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The "Exorcist" Returns
http://www.eonline.com/On/Holly/Shows/TheExorcist/index.html ^ | August 12th, 2004

Posted on 08/12/2004 5:59:12 PM PDT by missyme

Did the Classic Horror Flick Haunt More Than Just the Audience?

When The Exorcist was released late in 1973, it sparked a visceral reaction from the public--literally. There were reports of people vomiting from the fright of a story about a young girl possessed by a demon.

The movie went on to become a massive hit, but few of those who flocked to the film knew about its grueling, nearly yearlong shoot or the tragedies that befell some of the cast and crew. Misfortune also followed the movie's sequels, leading some to wonder: Was there a curse on The Exorcist?

As its prequel, Exorcist: The Beginning, makes its way to theaters, E! delves into the mystery with a new E! True Hollywood Story, premiering Aug. 15 at 8 p.m. We go behind the scenes of the controversial film and reveal just why some believe the movie was cursed.

Whether you buy into curses or not, one thing is indisputable: The filming of The Exorcist was tough on all concerned. From a director who liked to startle his cast to a 12-year-old actress spouting some truly disturbing dialogue to the infamous "pea soup" scene, few escaped the production unscathed.

Subsequent Exorcist films had their share of bad luck as well--although many critics believe that's a result of questionable filmmaking more than any curse. Still, the mystery surrounding the films remains.

Think you can turn heads with your Exorcist knowledge? Then take our devilishly designed quiz, and watch the the Story to find out more about The Exorcist.


TOPICS: TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: movies; theexorcist
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To: BlackVeil

IraQ? how so it had African Children running through some buildings if I rememeber yelling making this horrible awful sound before it went to Megan's house in Georgetown?


141 posted on 08/12/2004 8:41:04 PM PDT by missyme
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To: since1868
I agree I remember waiting in the cold a few hours to get tickets at a Manhattan theater I think it was Christmas time.

I spent the night on a sidwalk in Westwood, CA waiting to see it. My friends and I ditched school and drove there from Orange County the first week it opened. I watched the entire movie through my fingers.

142 posted on 08/12/2004 8:41:52 PM PDT by socal_parrot (If I can just get off of this LA freeway without getting killed or caught)
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To: Lockbar
I honestly believe that many people who commit evil, violent crimes have some how been infected by Satan ... No, I don't believe in "witch trials" and burning people at the stake. Criminals need to be punished, but I think often there is more going on than just their own individual actions.

You make some good points. If one studies histories of sadistic crimes and serial murder they often have occult themes.

143 posted on 08/12/2004 8:41:53 PM PDT by BlackVeil
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To: missyme

Yep, thats the one. I think the scariest movie I saw as a kid was Jaws. Never felt safe in the ocean after that. If seaweed touched my leg.... I ran screaming out of the water. LOL!


144 posted on 08/12/2004 8:42:25 PM PDT by gigi
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To: GatorGirl
Exorcist isn't the only movie to have supposedly been "cursed"...

Claim: A number of deaths have occured among the cast of the Poltergeist trilogy of films.

Status: True.

Origins: What is seen as an unusually large number of deaths have occurred among the former cast of the Poltergeist trilogy. This occurrence has given rise to the rumor that the productions were in some way "cursed" due to the nature of the films themselves, as if the evil spirits conjured up in the make-believe world of the cinema have since reached out into the real world to claim what they might see as their rightful victims.

In a popular form of the rumor, one of the child actors is said to have come to an untimely end after the making of each film, one murdered, one in a car accident, and one of a mysterious disease. Though it's true Dominique Dunne and Heather O'Rourke have since died, Oliver Robins (the lad who played the boy) appears to be still with us.

Three horror films comprise the Poltergeist trilogy: Poltergeist (1982), Poltergeist II (1986), and Poltergeist III (1988). Each recounts an episode in the lives of the Freelings, a fictitious family who have the bad luck to take up residence in homes inhabited by spirits intent upon kidnapping their kids or to send their kids to live in such places.

(As to what the word itself means, a poltergeist is a noisy and destructive (but usually mischievious, not malicious) ghost held to be responsible for unexplained noises and movement of objects within a home. It is hypothesized that poltergeists are drawn to homes in which there are prepubescent children, especially girls.)

