The Exorcist was already a legendary movie shortly after it got released. I think it reached legendary status pretty darn quickly. As a director, William Friedkin got to see people praise his movie for 50 years. He was alive for 50 more years after the movie's release to see his film's legacy as one of the great horror movies of all-time. He was very fortunate to live that long after releasing such a legendary film. A few years ago, I searched for a lot of old magazines on eBay that did their own ratings for greatest horror movies of all-time. Those were good fines. Some magazines did top 100 ratings. Others did top 50 ratings. Others top 25. It wasn't easy searching for those magazines. Most of the magazines that rated the greatest horror films came out between the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s. Although there was one that came out like 6 or 7 years ago.

Thank you friend.

Congratulations on passing 100 subscribers. 👏🏻

@reel_reflections

10 ай бұрын

Thanks @cheekster777! I certainly didn't even expect it, not this soon at least!

I was lucky enough to see this film whilst studying at uni at an odeon on its wide UK theatrical re-release in 1998. My then friend, now wife, laughed all the way through (this is a way some deal with frightening states) and I didn't therefore get fully absorbed into it. Then I got blu ray April 2020 during lock down and maybe due to that lockdown mental state I found huge amount of respect for it. I think this film is a masterpiece as a dramatic film and the greatest American horror ever (and I am not a big horror film fan) . Outside of this I mostly admire some Japanese horror (Kwaidan and 90's j-horror) . Much of the greatest of The Exorcist stems from the writer and director working so closely together and agreeing on the vision and story. The book itself (which I've read) is great and a can't-put-down read. The book is based on a true exorcism of a teenage boy that took place in Maryland US in 1949. What I most admire is that Friedkin is questioning the reality of this situation; what do we observe? and how does it impacts us? (it's like a quantum physics question - if good and evil exists in reality, does it need us to observe it ourselves for it to manifest/be real)? I think the scares/horror were secondly for me (pure entertainment) Yes, it was an event film on the surface, but the director and writer made an artful piece below that surface which blossoms on repeat viewings and that depends on your mental state at the time of viewing it. Thanks for the review!

@reel_reflections

10 ай бұрын

Great & thoughtful comment @heartofcinema3454! I think your observations are really interesting and The Exorcist certainly merits such worthy observations. What's more revealing, and feeds into what I've been thinking about since, is your admitted lack of general interest in horror and how your tastes follow from that. I think The Exorcist gets a lot of the plaudits it does by ironically gaining a 'respectability' from 'outside' of horror.

@heartofcinema3454

10 ай бұрын

@@reel_reflections Thanks for the reply and comments. Yes, I kind of see your perspective. I actually prefer psychological ghost horror/drama films, such as Hitchcock’s Psycho, Carrie, The Omen 1, Excorist, and then J-horror like Kwaidan, Cure, Ring and Pulse - these are psychological drama’s and have the focus on the Paranormal, faith, technological and most importantly the Human condition, rather than just the mechanics of trying to scare the audience outright. I have never been one for slasher flicks either, instead I find films like The Shining and The Vanishing (George Sluizer’s Danish version) far more terrifying than a typical Halloween sequel. For me the Excorist is 80% human drama and 20% paranormal horror. Just the way I see the world.

Great video! Just subbed!

@reel_reflections

10 ай бұрын

Thank you @modernpeasants7 for the sub! Glad you enjoyed the video.

Great timing. I plan to watch the new 4K UHD soon. Did consider watching it at the cinema but there are very few performances available and the timings and locations don’t really work for me.

@reel_reflections

10 ай бұрын

I actually mention in the video how I've never seen it in the cinema but would want to. But as with older films typically it can be hard to catch a screening nearby as you say.

@cheekster777

10 ай бұрын

@@reel_reflections - One of the other issues I have with re-releases of much older movies like this one in cinemas is that inevitably they are almost always in the smaller screens, certainly local to me. I go to the cinema to watch movies on the biggest screen possible which means often going during the opening week.