First thing you need to know, I am a baby when it comes to scary movies. I really can not handle them. But, for some reason, I decided to watch The Exorcist (1973). But, to the surprise to me, I wasn’t all that scared. After the movie ended, I wondered why. I wondered why I wasn’t scared. I have two theories.
The first is, I think the movie was just built up too much for me. For years I’ve heard about how this is THE horror movie. How it has terrified everyone who has ever watched it. So, maybe, I was expecting more? I don’t know.
My second theory, I think, is more likely. So, as I was watching the movie I kept thinking “oh this is about to happen” and I’d almost always be right. I kept predicting all the scary scenes. I can’t get scared if I know what’s about to happen. But, why was I able to predict so much? Then it hit me, and this is my second theory: The movie didn’t scare me, because I’d already seen everything. No, I’m not saying I had actually seen this movie before. I’m saying, that just about every horror movie since The Exorcist has used something from it. I’d have already seen this movie but in chunks in other, probably lesser, horror movies. I was wondering why this movie was so popular since it was filled with horror movie clichés and stereotypes but, now that I think about it, The Exorcist is probably why those clichés are now clichés.
The Exorcist is worth watching simply because it is a part of horror movie history. And, maybe you will be more successful then me and actually get scared.
