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Audiences at the original run of ‘The Exorcist’ losing their shit
10.25.2018
10:48 am
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Toronto
 
While I love The Exorcist and watch it at least once a year—wherever Penderecki is booming from big speakers, I’ll be there—I’m unable to see it without thinking about hype, suggestibility and mass hysteria. Most promotional campaigns for horror movies are more or less artful variations on the tagline Dudley Moore’s ad man comes up with in Crazy People: “It will fuck you up for life!” Rumors of a cursed set, damned celluloid and occult frames were for The Exorcist what $1,000 life insurance policies were to William Castle’s Macabre. Since its release, the movie has benefited from the outsize expectations first-time viewers bring to it.

When I was growing up, I regularly heard The Exorcist cited not only as the scariest movie ever made, but as the legitimate exemplar of subliminal techniques in filmmaking. The first time I saw the movie (on VHS), I remember noticing that at least some of these subliminal images I had heard so much about, the ones that had supposedly been engineered to make you puke and cry from abject terror, were plainly visible to the naked eye when the tape played at normal speed; seemed pretty superliminal to me. If you’re aware that you just saw a flash cut of a ghoulish face, is it your unconscious mind that’s being manipulated, or your fear of subliminal editing?
 

Westwood
 
The widespread belief that the movie used modern techniques of mind control probably had more to do with the reaction it provoked in audiences than anything William “Fuck them where they breathe” Friedkin did in the editing room. As with The Blair Witch Project, an inferior movie similarly hyped, audiences were primed for terror by hyperbolic news reports and hours standing in line, anticipating the most traumatizing experience modern media could deliver.

Below, in local news footage, audiences at the original theatrical run of The Exorcist wait for hours to buy tickets. There is much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth among those exiting the theaters. An usher describes the crackups he’s seen, and some moviegoers step into the lobby to get some air mid-screening. Smelling salts are requested.

In other words, it’s a pop sensation! What’s more reminiscent of The Exorcist than the shrieks, sobs and streams of urine that greeted matinee performances by Frank Sinatra and the Beatles?
 

 

Posted by Oliver Hall
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10.25.2018
10:48 am
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How ‘The Exorcist’ score came together after the director rejected Lalo Schifrin & Bernard Herrmann
10.31.2017
08:43 am
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Poster
Pakistani poster.

William Friedkin’s horror film, The Exorcist, has been scaring the pants off of moviegoers—as well as making viewers nauseous—since its 1973 release. Even with all of its terrifying and stomach-churning imagery, the picture wouldn’t have been nearly as intense if it weren’t for the hair-raising soundtrack. It’s surprising, then, that director Friedkin hadn’t intended to use the music that ended up as the score for The Exorcist.

Friedkin had first turned to Bernard Herrmann—perhaps the greatest composer in the history of film—to see if he might be up for scoring The Exorcist. To Friedkin’s delight, Hermann was interested, so the director set up a screening. But it did not go well. At all. Recently, Friedkin wrote about the experience:

When he [Herrmann] came out of the screening room he said, “I might be able to help you with this piece of shit, but you’ll have to leave it with me, and I’ll see if I can come up with something.” I had heard he was an abrasive, no-bullshit guy, outspoken to the point of insult. Still, I was stunned at his reaction.

“Leave it with you?”

“Yeah, and when I’m done I’ll mail you a score,” he snapped.

“You’re not interested in my input or ideas?” I asked.

He cracked a weary smile. “Hey kid, how many pictures have you made? I’ve been writing music for forty years.”

“I love your music, but I’m too close to this film to just have you, or anyone else, mail me a score,” I replied.

“Lemme tell ya something,” he said. “You gotta get rid of that first scene, whatever it is in the desert. I don’t understand it and nobody else will either. The picture doesn’t start until you see that kid in her bedroom.”

Now he was losing me. “Out of curiosity,” I said, “what sort of score do you think this needs?”

“There’s a medieval church called St. Giles Cripplegate in the Barbican Center,” he said, “It’s got an amazing organ and beautiful acoustics. That’s where I’d record the score.”

“A church organ for The Exorcist? I don’t think so,” I said. My hostility was now echoing his.

I shook his hand and said, “Thanks for letting me meet an interesting person,” turned, and left. I respect Herrmann, and still love his work, but what good is it if you’re not on the same page?

