"Classics" you just don't get.

[Trevor]

THE EXORCIST scared the entire nation (I'm talking U.S.A., I assume it was the same elsewhere). I remember when it was in theaters . . . everyone was talking about it . . . church attendance increased . . . TV talk shows had various experts in history and religion as guests . . . it was everywhere. No horror movie since (with the exception of JAWS, which probably scared nearly as many people) has come close to that kind of impact. Not. Even. Close.

It was banned for almost twenty years in South Africa: the sequels too. 

[RCMerchant]

DANCES WITH WOLVES.
That f**king movie.
I like westerns. I LOVE Westerns. I can't stand that movie.

[Alex]

DANCES WITH WOLVES.
That f**king movie.
I like westerns. I LOVE Westerns. I can't stand that movie.

They've remade it quite a few times I hear. I believe 'The Last Samurai' and 'Avatar' are just two of them.

[RCMerchant]

DANCES WITH WOLVES.
That f**king movie.
I like westerns. I LOVE Westerns. I can't stand that movie.

They've remade it quite a few times I hear. I believe 'The Last Samurai' and 'Avatar' are just two of them.

Don't even get me started with AVATAR. 

[Alex]

DANCES WITH WOLVES.
That f**king movie.
I like westerns. I LOVE Westerns. I can't stand that movie.

They've remade it quite a few times I hear. I believe 'The Last Samurai' and 'Avatar' are just two of them.

Don't even get me started with AVATAR. 

I used to work with a guy who looked just like one of the aliens from Avatar. One Hallowe'en he just painted himself blue for his costume.

[FatFreddysCat]

I can't stand Wizard of Oz but that may stem from the trauma of my star turn as the Cowardly Lion in a 5th grade stage production of it. Clomping around on stage in front of the entire school wearing a scratchy fake lion's mane (and a tail pinned to the back of my pants) was bad enough, but the girl who played Dorothy was a total b***h whose voice hadn't changed yet. Listening to that chick croak her way through "Over the Rainbow" for weeks on end during rehearsals was pure torture. To this day if I hear that song, I cringe like I've been shot.

[RCMerchant]

DANCES WITH WOLVES.
That f**king movie.
I like westerns. I LOVE Westerns. I can't stand that movie.

They've remade it quite a few times I hear. I believe 'The Last Samurai' and 'Avatar' are just two of them.

Don't even get me started with AVATAR. 

I used to work with a guy who looked just like one of the aliens from Avatar. One Hallowe'en he just painted himself blue for his costume.

Well, That's just f**king creepy. 

I can't stand Wizard of Oz but that may stem from the trauma of my star turn as the Cowardly Lion in a 5th grade stage production of it. Clomping around on stage in front of the entire school wearing a scratchy fake lion's mane (and a tail pinned to the back of my pants) was bad enough, but the girl who played Dorothy was a total b***h whose voice hadn't changed yet. Listening to that chick croak her way through "Over the Rainbow" for weeks on end during rehearsals was pure torture. To this day if I hear that song, I cringe like I've been shot.

That makes total sense.   

[RCMerchant]

...

THE EXCORCIST... like a boring tv movie. not scary, not tense, not thought provoking. a slog to get through.
...

You have seen too many grotesque movies... THE EXORCIST is a great film that could not get made today.   Hell, it ain't FRIDAY THE 13TH, there is a literate script at the heart of THE EXORCIST.  

THE EXORCIST scared the entire nation (I'm talking U.S.A., I assume it was the same elsewhere). I remember when it was in theaters . . . everyone was talking about it . . . church attendance increased . . . TV talk shows had various experts in history and religion as guests . . . it was everywhere. No horror movie since (with the exception of JAWS, which probably scared nearly as many people) has come close to that kind of impact. Not. Even. Close.

You hit the nail on the head right there. I remember as a kid all the devil s**t on TV and at the news stand.
That's where I got my comics and monster magazines and cheap paperbacks.. Satan s**t in books and magazines was everywhere!
And Karen Carpenter was on the radio- along with Led Zeppilin!
I seen the EXORCIST at the Strand in 1974. Scared the s**t out of me.

[FatFreddysCat]

I've been meaning to re-visit the Exorcist for a long time now but haven't gotten around to it yet.

When I was a kid in the 70s that had the ultimate rep around the school yard - legend had it that Exorcist was THE most pants-poopingly, mentally-scarring, most terrifying movie ever made, and if you watched even a little bit of it you'd have nightmares for the rest of your life. So naturally I avoided it like the plague, cuz I was a wuss when I was a kid. (haha)

Years later (late '80s), I finally saw The Exorcist when I was in college - but by that point I was a well seasoned horror fan who'd seen tons and tons of scary movies, and after all those years of building it up in my mind, The Exorcist didn't pack the wallop I had been expecting. I remember thinking "That's it? What's the big deal?"

It's been at least 30 years since I last saw it and I wonder what I would think of it by now.

[RCMerchant]

I've been meaning to re-visit the Exorcist for a long time now but haven't gotten around to it yet.