Though coincidence is a much more likely explanation than a curse, there have been four deaths among the cast of this set of films -- Dominique Dunne (Dana Freeling), Heather O'Rourke (Carol Ann Freeling), Will Sampson (Taylor, a good spirit), and Julian Beck (Kane, an evil spirit). Though two of the deaths were foreseeable -- indeed, expected -- two were not. It's the combination of the two unexpected deaths which lies at the heart of every rumor about a curse.

22-year old Dominique Dunne died on 4 November 1982 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, four days after her boyfriend choked her into a coma from which she never awoke. Weeks earlier, Dunne had ended her abusive live-in relationship with Los Angeles chef John Sweeney. On the night of 30 October 1982, he dropped by their former shared residence to plead with her to take him back. The conversation did not go as he'd hoped, and the encounter ended with him strangling her for what was later determined to be 4 to 6 minutes, then leaving her for dead in her driveway.

Sweeney was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, sentenced in November, 1983, and released in 1986 after serving only 3 years, 8 months of a 6 1/2 year sentence. His sentence is controversial to this day.

Poltergeist, the film in which Dunne appeared, had been released earlier that year, in June.

12-year-old Heather O'Rourke died of septic shock on 1 February 1988 at the Children's Hospital in San Diego. What had been thought to be a bout of ordinary flu launched her into cardiac arrest during the drive to the local hospital as bacterial toxins set loose by a bowel obstruction made their way into her bloodstream. Her heart was successfully restarted and she was flown by helicopter to the much-larger Children's Hospital where she underwent an operation to remove the obstruction. The toxins rampaging through her system proved too much, and she died on the operating table.

The circumstances surrounding her passing rendered her death even more of a shock than it otherwise would have been, as she went overnight from a little girl who had the flu to a dead little girl who expired during a desperate operation to save her life. It's hard enough to accept that a child can die of an illness, let alone a healthy-looking youngster no one knew anything was wrong with. (That she looked healthy did not necessarily mean that she was. The year before her death she'd been diagnosed as having Crohn's Disease, a lifelong inflammatory small bowel disease which often first manifests in children and young adults.) Of course such an unexpected death would fuel rumors, especially when considered in conjunction with Dominique Dunne's murder only six years earlier.

O'Rourke appeared in all three Poltergeist movies. Poltergeist III had been completed at the time of her death although it had yet to be released, leading to rumors that she had expired during shooting and a double had to be used to complete the picture. (Poltergeist III was in the can by June 1987 but wasn't released until 10 June 1988; however, writer-director Gary Sherman decided to change the ending of the already-finished film after O'Rourke's death, so a double was used to shoot the alternate ending.)

The other two deaths were of seasoned actors well into their careers, both suffering from serious illnesses that would in time take their lives. Because their deaths were not unexpected, only rarely is either one mentioned in connection with the Poltergeist "curse."

60-year-old Julian Beck died of stomach cancer on 14 September 1985 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Like O'Rourke, he expired during the period between filming and release, but in his case the film in question was Poltergeist II, which was released in May 1986. Unlike O'Rourke, his death was not unexpected; he had been battling the cancer for 18 months.

53-year-old Will Sampson died on 3 June 1987 in a Houston hospital after receiving a heart-lung transplant 6 weeks earlier. The cause of his death was ascribed to severe pre-operative malnutrition and post-operative kidney failure and fungal infection. It has been said he knew his chances for survival were small due to his weakened condition prior to surgery.

Like Beck, Sampson appeared in only one film in the series, Poltergeist II, released in May 1986. He was best known for his portrayal of the Indian who feigned being mute in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

An extreme version of the "curse" rumor asserts that everyone who appeared in these movies is now dead. That news must come as quite a shock to numerous thespians, most notably Craig T. Nelson (Steve Freeling), Jo Beth Williams (Diane Freeling), and Tom Skerritt (Bruce Gardner) -- they all think they're still alive and continue to ply their trade in movies and television shows despite their deceasedness.