 
Regan
 
Friedkin then went to another big name in film scoring, Lalo Schifrin. The two came to an agreement, with Friedkin explaining to Schifrin that he wanted chamber music—pieces played by a small group of musicians and similar to what he had been using as his temporary score. Friedkin:

On the first day of recording, he booked what I remember to be about 80 musicians, many of them playing electrified instruments. There were four or five percussionists. This wasn’t going to be chamber music. The first cue he laid down was brassy, percussive, and loud, not at all what we discussed, but the assembled musicians all applauded when he finished.

I took him aside. “Lalo, this isn’t what I asked for.” He seemed surprised.

“What’s wrong?” He asked. “It’s too big,” I said. “It’ll drown out the sound effects and dialogue.”

We went into the control room and he asked the main recording engineer to play back the tracks. They almost blew the speakers out. He walked over to the master dial on the recording panel. “I see the problem” he said, and turned the overall level down. It sounded like 80 guys playing lower. It was completely inappropriate for the film.

I shook my head, “This isn’t going to work.”

When Schifrin refused to change a thing, Friedkin found himself back at square one.
 
Collage
Schifrin, Friedkin, and Herrmann.

With the release date for the movie approaching, Friedkin ended up going with what he had been using as the temporary score (though the music would have to be re-recorded, due to rights issues), plus some additional pieces. The classical works used in The Exorcist—especially those written by the Polish composer, Krzysztof Penderecki—are totally unnerving, filled with “stabbing” violins that recall Bernard Herrmann’s score for Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Still, Friedkin felt there was still something that was missing. He spent three days in the Warner Bros. music library in the hope of finding something resembling a lullaby. Once again, here’s Friedkin:

After listening to and discarding everything after a few bars, I came across a track called “Tubular Bells” by someone named Mike Oldfield on a new label in England, Virgin Records. After the opening motif, which I found haunting, the rest of the track was a kind of demonstration of the sound made by various bells. But, that opening motif, it was perfect.

“Tubular Bells” is taken from Oldfield’s 1973 LP of the same name, which consists of two side-long pieces (this was the era of prog rock, remember). As Friedkin implied, the section of “Tubular Bells” used for the film is taken from the opening minutes of the album. Though it was really only used for one scene in The Exorcist, “Tubular Bells” became known as the film’s theme. In many countries, a single version was released as such.
 
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Japanese picture sleeve.

Today, Halloween 2017, the good people at Waxwork Records are dropping their LP reissue of the soundtrack to The Exorcist. It’s been remastered from the original master tapes and pressed on 180 gram colored vinyl, with new liner notes penned by William Friedkin (which we quoted from here). This deluxe edition of the soundtrack also includes a booklet and new artwork by Justin Erickson of Phantom City Creative.
 
Waxwork
 
Find out everything you need to know about Waxwork’s reissue of The Exorcist on their website.

After the jump, listen to the premiere of “Georgetown”/“Tubular Bells” from the remastered LP…

READ ON
Posted by Bart Bealmear
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10.31.2017
08:43 am
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The power of Christ compels you: This life-sized ‘Exorcist’ prop sure looks like it needs one
10.30.2017
02:28 pm
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Actress Linda Blair posing alongside a life-sized prop of her character Regan MacNeil from ‘The Exorcist,’ created by Silver Lake, California company, The Scary Closet.
 
Last May I posted about a few of the wicked life-sized puppets and props made by The Scary Closet based in Los Angeles. While their huge, 50-inch puppet of the Tall Man played by the late Angus Scrimm in the Phantasm film series was quite the triumph, The Scary Closet has outdone themselves this time around with their transfixing life-sized prop of Regan MacNeil from The Exorcist in full possessed-by-a-demon mode.

The Scary Closet only made ten life-like props of possessed Regan which were all signed by actress Linda Blair. The incredible prop is so spot-on, The Scary Closet says that it would have gotten a thumbs up from the late Dick Smith, the ingenious makeup artist who gave Blair’s face and body the uncanny appearance of being possessed and abused by the devil himself. Blair has said that the prop is nearly impossible to distinguish from the original one used in The Exorcist and that she was “sure” the molds used by The Scary Closet were crafted from the same ones   formed on the then fourteen-year-old actress. As is the case with high-end pieces such as this it comes with a hefty price tag of $3,995. As of this writing there appear to be only four more realistic Regans that could be used to scare the shit out of anyone with eyes, including those pesky house guests that never take a hint that it’s time for them to go home.

