Well i can also remember an overly extended drawn-out Youth Conference testimony meeting sometime afterward that featured a long line of girls sheepishly heading to the podium microphone and publicly confessing that they had seen it...how sorry they were for seeing it...and what a bad "spirit" it had left them with...all while bawling their eyes out together in a show of unity and support for one another in some god-forsaken other-worldly version of LDS-Girls Gone Wild!
The girls outnumbered the guys by like 10-1 it seemed in that scenario.
Not only that but i'm thinking back on how did these younger teenagers get into an R-rated movie anyhow?
I can recall some testimonies peppered with stories of how they argued with their other church friends as they were driving to and from the theater to see it...how Satan's spirit pervaded their lifestyle for some weeks following...and just general malaise and discord as a result of succumbing to Satan's temptation to see the movie for themselves even though the Brethren had admonished them not to.
So with the release of "50 Shades of Grey" are we now going to see a new crop of Mia Maids and Laurels rushing the podium at EFY to throw themselves on their chastity swords in public???
Or is "50-Shades" a cakewalk compared to "Exorcist"...or vice versa???
I bet a lot of these people watched The Exorcist on television. that is where I watched it when I was young. I could hardly sleep that night. That was the most scared of a horror movie that I ever was. Probably one of the first horror movies I ever watched.
I do not remember there being any backlash against The Exorcist. I do not remember anyone talking against seeing it from the pulpit.
I do not doubt that in your area Mormons were up in arms about The Exorcist, but why should Mormons be so set against it? It is a movies about selfless priests helping a little girl by casting out a demon. Jesus cast out demons, and Mormons view that as a good thing. Why the double standard?
And about "The Exorcist" - I was a medical transcriber at that time, and we had an incredible number psych cases from military boot camp who complained of demonic possession. Were they really trying to describe their drill sergeants, do you suppose??
My older sister used to read all those books, and then toss them to me to read when she was done with them. There I was, in grade four (8 years old), and reading The Exorcist, The Shining, Salem’s Lot, The Omen, etc. I read every one of those books, and books are far more engrossing than the movies.
I turned out Ok. Wait a minute, no I didn’t. But I don’t think it was from those books. At least my head never spun around, nor did I puke pea soup. But I did have some dandy nightmares ... and slept with my light on a lot. Ah, youth. BOO!
I never heard a word about it at church. I didn't go see it because I was too scared. I'm avoiding 50 Shades of Stupidity because it sounds so boring. Besides, I already read The Story of O.
I was in elementary school when people were reading the paperback. We had to walk a couple of blocks to school. Someone had thrown a copy of the book on the ground in an empty lot that we would cross through on a footpath. I remember that the book stayed there for weeks because none of us had the balls to touch it enough to move it. We didn't even walk by it. We wore a new footpath through the weeds on the other side of the lot.
I grew up, and even as an adult in the church, with a profound fear of satan. Leaving the church unburdened me from many things, but one of the main things I left behind was a belief in and a fear of satan. After I left the church in the late 1990's, I saw a DVD of The Exorcist. I bought it, and really enjoyed the movie. I have "Tubular Bells", the music from the movie, on my play list--I think it is beautiful.
I don't watch a lot of the new movies with the same subject matter. Horror just isn't my thing, but the Exorcist reminds me of so many of the ways that my life is better.
Plus ... Tubular Bells ! I have that album on vinyl. It was one of the first ‘multi-tracked’ albums, where each part was added one at a time. Mike Oldfield played most of the many instruments on that recording. It was also the first album ever released by Virgin Records.
Similar to you’re comment, I think reading all those horror books so young went a long way to showing me that these things (Satan, vampires, etc) weren’t real. I miss the ‘spooky’ theme’s of older horror movies from that time period. Nowadays, the horror movies are all slasher, zombie, violence themed. I don’t watch those at all. There aren’t too many good psychological terror movies made anymore these days. Not good one’s anyway. ‘The Other’s’ with Nicole Kidman was alright, but still not very scary. Oh, and I had a huge crush on Linda Blair.
I was a freshman at the Y living in the dorms, and a large group of us went to see The Exorcist as it was playing downtown.
That movie freaked out some of the guys so badly that they felt the need to 'fess up about it. Like they had done something wrong. My memory is a little hazy, but I think some of them even went so far as to get a "priesthood blessing" from our RA.
That little incident was just one more nail in the coffin for me. Confessing about seeing a movie? WTF?
I don't recall that The Exorcist came to Provo...I remember having to go to Salt Lake to see it.
I DO remember when Looking For Mr. Goodbar came to Provo...it was picketed by the local do-gooders. (I know about the picketers because I was in line to see the movie on opening night.
Were there picketers at The Exorcist?
(DIE! autocorrect!)
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/20/2015 11:02AM by csuprovograd.
I remember the picketers in Provo at "Looking for Mr. Goodbar."
I remember when an Orem bookstore was shut down by the cops for selling a copy of book, "Last Tango in Paris" to a 17-year-old who was sent in to buy it by the cops. Interestingly, the same book was on the rack at Albertsons. I guess the idea of a bookstore selling "racy" books upset the city fathers more than it being available at Albertsons.
Being told NOT to see it made me want to see it even more. I came away not understanding what all the fuckin' hype was about. It's on TV now and then and I even have the DVD. Thinkin' of chuckin' it out. But Mercedes McCambridge as the voice of the demon hit it right out of the ball park.
I grew up with all the fear about the movie too. One day randomly flipping through the channels my friend and I saw part of it on tv and were "drawn to it" watched for about a minute or so, got really scarred and had nightmares. That movie was the epitome of evil in my mormon world.
Fast forward to my new life minus belief in magic and I just had to see it. My kid and I watched it together. One of the more hilarious movies I've seen. I really liked it and it was fun to contrast my ridiculous prior fears with reality.
I think my favorite part was the priest asking the possessed girl questions...devil could get some questions right but not others...whenever he couldn't answer he would just vomit. I'd be like "you gonna clean that shit up?"
I saw 'the last exorcism' a few years back - that's a good one and a bit scarier than the exorcist as it is shot like a documentary and the pastor talks to the camera crew a lot. Its about a fake exorcist doing a documentary about how all exorcisms are false and purely imagined by uneducated folks. He's had an epiphany and is going to do one final 'exorcism' on film to show how they are all false, and then he will quit his fake 'pastoral' business - he's rich enough already.
Good watch with a good twist and scary because one imagines this sort of thing might indeed go on in rural american communities.
Even among Catholics the subject of exorcism is treated gingerly! It's one of the "dusty corners" of the Catholic church where few feel brave enough to venture.
When I was at Ricks in `67, they showed Psycho in the theater in the Manwaring Student Center. That was a pretty racy flick given the scene where Janet Leigh is naked (but covered by the shower curtain) in the shower scene. Don`t know if that type of film would pass muster at the various BYU`s today.
I remember the Bishop telling us teenagers not to watch Exorcist.
This is kinda funny - the girl in the ward that went to see the Exorcist and had to confess and get a blessing from the bishop which caused all the lectures by the lords anointed ones sent me a FaceBook request today. Have not spoken to her in about 40 years. What timing.