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

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

Rosemary's Baby is also bollocks. The Omen is the better of the three. It has nice cinematography and a couple of pretty strong shocks.

I don't HATE The Excorcist by the way - even in spite of itself it has some genuinelly good scares in there. The Shining on the other hand is a bore. So in answer to the question, Friedkin's film wins.

The Exorcist is still scarier. Some would argue that it's not so much the holy water that burns the devil as much as it is the faith behind the holy water.

Anyhow. I'm still voting for the Democratic ticket this year despite the alarming similarities behind this:

http://www.ibiblio.org/samneill/pictures/omen3/s-office.jpg http://www.insideedition.com/images/investigative_images/j-edwards.jpg

By which you mean the elevator scene.

Anyway, I find The Shining to be the more terrifying of the two. Because if the events in The Shining really happened it would mean that ghosts exist and they might kill you, and there's really nothing you can do about it. And you might become a ghost too, which doesn't seem fun. Whereas with The Exorcist witnessing the devil possess somebody means God certainly exists, in which case why fear ghosts and/or death?

In other words, while both would involve a catastrophic shift in worldview, The Shining just adds to the horror of death while The Exorcist confirms good and evil as forces external to humanity which gives you a plan of action... be good and God will look after you.

Shouldn't you be composing a thread about Wendy James' undercarriage by this point instead of showcasing your low standards?

This makes the movie for me. Especially the two dogs fighting under the Pazuzu statue. Isn't the new Exorcist film that Renny Harlin directed supposed to about young Father Merrin?

Or have you perhaps not even seen the thing?

My comment was more a flippant aside about your input to ILX as a whole, not about "Zombie Flesh Eaters" (which, though a classic it may indeed be, has a title that would suggest otherwise).

Seeing Zombie Flesh-Eaters doesn't make me feel more superior at all, but your dismissal of a film because of its title (is it really any more garish than - say - "Night of the Living Dead" or "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"?) is rather ridiculous. Especially since you were attempting to place two films above it based on this alone.

Indeed, Zombie Flesh Eaters is the most anticipated DVD release of the year for horror fans. It's coming out in a two disc set which has been years in the making. You should pick up - the American title is just Zombie.

As far as "Day of the Dead" goes, I'm sorry to say that I simply didn't find it that compelling. Moreover, I don't place the opinions of "horror fans" (i.e. those who read "Fangoria" et al.) on an especially high pedestal.

That all said, your description of "Zombie" and/or "Zombie Flesh Eaters" does sound promising, and I do promise to check it out at some point. I think the basis for my initial comment (the one about you composing a thread about Wendy James' undercarriage) has more to do with your tirelessly negative comments. Fine. We get it. You don't like either "The Exorcist" or "the Shining". What more needs be said, then?

From The Kubrick Site ( http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/ ):

http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0052.html

http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0021.html

The original, famously banned 1973 trailer for The Exorcist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u15h02Y0MDY

Still one of the scariest things ever.

By the way, I don't really get the opposition made upthread between The Exorcist and movies like Night Of The Living Dead or Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
All these films truly belong to the golden era of the American horror - intelligent, cold, brutal, terrifying.

Agreed.

I was surprised to read this thread and find my 5-yrs-younger self so invested in it.

The original, famously banned 1973 trailer for The Exorcist

Banned for what? Giving Japanese children seizures?

Apparently it was considered too scary and excessive.
I still find it somehow disturbing.

admittedly i'm coming from a position of thinking the movie's the most terrifying thing i've ever seen - but yeah that trailer's pretty fucked up.

The trailer needs more of the sound. The movie borderline sadistic toward the audience, but the sound may be the cruelest thing of all. And the best thing, obv.

I'm surprised, but the site I linked upthread is still online. It's filled with movie sounds, in all the most unnecessary places. I've still never come across a website that's better to not only annoy your roommates, but actually make them feel like they need to call their parents to tell them they love them, for reasons they cannot explain.

