THE EXORCIST: The Birth Of An Obsession
As a child my movie-viewing was never censored. My dad chose the El Rey and Fox theatres in Salinas, California as babysitters, so it wasn't my parents who decided what my impressionable mind would be viewing, but the programmers of these two theatres.
My recollection is that in those days, The El Rey served up a lot of stuff like The Love Bug and The North Avenue Irregulars (it later became an x-rated movie theatre) and The Fox played edgier, darker films like Hammer horror movies. Naturally, I preferred the Fox. So at the age of 8, when The Exorcist was released, I was understandably eager to check out this wild new film.
I was mesmerized by the stories from major news magazines that reported on audiences leaving the theatres crying and upset, distraught at what they saw on screen. There were images of weeping women and crowds looking deeply disturbed. I could not wait to see this movie.
In a completly unexpected move, my mom or dad (I can't remember which) decided that THIS was the movie that was inappropriate for an eight year-old child and I was forbidden to see it. At that age I felt like a seasoned pro, already a certified horror movie junkie and now this?? This was like telling Roger Ebert he could not go to Cannes that year. Unthinkable.
I decided that if I couldn't see the movie then I would read the book and I dared my parents to forbid me from reading. I tore through the William Peter Blatty blockbuster and remember thinking that the printed word might be more shocking than actually watching the film. I stared at the words. Read and re-read, "Your mother sucks cock in hell." I couldn't simply go on to the next line. I slowly read all of the parts that were deemed objectionable in the film and lingered over them in print, feeling some sense of satisfaction that my visualization of the nastiness on the page was probably worse than what was depicted on screen.
Since then, I of course, have seen the legendary horror film and have become somewhat obsessed with all of the rip-off films that it has spawned. Over the years, I have made the attempt to watch and find as many of these wonderful rip-offs as I could and to share them with friends on drunken movie nights. These aren't just second-rate, regurgitated horror movies. These movies are like the untalented performers on amateur night that you can't help but love. Take them for what they are and enjoy them.
An Exorcist Rip-Off Guide
What's In A Rip-Off?
THE POSSESSED: Rip-Off Perfection?
THE DEVIL INSIDE HER: Hardcore Rip-Off?
THE DEVIL WITHIN HER: Baby Time