When I was a kid in the 70s that had the ultimate rep around the school yard - legend had it that Exorcist was THE most pants-poopingly, mentally-scarring, most terrifying movie ever made, and if you watched even a little bit of it you'd have nightmares for the rest of your life. So naturally I avoided it like the plague, cuz I was a wuss when I was a kid. (haha)

Years later (late '80s), I finally saw The Exorcist when I was in college - but by that point I was a well seasoned horror fan who'd seen tons and tons of scary movies, and after all those years of building it up in my mind, The Exorcist didn't pack the wallop I had been expecting. I remember thinking "That's it? What's the big deal?"

It's been at least 30 years since I last saw it and I wonder what I would think of it by now.

You gotta remember- at the time horror movies were about Frankenstein and Dracula and things from Outer Space.
Films like the EXORCIST, LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, and the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE were all sharing marquees.
This was not my Daddy's horror movie! This wasn't late night uhf channel Creature Features. This s**t freaked me out.
I thought it was all great. 

[Allhallowsday]

I've been meaning to re-visit the Exorcist for a long time now but haven't gotten around to it yet.

When I was a kid in the 70s that had the ultimate rep around the school yard - legend had it that Exorcist was THE most pants-poopingly, mentally-scarring, most terrifying movie ever made, and if you watched even a little bit of it you'd have nightmares for the rest of your life. So naturally I avoided it like the plague, cuz I was a wuss when I was a kid. (haha)

Years later (late '80s), I finally saw The Exorcist when I was in college - but by that point I was a well seasoned horror fan who'd seen tons and tons of scary movies, and after all those years of building it up in my mind, The Exorcist didn't pack the wallop I had been expecting. I remember thinking "That's it? What's the big deal?"

It's been at least 30 years since I last saw it and I wonder what I would think of it by now.

You gotta remember- at the time horror movies were about Frankenstein and Dracula and things from Outer Space.
Films like the EXORCIST, LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, and the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE were all sharing marquees.
This was not my Daddy's horror movie! This wasn't late night uhf channel Creature Features. This s**t freaked me out.
I thought it was all great. 

 

I hate LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT... but it is a very important film. 

[Svengoolie 3]

DANCES WITH WOLVES.
That f**king movie.
I like westerns. I LOVE Westerns. I can't stand that movie.

They've remade it quite a few times I hear. I believe 'The Last Samurai' and 'Avatar' are just two of them.

Don't even get me started with AVATAR. 

I used to work with a guy who looked just like one of the aliens from Avatar. One Hallowe'en he just painted himself blue for his costume.

he may have had marfan syndrome.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marfan_syndrome

[zombie no.one]

I've been meaning to re-visit the Exorcist for a long time now but haven't gotten around to it yet.

When I was a kid in the 70s that had the ultimate rep around the school yard - legend had it that Exorcist was THE most pants-poopingly, mentally-scarring, most terrifying movie ever made, and if you watched even a little bit of it you'd have nightmares for the rest of your life. So naturally I avoided it like the plague, cuz I was a wuss when I was a kid. (haha)

Years later (late '80s), I finally saw The Exorcist when I was in college - but by that point I was a well seasoned horror fan who'd seen tons and tons of scary movies, and after all those years of building it up in my mind, The Exorcist didn't pack the wallop I had been expecting. I remember thinking "That's it? What's the big deal?"

It's been at least 30 years since I last saw it and I wonder what I would think of it by now.

similar type of story here... I wasn't born when it came out, but it was banned here in the uk so developed a similar kind of schoolyard reputation of being THE scariest film ever. It finally got unbanned here in 1998 (iirc) and cinemas started showing it. I went to a screening and not only were people openly laughing at it (right from the start), but I also fell asleep from boredom. The only other time I've ever fallen asleep in a cinema was for GIRL WITH THE PEARL EARRING!

I've tried 3 or 4 more times since then to properly watch it but it never works for me. Interestingly Mark Kermode thinks it's the best film ever, and he's probably my favourite film critic.

[Allhallowsday]

... I wasn't born when it came out, but it was banned here in the uk so developed a similar kind of schoolyard reputation of being THE scariest film ever. It finally got unbanned here in 1998 (iirc) and cinemas started showing it. I went to a screening and not only were people openly laughing at it (right from the start), but I also fell asleep from boredom. The only other time I've ever fallen asleep in a cinema was for GIRL WITH THE PEARL EARRING!

I've tried 3 or 4 more times since then to properly watch it but it never works for me. Interestingly Mark Kermode thinks it's the best film ever, and he's probably my favourite film critic.

I think when THE EXORCIST came out, the critics and movie going public were shocked, not so much by the film's scariness as by its vulgarity, obscenity, and depravity.  Plus, it had serious actors like ELLEN BURSTYN and MAX VON SYDOW and LEE J. COBB.  Forget Horror if need be, but the film is a big F U to religion... aside from any horror or sh!t movies out there, there is NOTHING like THE EXORCIST.  It's a rare cinematic animal.  It's unique. 

[zombie no.one]

fair enough AHD, I respect the opinion of anyone who happens to think it's deserving of classic status.

I'm half tempted to think it's a case of 'maybe you just had to be there'.. but of course that kind of thing shouldn't apply to truly classic movies. ...it is what it is, I guess.