Taking Sides: William Friedkin's "The Exorcist" vs. Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining"

Hmmm... that's an excellent thought, and it makes me rethink my question. The horror of The Exorcist is rooted in religion, for sure. The Catholic Church endorsed the movie when it came out, and encouraged people to see it to witness the horrors the devil can bring. Sadistic? Of course. Catholic? Sincerely. But good and evil does cut across cultures, doesn't it?

-- latebloomer (posercore24...), July 17th, 2004.

The MT.Ranier case.
-- Alex in NYC (vassife...), July 17th, 2004."

indeed:

ihttp://www.rameysrealm.com/exorcist.htm

That's certainly the implication. After all, the demon Pazuzu (seen in the form of a grinning, priapic stone idol in the beginning scene) is in Iraq and is of Sumarian origin, I believe (side note: I wonder if that location is still there? Or was it bombed into infernal smithereenies?)

http://www.qtf.info/captainhowdy/wallpaper/EXORCIST_pazuzu800x600.jpg

Anyhoo... be extra sure to put your headohnes in for this site.

http://theexorcist.warnerbros.com/cmp/thefilm-fr.html

Even so. Isn't a cabin fever scenario still more likely to happen, or am I being obtuse?

blah blah. Obviously I know the hotel was haunted etc. Did the ghosts pose as much of a threat (or any at all) compared to the Jack Nicholson character once he lost it? People going crazy and killing people happens ALL THE TIME. I'm not just talking in the context of The Shining, here. Possession, well maybe it happened sometime in the 40's...humor me here, I'm only being half serious!

Don't mean to be splitting hairs, but just for calrification Cthulu is a demon from H.P. Lovecraft's fiction.

When the Exorcist was re-released the scene in the Iraqi desert was incredible on the big screen.

excuse me, "Elder God", not "demon". now i am splitting hairs.

Yeah, I wonder why Kubrick added that (it wasn't in the book). I'm also a little curious why a couple years later Stephen King used that as the plot device for Pet Sematary. Hmmm....

and yeah, the Indian burial ground - some scholarly Kubrick-fanboy types have actually used this one line to argue that the whole movie is a parable about the extermination of Native Americans.

(that's in regards to the bunny clips)

some scholarly Kubrick-fanboy types have actually used this one line to argue that the whole movie is a parable about the extermination of Native Americans.

I've heard that too....often referencing the color of several red rooms as evidence.

and, if so, we're arguing a point against itself. Both films seem to be about a kind of possession, no? To me though, the type of possession(if you want to call it that) that makes a man want to kill his family for no reason
(and this is something that has actually happened in my family IRL, not to be a downer here, but my great-aunt and cousin were murdered four years ago by another relative who was talking to thin air (ghosts? imaginary friends? Who knows?) and suddenly snapped and stabbed them both and then according to witnesses proceeded to tell the thin air "There! I've finally done it!", no joke, he's currently in a mental institution.)
is much more common than this literal "she's possessed by the devil, better call a priest" type thing. It's closer to home for most people, I'd say. That's kind of what I'm driving at.

Then again.. that exorcism was supposedly based on a real event...

but now you've made me feel bad for arguing.

The Exorcist is just silly. As I mentioned, unless you really, honestly believe the devil can lie strapped to a bed with holy water keeping it down then the film is farce.

But it's not the devil, C-man, it's a litle girl possessed by the devil.

Also, Kim Cattrall from Sex in the City. She was in PA.

The Mt. Rainier possession case sounds more like a classic "poltergeist" (supernatural manisfestations usually surrounding an adolescent) case than a "posession".

But these things don't exist....or do they? MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

-- Alex in NYC (vassife...), July 17th, 2004.

Is it ever proven to be the devil though? For all we know it could be just a random evil spirit. Maybe throwing up and making Linda balir curse is his way of saying "Howdy".

The Omen and Rosemary's Baby. The former just seemed like a cheap cash-in after the success of the Exorcist, whereas Rosemary's Baby (which predated the Exorcist) never seemed to deliver the goods. It was creepy, but more about a wacky conspiracy than anything else. Also, you never get to see the child.

I always thought the Omen was overrated. I remember my dad said that movie actually scared him, probably because he's a pretty devout Catholic. An antichrist taking over the world is something that is conceivable in his worldview I guess.

Especially at the end: all those people yelling "Hail Satan!" is classic.

"He has his father's eyes".

I'm not knocking Rosemary's Baby, but I just didn't find it as compelling (although it's a stressful ride). I don't mind certain films not "paying up" with the visuals (I think Blair Witch Project scores highest there), but it in Rosemary's Baby, just a glimpse might've been nice.

TS: Blatty's "The Exorcist" VS King's "The Shining"

"The Exorcist," however, I'd love to read. I haven't, of course, but some day.....

The idea of children being involved. Those films could not be made by a major studio now.

I would say that classic movies can get ushered into the present with plenty of "you could never get away with that today" allowances but, as Left's posts consistently remind, that moment may also be passing. (Caught a Letterboxd review of Sunrise that more or less burned it to the ground at the very idea that Janet Gaynor went back to George O'Brien.)

and Margo marries Bill and foregoes her stardom.

Well if there was any testimony from either of the actresses in those two films that they felt uncomfortable I'd understand that they could become out of vogue but as things stand I think you're imagining more pearl clutching in the world than there actually is.

Likewise while it's by no means an uncommon ocurrence for younger movie fans to come across the gender politics of old timey classics and be horrified (and tbh there's lots to be horrified by!), thd vast majority of reviews of Sunrise on LB, regardless of age group, are still five star raves.

I do prefer my college days in the late '90s, where we all agreed that Singin' in the Rain's Don and Cosmo were definitely sharing a bed on the regular

The idea of children being involved. Those films could not be made by a major studio now.

Isn't there a new Exorcist spinoff either coming out or released already that features two adolescent girls?

yes and it sucks apparently

Poltergeist was way more terrifying to me as a child than the Exorcist or the Shining, because it was set in a house exactly like mine

also at age ten I'd read a ton of Daniel Cohen books about the supernatural and knew next to nothing about Christianity, let alone Catholicism

I love in Poltergeist how they're watching a football game that is moving at what appears to be 0.05 speed

that cuz they’re stoned all the time, remember coach rolling that j

Just rewatched Poltergeist and, yes, the scene of Steven and Diane rolling joints in bed and doing Donald Duck voices as foreplay is a small miracle of a scene