Classic horror pt 1. The exorcist,Hellraiser

What I’m gonna watch next is based on my instincts, that means absolutely nobody, not even me, has any idea what will be watched next.

So i decided to watch some old horror movies just cuz why not.

The exorcists is interesting to say the very least, this is the movie that effectively started everything, every exorcism you’ve seen. Every weird girl ghost in a gown. Every christian horror movie. It all originates from this one film.

And you would assume that just because of this, the movie would be basic. Just a simple exorcism ghost story.

But weirdly enough that’s just not the case. The exorcist stands out even now as a horror movie.

When this was released it made an insane amount of money (quite unusual for a horror film). People started having seizures in the theatres, audience genuinely believed this movie was cursed.

But what is it about it that I like so much??

Well you see the exorcist is a story about this girl called regan. She moves into a new home with her mom and what happens after is just a slow detailed depiction of a possession. It starts from basic things such as her bed shaking or her starting to swear. But then it slowly takes over everything.

In modern horror movies in a similar vein. Normally when this happens the first response of the “problem solver” characters is to immediately assume it’s a ghost and start an exorcism.

But in the exorcist we spend a long amount of time simply trying to find other ways to solve the problem. In fact the exorcism itself is treated as an exceptional last resort.

And it’s a diplomatic process to even start an exorcism. The priest spends some time trying to prove to the church that the girl even needs it. (Even after her head turns 360)

However what surprised me the most is how much time we spend with the priest himself. Even before the exorcism the priest is present just as a parallel character in the movie.

The film shows his personal life and his struggles in it. Doing a great job of both humanising his character and depicting his struggle with his human beliefs.

If you read the book, it’s never actually supposed to be clear whether the girl is even possessed or not. And even though the film tends to favor the possession. It still helps to know this before watching.

8/10. Actually surprisingly good horror.

Hellraiser

Now this is weird as fuck, hellraiser is a story about a cube that converts your room into a portable bdsm chamber of eternal suffering. There is no other way to describe it.

The story is about this guy who ends up opening (then escaping) the cube and the woman who is in love with him. And since he needs human blood to completely come back to life. The woman starts bringing him random men to feed on.

If this was made today this would be a shitfest 100%

But somehow it works fine. Now I wont say the plot is some masterpiece that would change the way you see movies. But it does it’s job. And even though this film is not even remotely scary. It is entertaining to say the least.

6/10. Interesting