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

"The trailer needs more of the sound. The movie borderline sadistic toward the audience, but the sound may be the cruelest thing of all. And the best thing, obv."

Great soundtrack: Penderecki, Webern, it also includes a short track from one of the weirdest album of the 70's, Wind Harp's "Songs from the Hill". And that Tubular Bells excerpt, of course.

From that site, a very interesting page. Presented here without the frame, and so without the sound, which otherwise plays on a random loop forever, and never gets less unsettling.

http://theexorcist.warnerbros.com/cmp/silencebottom.html

Considering that Mercedes McCambridge had also one of the scariest faces ever, everything comes full circle!

http://flattland.com/images/giant_6.jpg

Can't find any picture of her demonic uncredited cameo on Orson Welles' Touch of Evil.
She was an incredible actress.

Especially when tied to a chair, apparently.

it also includes a short track from one of the weirdest album of the 70's, Wind Harp's "Songs from the Hill".

wow thanks -- some quick googling makes this record sound totally fascinating

I find the exorcist pretty hilarious. Impossible for me to conceive of it scaring anyone. I'm catholic btw.

do you find any movies scary and if so which ones

wld love to front but exorcist scared shit out of me, and prob still would.

shining doesn't tho.

i love the exorcist so much it hurts

best thing about the exorcist is the old cop tho.

shld have been him and von sydow in the bucket list for ultimate win

I occasionally find films scary. More usual for me to find a film a little creepy. The shining has its moments in that respect.

Holy crap that page with the looped sound effects. DISTURBING.

I enjoy the Exorcist, it's a great movie, but I've never found it particularly frightening/scary, even as a kid. I dunno if this is just because I don't identify at all with all the Catholic/Satan silliness (I'm Jewish) or what. The Shining, on the other hand, is truly menacing and seems to resonate on a deeper, more profound psychological level. Like, there's nothing in the Exorcist for me to be afraid of - this is the worst the Devil can do? Make a little girl levitate and vomit guacamole? what's so threatening about that? Satan's kinda a pussy if that's all he can manage... by contrast, the Shining is about a building that basically eats people, about family members becoming murderous nutjobs etc.

Agree that the music in both of these is really key to their effectiveness tho.

Hey I've never seen the Exorcist. I know there are a number of different versions out there. Which would you recommend watching first?

They're both kind of shit, The Shining isn't a patch on the novel, I quite liked the song at the end though. The Exorcist is hilariously dated to watch now. If you want a horror film that is dated and still has the capacity to fuck with you long after you've watched it, check out Brian Yuzna's Society.

xpost to Shakey:
The theological stuff doesn't really get me either (or seem terribly important to the movie as much more than a plot device), but not being a Catholic or religious I can't really say anything about it. I'd love to hear/read more from a Catholic perspective though. But what does work for me is the psychological angle- seeing someone you know and love become a totally different person is some seriously frightening shit. Anyone who's ever lost a loved one to mental illness or Alzheimer's can tell you that. And it works on a lot of parental anxieties as well; even though I'm just as far from those as for the religious stuff, the hospital scenes are heartbreaking, and the bit at the dinner party ("You're going to die up there") is somehow way more upsetting than the overtly Satanic stuff (mother, cocks, hell etc).

Plus, Friedkin's way less patient than Kubrick and more willing to OH HOLY SHIT BEHIND YOU IN THE THEATER BLARGH

note to self: thesaurus. "stuff" three times, jesus H

Oh and Society! Yes! Nice to see someone else remembers that movie, it deserves way more attention than it ever got.

Hell yes! Seriously couldn't eat anything wet looking for days after I saw that.

by contrast, the Shining is about a building that basically eats people, about family members becoming murderous nutjobs etc.

Exorcist is also about family members becoming murderous nutjobs tbqf. Little girl straight-up murders Burke (director of mom's movie) by throwing him out a window.