THE EXORCIST Scared the shit out of me when I first saw it – A tribute to William Friedkin

Yesterday we learned that director William Friedkin deceased. This director has done some incredible projects over the years including The French Connection, The Twilight Zones, Tales From The Crypt, Rules of Engagement, The Hunted, and more. But there was one project out of all of those that impressed me the most: The exorcist.

I was eleven or twelve when I first saw it The exorcist. I didn’t know anything about it other than what the VHS cover looked like and that it was a horror movie, so late one night at my grandma and grandpa’s house I popped the VHS in with a couple of my cousins ​​and we entered to watch it.

I was in no way prepared to watch this kind of horror movie at that age and The exorcist it completely broke my young brain! I’ve never felt a wave of electric fear go through my body like this before. I felt like I was just numb and scared to the core. I remember not being able to move, not being able to take my eyes off the TV screen, but also being completely scared out of my mind and thinking that this would be my last night on Earth and that the Devil it would have swallowed my soul.

I had trouble sleeping for months after watching The exorcist and when i slept the nightmares were waiting for me to scare me again and wake me up screaming. Yes, I think it’s fair to say The exorcist he really did a number on me!

But that fear I felt… I’ve been chasing that fear ever since! I loved that adrenaline rush and the horror genre is one of my favourites. I will watch anything and everything horror! I owe it to The exorcist. I rarely find that electric fear in movies that have been made over the years. But, with all the movies I’ve seen, I’m definitely desensitized, so it’s much harder to be in that rush.

I remember years after a Director’s Cut by The exorcist it came out in theaters and I had to watch this movie on the big screen! When I did that, there was a moment that wasn’t in the original film where the possessed Regan came down the stairs from a crab, that new moment hit me with the same jolt of dread I felt as a kid when I saw for the first time the film, and I loved it to death! I didn’t think I’d be in that rush to watch the movie again because I’d seen it so many times before, but I totally did, and it was amazing!

William Friedkin introduced real horror and fear into my life with The exorcist, and I thank him for that! That film set the bar of fear for me, and it’s rare for a horror film to reach that bar.