching it that way. You had to go home and deal with what you saw by yourself. I saw it when I was 12 years old and I was scarred by the visual of her eyes turning white and neck expanding. That's all I ever saw when I shut my eyes. It took me 20 years before I'd revisit it again. I have now seen it many times and love it. It still stirs those initial feelings I had. To me, that is the sign of a great movie. One that sticks and lingers with you for years.
Its still a very intense and traumatic film to watch, but fortunately contains zero unnecessary violence and bloody gore. Many people are just far too desensitized today.
It's sad that no other movie has created this kind reaction by having lines around the block. The closest thing to it today would be a Taylor Swift concert. lol
There can never be a movie with lines around the block because the release model that studios used in the 70s isn’t the model used today. Back then, physicals prints were sent to major cities and those same prints were slowly distributed across the country. So availability was always limited. Nowadays, it’s all about a nationwide (even global) opening weekend which is further aided by digital film distribution. Even the largest film ever (Avengers Endgame) didn’t have lines around the block. Rather, opening films are placed in as many screens as possible to saturate attendance. They will even have overnight showings if demand is high enough.
When I Kid I Used to Watch Horror Movies All the Time and My Parents Didn't Care But when it Came to the Exorcist I was Not Allowed to Watch That ! And When I was 18 Finally Saw it and I See why !
In hindsight, hiring a director whose major strength was in shooting documentaries was a master stroke. This movie is set in real life with actual people and places. We start believing that this possession is actually happening to this poor girl. Incredible movie.
My landlord went traveling around Christmas and let me have the whole house. For some reason, the exorcist was playing on a TV Channel and I deicded to watch it cuz I was intrigued. Bad idea. I recall going to bed shit scared and left the lights on in whole house lmfao. I've never felt so scared by a plot, not by jump scare.
Você imagina uma pessoa no fim de semana, querendo dar um passeio, você pode até ter uma idéia do que se trata o filme mas não faz idéia do que lhe aguarda. Você entra curioso e sai traumatizado.
Lol I remember when I first saw the excorsit when it came on TV I was 14 years old and it scared the shit out of me I had to sleep in my mother and father room for a week but that was 1980 I am a grown man now lol 🤣
I had a similar experience. Even to this day its not a movie I'll easily watch, much less alone, because it always reminds me of the first time I watched it.
The Exorcist (1973) directed by William Friedkin and The Thing (1982) directed by John Carpenter both of them are my number 1 favorite horror movies and it's because both The Exorcist (1973) and The Thing (1982) scared me and disturbed me a lot more than any other horror movie no other horror movie has ever come close to doing it to me so as a kid I have considered both The Exorcist (1973) and The Thing (1982) the greatest horror movies ever created as well:).
I'm still very young and it's perfectly normal for us to make films, take photos, but ...Isn't that all a great invention?? I'm always impressed when you can see something like this, where you are practically "there" and you can see the people from back then and what the film triggered in people...and that 48 years ago!!!! It's just great that people invented something so that future generations can see what happened in the past!
i wonder if these people left during father karras’ dream, or during regan’s test at the hospital where they feed the needle into her neck? that dream is what always scared me the worst.
The book/movie was actually based on a true story that happened to a young man they changed it to a young girl because they didn't want anyone knowing that it was a real story that really happened but obviously not as dramatic.
I wonder if there are any people who didn't find this scary even when they saw it back in 1973. The only two people I can think of was the Zodiac Killer and Aronra.
Now just imagine if we took these same group of people and teleported them to now and had them watch how far advanced in movie making we are now and had them watch our current horror films. They’d really lose their minds. Especially the fat chick who was whining about the bed shaking, that wasn’t nothing lmfao😂
I seen this movie at the show alone, and it didn't scare me in the least. Of course it was the second time it came to the theaters in October 2002 !!!!!
@@keithharrison9797 horror movies that are hardcore if you dont think the exorcist was scary then what horror movie is ? i laugh at people that say this movie was soft this movie was ahead of its time and no horror movie has come close or surpassed it for 50 years
@@michaelcaputo4187 When that movie came out in 1973 my mother wouldn't let me go see it. I saw it a few years later , it was scary back then. But when it came to the show a second time in 2002 I went and saw it , as a grown man I wasn't scared in the least.
@@keithharrison9797 i was your never old enough to be scared maybe you dont believe in the devil too thats why you think movies like the Ring and the grudge are scarier then the exorcist which suck and your mom didnt let you see it because it was rated R duhh
I never found The Exorcist scary, even when I was a child. I love watching this movie and never understood why people would overreact lol. Maybe it's because the movie was way ahead of their time?
This movie carried with it alot of stories and you were told not to watchit or you would become possesed by the devil in my area there was story told that a woman went and seen it and she went to church right after and started floating lol!!
I still think beyond the door a devil possession movie made a year later was much scarier Jessica Mills she demon face still gives me nightmares to this day the movie is pure evil even though I've seen the movie hundreds of times over the decades
@@rjharris1960I'm a little bit of an expert on beyond the door because the movie influenced me on the negative side all my life. But I'm obsessed with it's a u r a of evil, that's why I've seen the movie hundreds of times on VHS and DVD over the decades. I still have a hard time sleeping after watching the movie looking at that she demon face of Julia Mills, it's the most frightening evil face I've ever seen. You can watch this movie free on RU-vid, the long and short versions.it was reputedly made with help from Satanists from San Francisco and Rome Italy. It is my all-time favorite movie even though it's evil as hell.
Did the rest of the world join this carnival? I guess it didn't. I saw the movie when released herein (Rome, Italy) in 1973 and there was no report in the newspapers of similar reactions, though there was before the movie arrived here much hype on the media about what was happening among the US viewers. I presume it went the same as in here in the rest of Europe.
My mom and dad watched it here in México and they tell me that there was nothing of this kind of reaction, people was scared but not to the point of fainting and vomitting. My grandmother and my uncles and aunts also tell me the same, so I guess it's only the people in the US that had that reaction.
Well folks I didnt feel the same thing these others felt but that one scene that nearly made me pass out was when she stabbed herself in the crotch with a cross made me feel uneasy. They kinda went too far there
Most of this is just b.s. hype. Movie theater employee equipped with smelling salts and trained in their use?! What a joke. The "theater employee" is just some ham actor. Amazing how they just got footage of a person fainting right in the middle of the frame. Gee, it's almost as if it was staged. This type of hype was common then. When "Mark of the Devil" came out in 1970, barf bags were handed out to the audience. Many movies since have used the barf bag as a marketing ploy.
I read The Exorcist a few years ago and it was scary but a great writing From the sounds of the audience unusual affective reactions, people describing scary scenes, seeing bits of pieces, trailers and violent images makes me sick to my stomach, heart beat fast and having anxious headaches So I'm soooo not ready for the movie 🤢🤮🥵😰🫨