I’ve posted photos of the faux Regan below for you to ponder that are slightly NSFW.
 

 

Blair carefully inspecting the eerie Regan MacNeil prop.
 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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10.30.2017
02:28 pm
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Unintentionally hilarious horror movie-themed anti-smoking PSA


 
This short anti-smoking PSA produced by Enniscorthy Youthreach in conjunction with the Irish Cancer Society has its heart in the right place even if the results are unintentionally hilarious.

The two-minute spot on the terrors of peer-pressure features homages to famous horror villains, including Jack Torrence (“I’ll huff and I’ll puff… MAINLY PUFF”), a Freddy Krueger with cigarette fingers instead of knives, Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Ghostface, Chucky, Hannibal Lecter, and a Reagan McNeil who, in the best scene of the video, vomits a whole carton’s worth of cigs at the protagonist. 

In the end, we find that this was all the hospital-bed nightmare of someone ostensibly dying of lung cancer.

The storyline, acting, makeup, and special effects are all gloriously no-budget and awesomely terrible, making this, perhaps, the most entertaining anti-smoking PSA of all recorded time.

Watch it after the jump…

READ ON
Posted by Christopher Bickel
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08.25.2017
08:45 am
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Horror movie-themed piñatas based on ‘The Evil Dead,’ ‘The Exorcist,’ ‘Halloween’ & more
03.15.2017
10:05 am
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A piñata of Regan Teresa MacNeil (played by actress Linda Blair) from the 1973 film ‘The Exorcist.’
 
According to the ghouls behind the appropriately titled Etsy page Hang Me, in addition to their various horror-themed piñatas, you can also have one custom made to your specifications. So if you’d really like to bash a piñata version of your boss’s head in until he/she bleeds delicious candy all over you, today is your lucky day pal. 

Of the many piñatas in Hang Me’s shop, which is run by Sam and Tiny Kaleal, I’m particularly impressed with the one made in the image of Regan from The Exorcist in all her possessed-by-a-demon glory clutching a giant cross. The only thing that could possibly make it any cooler than it already is if it could somehow release a bunch of gross day-glow green ooze after being busted open. Hey, a girl can dream. In addition to the piñatas, the shop has a bunch of other cool stuff including fully functional, custom-designed Jiffy Pop popcorn containers that have been reimagined with horror film movie posters. I’ve posted images of my favorites below. 
 

A piñata in the likeness of James “Ash” Williams (played by Bruce Campbell) from the ‘The Evil Dead’ film franchise .
 

A very slashy-looking Michael Myers (from the ‘Halloween’ films) piñata.
 
More horrific piñatas after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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03.15.2017
10:05 am
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The terrifying rejected ‘Exorcist’ soundtrack the director literally threw out a window
01.26.2016
07:59 am
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William Friedkin’s 1973 masterpiece, The Exorcist, was a landmark in horror cinema, a cultural phenomenon, and (if adjusting for inflation) the ninth highest-grossing film of all time.

The film makes minimal use of music—a stylistic choice which gives the film an air of stark realism despite the supernatural events depicted onscreen. Of the minimal music used in the film, most famous is Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells,” which went on to become a smash so huge that it essentially birthed the Virgin empire
 

Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells,” used as the main theme for ‘The Exorcist.’
 
Before Friedkin settled on Oldfield’s prog masterpiece, he had originally commissioned a score from Lalo Schifrin, who had famously done soundtrack work for Cool Hand Luke, Dirty Harry, and the instantly recognizable Mission Impossible TV show theme.
 

Composer/conductor, Lalo Schifrin
 
Schifrin’s atonal Exorcist score was very much in the vein of Krzysztof Penderecki (whose “Cello Concerto No. 1” of Polymorphia was used in the film’s final edit) with the addition of Bernard Herrmann-esque “fright stabs.”

This score was used in an advanced trailer which some have called the “banned trailer.” As the stories go, this trailer literally made audiences sick when it was shown. It’s unclear if the sounds and images were simply upsetting or if the flashing images actually caused seizures in some viewers.