145 posted on 08/12/2004 8:42:37 PM PDT by TheBigB (I'm more frustrated than a legless Ethiopian watching a doughnut roll down a hill.)
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To: rwfromkansas
It is hard to believe for some people, but in scary movies like this, there often is some REAL weird stuff that goes on....I guess the devil likes to make his presence known.

When the children's author, Lucy Boston, was writing An Enemy at Green Knowe, she experienced many odd omens and haunting events. This was a children's book, part of the Green Knowe series, written in the 1960s, I think.

146 posted on 08/12/2004 8:44:35 PM PDT by BlackVeil
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To: missyme
I always thought the movie was based on an exorcism in Earlin, Iowa from the 1920's. I did a quick search and found a post on FR from 2003. Type in keyword Exorcism and you should find it. Only had two posts.

I have the book mentioned in the thread "Begone Satan" telling the whole story of the exorcism. That book will put a scare in you.

147 posted on 08/12/2004 8:45:38 PM PDT by Cap'n Crunch
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To: Cap'n Crunch

Earling, Iowa, not Earlin...got a few other books on the subject and a few about catholic saints who had many battles with "the Grappin'"... as St. John Vianney used to call him.


148 posted on 08/12/2004 8:47:25 PM PDT by Cap'n Crunch
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To: socal_parrot

I saw it in Westwood too, with my brother his friends, I remember there were about 10 of us the girls were screaming the whole time especially at the end when the priest was doing the final excorcism, you saw the devil emerge from her body! OMG I was in a panic....I cannot see another one all these years later no way!


149 posted on 08/12/2004 8:47:55 PM PDT by missyme
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To: missyme

Maybe it did have a scene with African children - I may have forgotten that. But it most definitly did have a major opening scene in Iraq. There is this statue of a demon, in the desert sands, and an Arabic voice wailing in a picturesque manner - but in fact is only reciting an Islamic prayer (I think, if I remember rightly). I shall look it up.


150 posted on 08/12/2004 8:49:24 PM PDT by BlackVeil
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To: Cap'n Crunch

No everyone speaks about the movie being about a Boy in 1949..


151 posted on 08/12/2004 8:49:43 PM PDT by missyme
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To: TheBigB

Intersting....

Thanks, Big B!


152 posted on 08/12/2004 8:50:01 PM PDT by GatorGirl (Catholics for Bush, Young Professionals for Bush, W Stands for Women)
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To: BlackVeil

I just don't remember that? I thought it was about the TSe Tse fly in Africa, that is what I rememeber, I was so scared of that movie I proably did not know what I was seeing...


153 posted on 08/12/2004 8:51:44 PM PDT by missyme
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To: missyme
I found the thread, posted on FR on 10 29 03. The name of the thread, after you type in keyword: "exorcism," is "Earling (Iowa) site of last sanctioned exorcism."

This is the exorcism the movie is based on. Peep it...

I have the book, have to look around for it.

154 posted on 08/12/2004 8:55:03 PM PDT by Cap'n Crunch
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To: missyme

One interesting thing for readers of this thread to note might be that the Hispanic/Mexican cultures believe a host of illnesses can be caused by something they call "susto," which translates into "fright."
Mexican curanderos (kind of like a village doctor or shaman) believe that someone who has been in an accident or had a major fright or scary, startling experience (close call with a snake or car wreck, or seen their child in extreme danger, for instance), can be so frightened that their very soul is frightened into letting its guard down, and a demon can "infect" the person, resulting in illness. The curandero believes that only through a series of prayers and ceremony can the person be "cured" of "susto."
It sounds oddly like what modern-day shamans--aka shrinks--call "post-traumatic stress syndrome."
I've also spoken with very spiritual non-hispanic American Christians who believe that any activity that distracts someone from being in a state of consciousness and prayer (such as playing a mesmerizing video game) can result in demonic possession.


155 posted on 08/12/2004 8:55:25 PM PDT by hispanarepublicana (Free Brigitte Bardot.)
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To: TheBigB

Wasn't that the same scenario with Twilight Zone the movie? whe I forgot the actor's name and the 2 kids were killed in one of the scenes? I remember watching that and in the beginnig when Dan Ackroyd was riding in the car with the other guy talking while they were listening to Creedence Clearwaters; Midnight Special and he says to Dan "You want to see something really Scarry" wow that was pretty frightening...


