For people who were around when the first Exorcist movie came out?!
Question: I was watching the E! True Hollywood Story about it and they said that it was so shocking for the time that people left the theaters in droves, had heart attacks and threw up. Is that true? For a movie?
Answers: I was watching the E! True Hollywood Story about it and they said that it was so shocking for the time that people left the theaters in droves, had heart attacks and threw up. Is that true? For a movie?
That is true. My mother has a funny story about the film - she saw it in the theater with my father. At one particularly scary part, everyone in the theater was screaming, including my mother. All of a sudden, something landed right into her lap which scared her even more - it was the wig of the woman sitting in front of her! She threw her head back so hard when she screamed that the wig flew off her head! I think my mother almost had a heart attack when that happened!
I saw the movie and had bad dreams for awhile after it. I still don't like thinking about that movie much.
YES! When I watched it, the next day I woke up and immediately threw up. "The Gate" made me do that too.
To this day, I refuse to watch it.
It was the scariest movie I've ever seen - still is...totally gave me the creeps - still does.
That is completely untrue! They had incidents in which people became ill for two reasons:
1) the pea soup scene
2) sound systems turned up so loudly that the bass tones caused nausea and, for some people, vomiting
Actually, some people said that they were bothered more by the scenes of the medical tests that she endured, all of which were presented exactly as they are done. I remember reading articles and behind-the-scenes items, including a couple of books.about the film. I watched interviews, too.
Remember that the novel had been out for some time, so people knew the story and pretty well knew what to expect in the film; perhaps they thought that some of that would be left out Sure enough, they went for the grossout though there was no way around some of it. However, I always thought that the effects were quite crude-looking and obvious, such as the head-spinning scene, which is laughable! No wonder it has been parodied so much. I truly doubt that "people left the theaters in droves", and I really doubt that there were any heart attacks. I think "The Exorcist" has a bigger reputation than it can back up. People still talk about how frightening it is, but I could never see that~only distaste, not fear.
I remember sitting in my mom's hospital room reading the novel and finding it far more unsettling than the movie turned out to be. Maybe I had too clear an image in my mind that no effects in 1973 could match. I found it the film disappointing and truly embarrassing at times, especially considering their child star was used in scenes that were over the edge. I tend to be disturbed by movies that seem to put the film first and the child or children last. The Chucky series certainly is one that concerns me. I'm even more conscious of this since reading articles about what transpired on the set of the short-lived TV series "Millennium".
Actors and actresses complained about their treatment under the direction of William Friedkin and still talk about it today. A couple of them sustained injuries that developed into chronic pain. They went through a great deal of mental and physical stress in the making of this film. Maybe that somehow communicates to the audience.
No one became ill in the audiences I was in, but there were some screams and covered faces. It didn't seem to affect anyone's consumption of concessions according to the people I talked to before and after showings. I was curious because I had heard all sorts of wild reports. Maybe in the Midwest they didn't get as shaken up as other places. I saw it in three cities, by the way.
Yes, No, and Yes again in the order of your questions.
Yes to leaving, No to a heart attack, that is a legend, and yes to the throwing up, that did happen.