When Friedkin Possessed Us All
“That's the thing about human life--there is no control group, no way to ever know how any of us would have turned out if any variables had been changed.”― Daniel Keyes
Fifty years ago, on the day after Christmas, 1973, The Exorcist took possession of movie theaters everywhere, changing the horror movie genre forever. The film, directed by William Friedkin, who passed away this week at 87, proved that horror movies could push the boundaries of disturbing imagery while being both critically and commercially successful. The story of Regan MacNeil, played by a young Linda Blair, whose body was possessed by Satan, is still thought of as one of the scariest films ever, one I still would not show my child (who loves horror). The images that Friedkin conjured—a head completely rotating around a body, the words “help me” jutting out of the body-slamming Blair, the deep slashes on her face, the darkly sexual use of the crucifix—burned their way into our deepest fears. Even with modern advancements in filmmaking which make us, the modern movie watcher, more prone to disregard the special effects of the past, The Exorcist defies time and advancement.
The American horror movie had been in a rut for years before the film was released. Since Rosemary’s Baby in 1968, besides Willard in 1971 which seemed more like a “one-off” than a movement, not much was finding an audience. 1972, the year before the Exorcist, was a pretty low year for the genre. True, Wes Craven’s film debut Last House On The Left was a small success, more importantly offering a glimpse into what the future held in the torture department, and Silent Night, Bloody Night prophesied the slasher film, but most of the offerings were underground features (I go over the 1972 horror year in The Signal from last Halloween).
But Friedkin’s film changed all that. Friedkin was a part of the New Hollywood movement of filmmakers, who also included Francis Ford Copolla, Peter Bogdanovich, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and dozens of others, who could use new advancements in filmmaking to make films cheaper…give a new realism to the look and feel of the film’s aesthetic…add grit to the storytelling while also experimenting with the narrative. Friedkin had just come off of a huge success with his classic film The French Connection, which earned him an Oscar and the ability to pick his next project more freely. He decided to push the limits of how to scare an audience with a story based on a book by William Blatty (called “the Exorcist”) that until Friedkin’s involvement had been unsuccessfully batted about Hollywood.
It was the post-Vietnam cold-war generation, where the brutalities of war and the fear of the enemy from within were baked into the societal consciousness, what a better manifestation of the moment than a pretty little girl being possessed by Satan…attacking those who love her, vomiting on and killing those who try to save her. With Hollywood legends such as Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, and Lee J. Cob starring alongside the young Linda Blair…and with a huge marketing budget as the push, the lead up to the films’ release sparked the public interest. With its release…when the awaiting public could see the film which mightily delivered on the scares it promised…it became the most talked about cultural event of the year (would you dare to see it?) ultimately grossing 193 million dollars at the box office (the highest grossing film of the year).
What is more, the film was even celebrated by the church. The Warner Bros. studios’ marketing department offered as a main image for the posters and the adds not the crazed face of the possessed, but instead the silhouette of a priest seemingly looking up from the darkness into the light, the light of the room that contains the person he must exorcise, looking up into the light of faith. The tagline: “Something beyond comprehension is happening to a girl on this street, in this house . . . a man has been sent for as a last resort. That man is The Exorcist.” There is horror from within—and it will scare the shit out of you—but don’t worry: the church is here. Ultimately, Friedkin figured out a way to create a film that showcase crazed, beautifully disgusting horror while getting pastors from around the country to advertise it in their sermons1.
The Exorcist birthed the next era of American horror films. The following year offered The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the next (and more obvious through-line) The Omen in 1976 where Satan comes back, this time in the form of a young boy (featuring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick). By 1977 the US Horror film was alive and well, taking us into the 1980s with classic after blood-stained classic.
And it all started fifty years ago with The Exorcist and the brilliant directing of William Friedkin (RIP).
Archaeologists Unearth Ancient Mosaic of Winged Medusa in Spain
“Although this image diverges from some contemporary renditions of the mythological figure, the mosaic’s winged version was common in Ancient portrayals of Medusa. While early Greek depictions of the mortal-turned-monster, cruelly punished for being raped by the god Poseidon, show her as grotesque, Medusa’s image softened by the time of the Ancient Romans.”
This is a great interview…that gets better and deeper as it goes along…by High Times journalist Stephen Laddin with George Brown. I saw Kool & The Gang just a year ago and they BROUGHT IT.
Man of the People The history and context of Aleksandr Afanasev’s obscene Russian folktales
“Rudeness has consequences in fairy tales. Strangers met on the road may be more than they seem, so politeness is prudent. If a farmer is working his land and a passing old man asks what he’s sowing, he had better not answer, “I’m sowing cocks!” if he doesn’t want three-foot-tall phalluses sprouting in his field at harvest time. This is the lesson of “A Crop of Cocks,” one of more than a hundred obscene folktales compiled by the nineteenth-century Russian ethnographer Aleksandr Afanasev. The farmer ends up selling some of his unexpected bounty—which can move on command—to a wealthy noblewoman, who uses them as proto-vibrators.”
Florida schools plan to use only excerpts from Shakespeare to avoid ‘raunchiness’
This might be more horrifying than The Exorcist. I guess that means they won’t be teaching Aleksandr Afanasev anytime soon in Florida!
New space art project aims to put thousands of works onto the surface of the moon
What a project: “The project will see around 30,000 works of art, literature, music, film, theatre and more—some of them original commissions, most of them pre-existing works—sent to sites on the moon’s surface aboard three landing modules scheduled for liftoff between November 2023 and November 2024.”
John Gosling, keyboardist for the Kinks, dies at 75
Gosling added such greatness to those Kinks records that he played on…epic stuff like his work on Celluloid Heroes. RIP.
summer and winter
By: Larry Eigner
summer and winter
trees
near each other
lengths of time subside
shadows change
towards what sleep may be, dream
the stars
islands of the south
going round
and the sun returns always
the thought of motion, the stir
clearing the horizon
to lie down on the earth
red leaves scattered
as the green comes to light
In regard to mixing the religion and horror, the most successful horror movie franchise ever began just a decade ago, the Conjuring Universe, which tells the stories of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren as they attempt to rid the world of Satanic possessions and other forms of evil, while deeply connected to Catholic Church (right up to the pope). The Warrens are the new super heroes of the faith/horror genre, a mix that continues to rock the box office internationally.
I have memories of The Exorcist being shown, presumably edited, on broadcast TV. Did this really happen? Because it seems like that would never happen. 🤔