Welcome!

Hi everyone!  Welcome to Pahua's Horror Emporium (is that delightfully cheesy or what?!).

This is going to be my forum for reviewing horror movies.  I figure that I like the genre a whole lot and I like talking about stuff I like, so why not start something like this?  I'm not expecting any fame or anything, but I'm certainly hoping to help you out when you're deciding what to watch next.  ^^  (On that note, bear in mind that there may be some spoilers - if there are, I'll be sure to tag the posts as such and put a warning before the spoiler in the post.)

I'm going to kick this off with a classic - The Exorcist, directed by William Friedkin.  This movie was released in 1973, and if you've already seen it you understand that anyone who could sit through it at the time was definitely someone with a strong stomach!

The positive points of this movie very much outnumber the negative ones.  As I said, for its time it was spectacularly terrifying and even today it'll definitely give you the creeps.  The imagery is a touch outdated, of course, but that won't stop you from being creeped out when you watch it by yourself.  :)

The story is as follows:  The film opens with Father Merrin (played by Max von Sydow) finding a small statue leading to a larger one of the demon Pazuzu in Al-hadar, Iraq.  We next see Father Karras (Jason Miller) at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. beginning to doubt his faith as he deals with his mother's illness.  After this introduction we meet the leading lady Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn), who begins to notice her 12-year-old daughter Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) exhibiting unexplainable, strange behavior.  The plot is initially based on a book published two years earlier by William Peter Blatty, which in turn was based on true events; that is, an exorcism performed by a Jesuit priest named Fr. William S. Bowdern.  Outside of that, quite a bit of it was based in fiction.

But what good fiction it is!  In the film, we see many different aspects of horror - from the subtle suspenseful creeping that raises the hair on  your arms to outright terror that doesn't stop as soon as you see it, instead confronting you full in the face!  When the film was originally released, some theaters actually gave out "Exorcist barf bags", as well.  While reviews were ultimately mixed, this film has garnered quite a few rewards and nominations during its heyday as well as attracting several re-releases, director's cuts, and the like.

Ultimately, my impression of this movie is very good.  I remember watching it for the first time by myself at night and having to wait for my dad to get home from work before I could continue!  Even since then, it's scared the crud out of me and every time I watch it, I find a new piece of subliminal imagery that I didn't notice before.  A movie that can continue to spook me regardless of how many times I've seen it is impressive indeed.  The acting was fantastic and convincing, and the effects were wonderful for their time.  In later releases, other pieces of the film were included that weren't before, cleaned up with CGI to enhance their effect.  Admittedly, it was a bit gory for my taste - while I appreciate the right amount of blood at the right time, there is a time and a place for it and too much just grosses me out instead of scaring me.  The rampant vomiting didn't help either - if you watch this movie, you should understand that in Regan's possession there are some not-so-nice parts in which she does some really vulgar stuff.  This, combined with the slightly outdated effects are what brings the movie down from what it could be for me.

All in all, however, this movie is very good.  I'll give it 4 out of 5 stars, with a star missing for the effects and the gore.

With that, that's that for the first post of this blog!  I hope to see you again soon!

Yours,

Pahua