Schifrin, speaking to Score Magazine revealed some of the history of his work and Friedkin’s reaction:

The truth is that it was one of the most unpleasant experiences of my life, but I have recently read that in order to triumph in your life, you may previously have some fails. What happened is that the director, William Friedkin, hired me to write the music for the trailer, six minutes were recorded for the Warner’s edition of the trailer. The people who saw the trailer reacted against the film, because the scenes were heavy and frightening, so most of them went to the toilet to vomit. The trailer was terrific, but the mix of those frightening scenes and my music, which was also a very difficult and heavy score, scared the audiences away. So, the Warner Brothers executives said Friedkin to tell me that I must write less dramatic and softer score. I could easily and perfectly do what they wanted because it was way too simple in relevance to what I have previously written, but Friedkin didn’t tell me what they said. I´m sure he did it deliberately. In the past we had an incident, caused by other reasons, and I think he wanted vengeance. This is my theory. This is the first time I speak of this matter, my attorney recommended me not to talk about it, but I think this is a good time to reveal the truth.


*snip*

Finally, I wrote the music for the film in the same vein as that of the trailer. In fact, when I wrote the trailer I was in the studio with Friedkin and he congratulated me for it. So, I thought i was in the right way… but the truth was very different.

According to Neil Lerner’s Music in the Horror Film: Listening to Fear, Friedkin had asked Schifrin for a score that “did not sound like music” and which was “tonal and moody.”

Reportedly, Friedkin was so displeased with the partial score that Schifrin had submitted that he literally threw it out of the studio window—mirroring the second story window ejections of Burke Dennings and Father Karras in the film. It’s no wonder Schifrin called it one of the “most unpleasant experiences” of his life. 

After the jump, hear the full terrifying (and rejected) Lalo Schifrin score for ‘The Exorcist’...

READ ON
Posted by Christopher Bickel
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01.26.2016
07:59 am
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For the Satanist who has everything: An Anton LaVey ventriloquist dummy
12.10.2015
09:26 am
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Anton Lavey ventriloquist dummy
Anton LaVey ventriloquist dummy
 
In the eBay listing for this spendy Anton LaVey ventriloquist dummy, the seller, “haunt-master” makes the creepy claim that the dummy’s eyes have the ability to “move on their own” as if they were “haunted.” Because, of course they can.
 
Anton Lavey ventriloquist dummy with pentagram necklace and skull
 
Anton Lavey ventriloquist dummy smiling
 
In addition to the eye movement (as if this thing isn’t off-putting enough) the Satanic dummy can also crack a smile thanks to a pull string in the back of his head. Each Anton LaVey ventriloquist dummy is made-to-order, stands about 30 inches tall and comes dressed in black with a large silver pentagram necklace. Sadly, the skull pictured with lil’ LaVey is not included although I’m sure if you’ve read this far you probably leave at least one decorative skull out all year round. The bespoke LaVey toy is currently up for auction for $509.99 (which if you flip the nines around you get “666”) and ships from, you guessed it, Hell on Earth, Las Vegas.

I also included images of a few other notable dummies in the haunt-master’s shop that follow (the run from $300 - $550 bucks), such as “Regan” from The Exorcist, one of the disfigured doctors from the 1960 Twilight Zone pisode, “Eye of the Beholder,” the uber villain “Jigsaw” from the horror film franchise Saw and, a disturbing Michael Jackson that comes with straight or curly hair. Yikes.
 
Regan MacNeil (from the 1973 film The Exorcist) ventriloquist dummy
Regan MacNeil (from the 1973 film The Exorcist)
 
Wait until you see the creepy Michael Jackson ventriloquist dummy, after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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12.10.2015
09:26 am
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Voice of the demon: ‘The Exorcist’ and the legacy of Mercedes McCambridge

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Mercedes and the Monster (photo illustration by Todd McNaught)
 
It inspired an ocean of imitators and aspects of it seem quaint in the context of the age of digitally effected gore. But almost 40 years after its release, The Exorcist remains a chilling classic that transcended the horror genre due to both William Friedkin’s masterful direction and Linda Blair’s stellar acting.

In the spirit of Tara’s posting of creepy test footage from the film earlier this month, here’s the gifted Blair voicing the scene that introduces Regan to Father Karras followed by the eventual dubbing.
 

 
After the jump: meet the voice behind the possession…plus bonus audience reaction footage!

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Posted by Ron Nachmann
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10.31.2012
12:13 pm
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Creepy test footage from ‘The Exorcist’
10.16.2012
10:30 am
Topics:
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Test footage from the classic 1973 horror film The Exorcist. Watch a then 13-year-old Linda Blair levitate from her bed and get tossed about.

