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Anne's Reviews > The Exorcist
The Exorcist
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Oh. My. God.
What even was this? There was a level of crazy that I just WAS NOT expecting. I thought this priest was going to try and cast out a demon and a little girl was going to cough chunks of puke on him. I had no idea what sort of layers of insanity I was dealing with here.
Ok, ok, ok.
Did anyone else think it was fucknuts that all these psychiatrists just assume all tween & teen kids are like the X-men and might possibly develop psychic and telekinetic powers?
What the hell?!
Was this an ACTUAL thing in the 70s?
Like, oh it's all normal that she can read my mind and toss shit across the room, which is apparently COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from demon possession.
She is literally levitating the bed across the room like a magic carpet while spewing vomit and speaking in an entirely different voice, and Father Karrass is over there with his finger on her pulse talking about how her heartbeat is steady so it must just be NORMAL PSYCHIC PHENOMENA.
omgthatisnotathing!
No, sir. What you have there is 100% some freaky demon shit.
I also thought Father Karrass was boring. I was so tired of hearing about his inner struggle with his faith. I'm not religious and I understand why someone may struggle with it, so I sympathized to an extent. But either you jump on that train or you don't. And by the end of it, I was practically screaming at him to shit or get off the pot because I couldn't get behind his glee every time he thought for a second that the Regan was really demon-possessed.
I guess in his mind if there was a devil, there had to be a God.
Dude! There has to be a better time to work out your crisis of faith!
And oh god. This was gross.
Some of the shit the demon made the little girl do was horribly disturbing. I was quite literally cringing while listening to it.
(view spoiler)
There were quite a few icky masturbation scenes and incredibly nasty adult things that it said that got the point across that the demon was horrendous without that level of nastiness.
Fuck! Just awful.
I don't know. I was bored with the religious stuff, sickened by all the gross descriptions, and yet still rooted to the spot like a gawker watching a train wreck.
I'm glad I read this one and I doubt I'll ever forget it.
It. Is. Something. Good? Bad? Like I said, I don't know!
BUT IT IS SOMETHING.
The audio version I listened to was published by HarperAudio and was read by the author, William Peter Blatty. Dude had one of those menacing voices that you wouldn't want to hear in a dark alley.
What even was this? There was a level of crazy that I just WAS NOT expecting. I thought this priest was going to try and cast out a demon and a little girl was going to cough chunks of puke on him. I had no idea what sort of layers of insanity I was dealing with here.
Ok, ok, ok.
Did anyone else think it was fucknuts that all these psychiatrists just assume all tween & teen kids are like the X-men and might possibly develop psychic and telekinetic powers?
What the hell?!
Was this an ACTUAL thing in the 70s?
Like, oh it's all normal that she can read my mind and toss shit across the room, which is apparently COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from demon possession.
She is literally levitating the bed across the room like a magic carpet while spewing vomit and speaking in an entirely different voice, and Father Karrass is over there with his finger on her pulse talking about how her heartbeat is steady so it must just be NORMAL PSYCHIC PHENOMENA.
omgthatisnotathing!
No, sir. What you have there is 100% some freaky demon shit.
I also thought Father Karrass was boring. I was so tired of hearing about his inner struggle with his faith. I'm not religious and I understand why someone may struggle with it, so I sympathized to an extent. But either you jump on that train or you don't. And by the end of it, I was practically screaming at him to shit or get off the pot because I couldn't get behind his glee every time he thought for a second that the Regan was really demon-possessed.
I guess in his mind if there was a devil, there had to be a God.
Dude! There has to be a better time to work out your crisis of faith!
And oh god. This was gross.
Some of the shit the demon made the little girl do was horribly disturbing. I was quite literally cringing while listening to it.
(view spoiler)
There were quite a few icky masturbation scenes and incredibly nasty adult things that it said that got the point across that the demon was horrendous without that level of nastiness.
Fuck! Just awful.
I don't know. I was bored with the religious stuff, sickened by all the gross descriptions, and yet still rooted to the spot like a gawker watching a train wreck.
I'm glad I read this one and I doubt I'll ever forget it.
It. Is. Something. Good? Bad? Like I said, I don't know!
BUT IT IS SOMETHING.
The audio version I listened to was published by HarperAudio and was read by the author, William Peter Blatty. Dude had one of those menacing voices that you wouldn't want to hear in a dark alley.
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Reading Progress
March 13, 2022
– Shelved
October 23, 2022
–
Started Reading
November 12, 2022
–
Finished Reading
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by
Luna
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Nov 12, 2022 07:21AM
Great review Anne. It is unbelievable how this book/movie freaks so many out. The whole subject matter just messes with my mind and I bought it this August but returned it days later. Cost me $8 for a book I never even opened! lol
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The book is more gory than scary - to me! Blatty reading about the sound this kid makes while she continually shits herself haunts my dreams. lol
I read this many years ago, and it scared the shit out of me. I haven't gone back to read it again because of that. Movie is one of my fave horror movies ever. As always, great review, Anne!
Thanks, Scott! This book was NOTHING like I was expecting.
I've been thinking of reading it, but I think it's too many pages.. I still have The Omen to read. We could read it together, although not now, I'm kind of spun out on horror at the moment.
It's a tad on the longish side for sure. But so is Moby Dick and I'm planning to read that one at some point. lol The Omen is still on my list, so just let me know when you're ready.
I remember reading it years ago and just cringing at most if it.
I loved Blatty as the narrator.