156 posted on 08/12/2004 8:56:28 PM PDT by missyme
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To: NYC GOP Chick

No Joke!


157 posted on 08/12/2004 8:56:36 PM PDT by Senator Pardek
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To: GatorGirl; TheBigB

I mean....interesting!

Time for bed for me!!!


158 posted on 08/12/2004 8:56:44 PM PDT by GatorGirl (Catholics for Bush, Young Professionals for Bush, W Stands for Women)
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To: Senator Pardek

Anyway, do you think McGreevey is a top or a bottom?


159 posted on 08/12/2004 8:57:47 PM PDT by NYC GOP Chick (Which FReeper likes to threaten to beat up women?)
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To: missyme
You might be remembering the 2nd movie, The Heretic. The Exorcist actually had strong Iraqi themes in the beginning, which relate to some of the current sites in the news:

After a few blood-red credits on a black background, the film opens with a prologue. The locale is an archaeological dig site deep in the arid desert of Northern Iraq - near the ancient town of Nineveh. An Arabic prayer is chanted on the soundtrack behind an image of an oblong, burnt-reddish sun. Workers dig inexorably with pick-axes through mounds of dirt to uncover ancient artifacts. A young boy in a red head-dress runs through the weaving, maze-like trenches to summon one of the supervisors. The camera shoots through his legs as he speaks in Arabic: "(Subtitle): They found something...small pieces...At the base of the mound."

Father Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow), an elderly, scholarly Jesuit Catholic priest and archaeologist, is told that ancient objects have been unearthed during his search for evil: "Lamps, arrowheads, coins..." Merrin inspects a small silver, Christian medallion (depicting Mary and the baby Jesus) and observes that it is unusual to find it buried in a pre-Christian location: "This is strange...Not of the same period." Merrin then digs in a crevice near the Christian objects and discovers a small, greenish, gargoyle-like stone amulet or statuette [in the figure of the Mesopotamian demon Pazuzu, known for its serpent-like phallus]. [The Iraqi sequence sets a tone of foreboding and establishes the presence of 'Good' and 'Evil' - it also foreshadows the battle between the two forces later in the film.]

In the Iraqi marketplace on the streets of Mosul, with a throbbing, drumming sound, the strain is evident as Merrin's hand shakes when he takes his heart medicine. Iron workers clang their hammers on anvils near a red-hot burning furnace. One of the steelworkers turns toward Merrin, revealing his blind right eye [an allusion to future horrors in the film]. Back in the curator's office, as Merrin eyes the ancient Pazuzu amulet, he is told: "Evil against evil." Ominously, the swinging pendulum of the clock behind him stops working. The curator knows Merrin will be leaving to go home to the States: "I wish you didn't have to go." Weary and exhausted, Merrin replies: "There is something I must do." He passes by prostrate Muslim worshippers and into a dark passageway. When he emerges in the narrow, sunlit street, he is nearly run down by a fast-moving, horse-drawn carriage carrying an old woman in a black droshky, worn over her face like a shroud.

After driving his jeep to an ancient temple ruins guarded by armed, white and black-garbed watchmen, he walks up to a full-sized stone statue of the demon Pazuzu. Nearby, two dogs begin fighting and snarling at each other in the dust. [This struggle foreshadows the eventual conflict between good (the priest) and evil (the possessed girl), and also hints at the theme of "evil against evil" - Karras' deliberate 'evil' act of demon possession to save Regan.] He again has a premonition that the amulet is a concrete manifestation that something evil has been unearthed - the soundtrack simulates an eerie, shrieking chord, symbolizing the loosing of ancient, pagan evil in the world. The camera zooms in on the face of the open-mouthed, fearsome creature. As he confronts the demonic statue that has been called up for protection by the amulet's discovery, the wind blows dust over the scene as he feels all around him the presence of the devil.

In a clever transitional dissolve linking two distant locales and their coincidental association, the scene from the desert (a sizzling view of the orb of the dawning sun) dissolves into the sounds and views of early morning traffic crossing the Potomac in Georgetown outside Washington, D.C. http://www.filmsite.org/exor.html

160 posted on 08/12/2004 8:58:00 PM PDT by BlackVeil
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