According to 25 Fascinating Facts About The Exorcist on List Verse:

Linda Blair injured her back when a piece of the rig broke as she was thrown about on the bed.

 

 
Via Neatorama

Posted by Tara McGinley
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10.16.2012
10:30 am
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‘Lick me, lick me’: Female horror icons as cake pops!
10.02.2012
12:59 pm
Topics:
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image
 
Some scary ladies getting some love in the cake pop industry with these wild “Women in Horror Cake Pops” by Miss Insomnia Tulip.

I wonder what they taste like?

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
‘Game of Thrones’ severed head cake pops
 
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Via Boing Boing

Posted by Tara McGinley
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10.02.2012
12:59 pm
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Remembering John Calley’s Golden Years in Hollywood

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The Hollywood film producer John Calley died September 13, at his home in Los Angeles, after a long illness.

Calley was responsible for The Loved One, The Americanization of Emily, Catch-22, and more recently The Remains of the Day, and the popcorn fodder Angels and Demons and The DaVinci Code.

But it will be for his work at Warner Brothers that Calley will be best remembered, as the Los Angeles Times reports:

In 1969, [Calley] became executive vice president in charge of production at Warner Bros.; he became president in 1975.

“Under Calley, Warners became the class act in town,” Peter Biskind wrote in his 1998 book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-And-Rock ‘N’ Roll Generation Saved Hollywood.

“Urbane and witty, he gave the impression that he was somehow above it all, slumming in the Hollywood cesspool,” Biskind wrote. “As one wag put it, he was the blue in the toilet bowl.”

At Warner Bros., Calley created what Biskind called “an atmosphere congenial to ‘60s-going-on ‘70s filmmakers” and was known for relying heavily on his own taste in picking films.

Among Warner’s Calley-era bill of fare: Woodstock, A Clockwork Orange, Mean Streets, The Towering Inferno, “McCabe and Mrs. Miller, The Exorcist, Dog Day Afternoon, Deliverance, Dirty Harry, All the President’s Men, Blazing Saddles, Superman and Chariots of Fire.

As a salute, here’s a brief video resume of that golden era of film-making.

Read John Calley’s obituary here.
 

Mean Streets (1973)
 

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
 
Clips of other classic films, including ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and ‘Mean Streets’, after the jump…
 

READ ON
Posted by Paul Gallagher
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09.14.2011
05:49 pm
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Thank God for Satan: Surge in Devil-worship creates demand for Exorcists

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Thank God for Satan, as more than 60 Catholic clergy (66 perhaps?) gather in Rome for a 6-day (another 6!) conference on “Exorcism”, this week, at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University, Rome. The event will examine how the web has made it easier than before to access information on Devil-worship and the occult, reports the Daily Telegraph:

“The internet makes it much easier than in the past to find information about Satanism,” said Carlo Climati, a member of the university who specialises in the dangers posed to young people by Satanism.

“In just a few minutes you can contact Satanist groups and research occultism. The conference is not about how to become an exorcist. It’s to share information about exorcism, Satanism and sects. It’s to give help to families and priests. There is a particular risk for young people who are in difficulties or who are emotionally fragile,” said Mr Climati.

Organizers of the event say the rise of Satanism has been dangerously underestimated in recent years.

“There’s been a revival,” said Gabriele Nanni, a former exorcist and another speaker at the course.

Over the course of 6-days, the exorcists will scrutinise the phenomenon of Satanism with “seriousness and scientific rigour”, avoiding a “superficial or sensational approach.”

In theory, any priest can perform an exorcism – a rite involving prayers to drive the Devil out of the person said to be possessed.

But Vatican officials said three years ago that parish priests should call in professional exorcists if they suspect one of their parishioners needs purging of evil. An exorcist should be called when “the moral certainty has been reached that the person is possessed”, said Father Nanni, a member of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints. That could be indicated by radical and disturbing changes in the person’s behaviour and voice, or an ability to garble in foreign languages or nonsensical gibberish.

While the number of genuine cases of possession by the Devil remained relatively small, “we must be on guard because occult and Satanist practices are spreading a great deal, in part with the help of the internet and new technologies that make it easier to access these rituals,” he said.

The Vatican’s chief exorcist claimed last year that the Devil lurked in the Vatican, the very heart of the Catholic Church.

Father Gabriele Amorth said people who are possessed by Satan vomit shards of glass and pieces of iron, scream, dribble and slobber, utter blasphemies and have to be physically restrained.

