2012 Movie #64 - The Exorcist (1973) I watched THE EXORCIST last night. Even on a second viewing, it’s one of the most unsettling films I’ve ever seen. This time I was really struck by the complete mastery of tone that the film exhibits. I wish studios were still capable of taking horror this seriously today. It’s also always fascinating watching a proto-genre films. I don’t really know what else to call them, but I’m talking about the films that create their own new sub-genre. THE EXORCIST has had a lot of imitators, but none of them come close to the original. The imitators use a lot of the same ideas, but even the best still feels like a partial photocopy. You can see the same thing with imitators of DIE HARD or STAR WARS.

2012 Movie #64 - The Exorcist (1973)

I watched THE EXORCIST last night. Even on a second viewing, it’s one of the most unsettling films I’ve ever seen. This time I was really struck by the complete mastery of tone that the film exhibits. I wish studios were still capable of taking horror this seriously today.

It’s also always fascinating watching a proto-genre films. I don’t really know what else to call them, but I’m talking about the films that create their own new sub-genre. THE EXORCIST has had a lot of imitators, but none of them come close to the original. The imitators use a lot of the same ideas, but even the best still feels like a partial photocopy. You can see the same thing with imitators of DIE HARD or STAR WARS.