To get into the spooky spirit of things, I’m going to do a countdown of my favorite scary movies of all time. Now, these flicks may not be the freakiest or even the most popular or acclaimed of the genre, but they’re MY faves.

Tune in every weekday for another movie, until we get to my favorite scary movie of all time! Now, a recap of my faves so far:

#20: Jaws

#19: The Last House on the Left

#18: The Faculty

#17: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

And coming in at number…

#16

The Exorcist (1973)

directed by William Friedkin; starring Linda Blair, Ellen Burstyn & Max von Sydow; Rated R

**This movie is NOT suitable for kids under the age of 17!!

I’ve yet to find a person who wasn’t at least a little wigged out by this devilish movie. Whether it’s because of the subject (this is what affects my Catholic school girlfriends) or the thought of the innocent teenage Linda Blair playing such an evil character, The Exorcist has a place in almost every scary movie roundup. When two priests are called to the house of a little girl, they discover it appears she’s  been taken over by the devil. After attempting a few exorcisms and surviving some graphic scenes that will make your head spin, the priests question whether they’re strong enough to get rid of the demon within.

WHY IT’S SCARY: You’re taking something as sweet and innocent as a little girl and turning her into this cursing-like-a-sailor, projectile vomiting, gross-looking monster. I’m pretty sure this movie was what started the trend of kids being evil in movies.

SCARIEST SCENE: When Linda Blair’s head does a 360 and she gives that gruesome smile of hers. Also, when her character later spider walks down the stairs…SO creepy!

SCARY STORY: If you get a chance to watch behind-the-scenes features on the movie, do it. You’ll get to see how they used to do stunts before CGI, as well as hear all the freaky stuff that happened on set.

Spider walk anyone?

FUN & FREAKY FACTS:

* In the scene where Ellen Burstyn is thrown away from Linda, Ellen is in a harness that is meant to jerk her away from the bed. Unfortunately, the harness pulled her too hard and she ended up hitting the wall hard enough to receive permanent spinal injuries. When she screams during this scene in the movie, she’s really screaming because she’s in pain.

* During its release, an audience member fainted and broke his jaw on the seat in front of him. He then sued Warner Brothers and the filmmakers, claiming that the use of subliminal imagery in the film had caused him to pass out. The studio settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

* Father Dyer is played by Reverend William O’Malley, an actual priest who still teaches to this day at Fordham University.

* The bedroom set was refrigerated to capture authentic icy breath in the exorcising scenes.

* The liquid that Linda vomited at Father Damien Karras was made of thick pea soup.

Now THAT'S some major bed head!

Be Sociable, Share!

•