He claimed that the sex abuse scandals which have engulfed the Church in the US, Ireland, Germany and other countries, were proof that the anti-Christ was waging a war against the Holy See. He said Pope Benedict XVI believed “wholeheartedly” in the practice of exorcism.

The church’s International Association of Exorcists was set up in 1993, and meet in secret every 2 years, with the aim “of increasing the number of official exorcists worldwide.”

Since 2005, Catholic priests can sign up to learn how to cast away evil spirits from the possessed at the Vatican-backed college, the Athenaeum Pontificium Regina Apostolorum in Rome.

It runs a two-month course to teach the “spiritual, liturgical and pastoral work involved in being an exorcist.”

According to Father Giulio Savoldi, Milan’s official exorcist, requirements include “the supernatural force – the presence of God – and then suggest that the man picked to do this kind of work be wise and that he should know how to gather strength not just from within himself but from God.” The Roman Catholic’s new Exorcism RiteThe Roman Catholic’s new Exorcism Rite, which was updated in 1999 for the first time since 1614, stresses the importance of distinguishing who is really in need of an exorcism.

Father Savoldi said: “Those studying to become exorcists should also study psychology and know how to distinguish between a mental illness and a possession. And, finally, they need to be very patient.” He said the priest who undertakes the office should be himself a holy man, of a blameless life, intelligent, courageous, humble. He should avoid in the course of the rite anything resembling superstition and he should leave the medical aspects of the case to qualified physicians.

If that doesn’t turn your head, then you may enjoy Mark Kermode’s fascinating BBC documentary, Fear of God: The Making of ‘The Exorcist’, which examines the story of classic 1973 horror movie, with cast and crew, and discusses the true events inspired William Peter Blatty’s original novel.
 

 
Previously on DM

Exorcists gather in Poland


 
The rest of Mark Kermode’s documentary on the making of ‘The Exorcist’ after the jump…
 

READ ON
Posted by Paul Gallagher
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03.30.2011
06:23 pm
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Kid-made Super 8 Sound version of The Exorcist
07.15.2010
02:53 pm
Topics:
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It’s safe to say we’re all scarred for life from seeing The Exorcist as kids but these kids worked it out in an exceptional way. The sound design in particular is a marvel of resourcefulness.

In 1974 while THE EXORCIST was still playing in the theaters, my friends and I made a version of our own called THE DEMONIC POSSESSION. Originally the title was going to be MALEDICTION but we figured nobody would know what that is. Filmed in Pittsburgh, Pa and Atlanta, Ga, the film was made on SUPER 8 SOUND and runs 60 minutes. This is an excerpt. Miraculously the film was made without ANY parental censorship or supervision. A film by CLIFF CARSON Cinematography by BILL BURTON

 
Thanks Brian Ruryk !

Posted by Brad Laner
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07.15.2010
02:53 pm
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The Ekmek Is Mine!  A Look At “Seytan,” Turkey’s Frame-By-Frame Exorcist Rip-Off

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Gus Van Sant‘s experiment from ‘99 where he essentially served up a Xerox of Hitchcock’s Psycho has nothing on the ongoing cinematic “homaging” going down in Turkey.  Cinefamily goes so far as to declare the country,

the wild, wild Middle East of mondo macabro.  Here you find the outlying reaches of world exploitation, where the heroes are macho men who can beat you up with just their moustaches, and the copyright infringement flows as freely as the currents of the Bosphorus River.  From the wholesale plundering of battle footage from American sci-fi smash hits (with which to mash into their own space operas), to the endless cavalcade of scene-for-scene, shot-for-shot, unauthorized remakes (Turkish Exorcist, Turkish Death Wish, Turkish Young Frankenstein)—the bandits of Turkish cinema were unstoppable.  These films were lawless, shameless, and hilarious.  Infinite ambition and infinitesimal budgets lead to cheap remakes that resemble a high school theater version of Apocalypse Now; to make up for their poverty, these filmmakers upped the sadism, mayhem, and titillation to their tastes and our delight.

Well, thanks to YouTube, you can now watch Seytan—The Turkish Exorcist—in 14 soup-spewing installments.  I’m pretty sure they’re all posted, but if you can’t find ‘em all, even casual fans of William Friedkin’s Exorcist will have no trouble spotting the devil in Ms. G?ɬ

Posted by Bradley Novicoff
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09.21.2009
10:00 am
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