"THE BED....IS ON....MY FOOT!"
Posted on 10/31/2026 2:29:32 PM PDT by Twotone
Growing up in the 1970s, The Exorcist loomed large on the cultural landscape, like a haunted mansion built high on a hill. Kids believed several things as articles of faith: that the Russians would drop a nuke on us, that it would be impossible to ban smoking in public, that we would run out of oil (or water, or food) in a few years, and that if you went to see The Exorcist someone in the theatre would puke.
When William Friedkin's film came out the day after Christmas in 1973, it became an instant sensation, with day-long line-ups around the block populated by people daring each other or themselves to sit through the whole movie. It quickly moved from the entertainment sections to front pages and the evening news, and the New York Times set about waging a campaign against the picture from the moment their movie critic, Vincent Canby, called it a "chunk of elegant occultist claptrap" and speculated that Friedkin and writer/producer William Peter Blatty had created the picture "to marvel at the extent to which audiences will go to escape boredom by shock and insult."
The film arrived in cinemas with an "R" rating, which meant that I was too young to see it, but I felt I knew as much about it as anyone who white-knuckled their way through a sold out screening thanks to the incessant news coverage, the non-stop TV commercials and the avidly-shared stories of pea soup and heads rotating 360 degrees shared by classmates with older siblings. Merely mentioning the film would inspire at least one kid to bark out "Your mother s**ks c**ks in hell!" in the most demonic growl they could summon.
This is probably why it would be decades before I'd actually sit through the picture...
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
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Ive seen the movie so many times it’s boring.
I like this SNL parody, Way funny......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8dKnFU5LUE
"THE BED....IS ON....MY FOOT!"
A classic!
I was 10YO when that movie came out and was mesmerized by it, despite the fact my parents wouldn’t let me anywhere near it....about 5/6 years later it came around in the movie theaters again and i finally saw it with my buddy...the fact i had a big crush on Linda Blair helped...
Whenever they would head towards Reagan’s room my buddy would shade his eyes and say “don’t go in there!!” Me?? I’d be “Go! Go! Go!!!”
I still watch it when its on TV....the dialogue in that movie, even in the beginning when nothing much is happening. is fantastic...
The ending credits are as creepy as the rest of the movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIcyUN7DBN8
The movie features a scene where one of the characters falls down an outdoor stairway near 36th Street NW in Georgetown, DC. I used that stairway many times when walking between my apartment in Rosslyn to the Georgetown University library, where I was doing research. When I saw the movie later on, I immediately recognized the stairway.
Some theaters stopped serving hot pea soup at the concession counters.
When The Odd Couple came out in 1968, and elderly man went to see it at a theater in Oswego, NY. He laughed so hard he collapsed; the theater had to call an ambulance for him.
That story went national, at the time. I remember hearing it on the evening news.
The Odd Couple made $44 million on a budget of $1.4 million.
SCTV does a pretty funny skit on The Exorcist!
I started to read the book in a backyard lounge chair at my parents’ home one summer when I was about 18. After a few chapters I had to go inside because I was so scared. Turns out I hate demons & other evil spirits.
When I saw that GIF, I immediately thought it was the kind of thing dfwgator would post. Looked down, and there you were.
Another movie, Wes Craven’s the Last House on the Left (first version) which always had audience members get up to leave, but also caused not only one person to have a heart attack in the theater, but a small group of ticket holders going upstairs to try to break into the projection room to “destroy the print”.
The book is a must-read.
The horror film director William Castle was king of the gimmicks.
Lloyd’s of London insurance for audience members against death by fright. And more.
https://www.weirdretro.org.uk/schlock-o-rama-the-gimmicks-of-william-castle.html
That’s showmanship, my friend !
I didn’t know that, about the de-icing motors. I thought he electrified the chairs with a spark coil.
Always looked at this as a religious movie...the priest losing his faith but in the end finding it and sacrificing his life to save a soul.
The Mad Magazine parody was hilarious, and random Exorcist characters would make appearances in other future parodies.
The Mad Magazine parody was hilarious, and random Exorcist characters would make appearances in other future parodies.
William Peter Blatty’s novel was more disturbing than the movie adaptation, in my opinion. Legion (a sequel) was even better. I had to laugh at something Stephen King wrote about Blatty. He described him as being of the “thuddingly humorless school of horror.”
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