Nataliya wrote: "I remember reading it years ago and just cringing at most if it."Yeeeees. I made a lot of faces during this.
Kris wrote: "I loved Blatty as the narrator."He sounded like he had jowls and a cigarette burning nearby.
Damn it! You know me so well, Alex!
I think Hubs said something like that, too.
Great review, Anne! I feel very similar to you. I was terrified to read this because this movie terrified me as a child. I found the over exaggeration of masturbation scenes a little too much; as you said, for "shock" value? I don't know, man. It just seems a little weird to me, personally lol.
I did, however, really enjoy most of it!
Elizabeth wrote: "Great review, Anne! I feel very similar to you. I was terrified to read this because this movie terrified me as a child. I found the over exaggeration of masturbation scenes a little too much; as ..."
It was overly descriptive for a child (for me) but I can see why the author did it. The shock was real! A big part of me just thought that side of things could have been alluded to without going into detail more than once.
really appreciate your honest and detailed review of this book; I find it very helpful.💖😘
Funny story, I was more scared of the movie than the book. After the movie, for some reason, the book was not scary to me.
No the book isn't so much scary as gory and gross. I don't know that I've ever sat down to watch the Exorcist movie. I should probably do that.
Anne wrote: "No the book isn't so much scary as gory and gross. I don't know that I've ever sat down to watch the Exorcist movie. I should probably do that."Good luck! It wasn't a favorite of mine.
It kind of feels like one of those bucket list things I need to sort of push through. lol
My. Thoughts. Exactly! As always, great review!
Pirata wrote: "My. Thoughts. Exactly! As always, great review!"Thanks, Pirata!
Haha, I think I had the same audiobook. Kind of weirdly softly spoken but really creepy. I usually hate authors reading their own work, him and Gaiman seem to be the exception.
Yeah, he did a great job!
This review is so good - I'm 100% checking this out now lol, just for curiosity's sake now LOL.
Yes definitely checking this out now cause of your review! I mean I've been meaning to check this out eventually.
Ben wrote: "This review is so good - I'm 100% checking this out now lol, just for curiosity's sake now LOL."Thanks! And yeah, definitely check it out. It was quite a bit different from what I was expecting.
Alexander wrote: "Yes definitely checking this out now cause of your review! I mean I've been meaning to check this out eventually."It's a buck list book for sure!
Seriously, I was scared of this movie as a child. I spent most of the time under a blanket while watching it. 👀...lol.
The bit where they used an actual little girl’s voice for a few seconds freaked me out. It was a weird contrast from Blatty’s.
Ebony wrote: "Seriously, I was scared of this movie as a child. I spent most of the time under a blanket while watching it. 👀...lol."I can't even imagine! I was such a scardey cat when I was a kid.
Neil wrote: "The bit where they used an actual little girl’s voice for a few seconds freaked me out. It was a weird contrast from Blatty’s."YES. What was that?! LOL
I'm sure you know it's based on a true story
My first ever horror movie and boy what an experience it was watching a little girl cursing levitating things and vomiting 🤮 btw great review Anne i am looking forward reading the novel after your review
Just listened to this. I think I enjoyed it more than you but +1 on the “telepathy and psychokinesis are normal” thing. I know the early ‘70s were a time of strange beliefs but this was particularly wtf. And to the person who freaked out when the child’s voice unexpectedly came on - I was driving at the time and it’s lucky I didn’t crash the car
Christine wrote: "I'm sure you know it's based on a true story"Yeah, he fictionalized a story he'd heard about in college, I think. However, a lot of people think the boy in the "true story" was just somewhat disturbed as he was known for bullying other children and being a mean prankster.
Shrey wrote: "My first ever horror movie and boy what an experience it was watching a little girl cursing levitating things and vomiting 🤮 btw great review Anne i am looking forward reading the novel after your ..."Oh! Have fun! <--kinda?
Pearce wrote: "ust listened to this. I think I enjoyed it more than you but +1 on the “telepathy and psychokinesis are normal” thing. I know the early ‘70s were a time of strange beliefs but this was particularly wtf.And to the person who freaked out when the child’s voice unexpectedly came on - I was driving at the time and it’s lucky I didn’t crash the car"
YES! I wasn't driving, thank god. That was particularly well done by the audiobook. lol
I'll agree that some of the stuff bored me. I wasn't scared at any point, but the audacity of the writer to do some of the things he did was horrifying in itself.
I've been reading a lot of early Stephen King and he also has a lot of psychic abilities are normal stuff that normal people are fine with. I thought about this a lot while I was reading The Exorcist and decided to just accept it. I think I should have listened to it from the other comments. I might have appreciated the dialogue more.
I finally finished this after about seven years, and I can't say that I agree with the description of "the most terrifying novel ever written." First off, I was never scared, mostly grossed out. And second off, I don't really visualize when I read, so that's probably the difference. My brain was like "this dialogue is cringey and gross. I think I'll join her in vomiting." I also read it because I was asked on two separate occasions if I'm named after the girl in the exorcist, to which my now response is "no, she spells her name differently."
Yeah, it was definitely a different vibe than the movie. The priest's story felt more like a psychological dive on loneliness and codependency. I was reading some Harlan Ellison at the time, and he does a lot of themes on loneliness. It made more sense looking at it like a bad breakup where he can't risk dating God again because the breakup was so painful, hence the "it can't be God, maybe she's just psychic" being more protective/plausible denial than sincere belief. If anything, the biggest horror aspect was the mom's story, seeing her daughter stolen away by an unknown illness.
