Is the Exorcist the scariest movie?

[Adam West]

I think time and again it has been rated the scariest horror film of all time. I'm not really into horror flicks, haven't seen it in years but watched it recently.

I didn't think it was scary at all. Kind of creepy but not scary. Maybe because it is supposedly based on a true story that makes it scary? If it is based on a true story; I honestly believe the girl had a severe form of mental illness and everything else was just embellishments.

I still go with "Carrie" as scariest movie of all time. That movie still creeps me out watching it as an adult and knowing exactly what's going to happen and when.

[Hector]

The Exorcist was the one that scared me the most when I saw it back in the day.

Carrie was never scary to me...I kinda giggled in a few scenes.

[kingdom warrior]

I think it is. I one time as a teen saw this movie completely alone, in my house, lights out after midnight............I nearly keeled over and croaked with fear.....no other movie has ever even come close to the kind of fear this movie gave me.

I guess the idea that yeah, IMO Demons are real......kinda adds that extra dimension of fear that other movies don't.

[toys2cool]

i love that movie, still cracks me up

[HardyGirl]

I think the Exorcist is scarier than Carrie, (both versions). I don't know if I'd wanna sit through the Exorcist again. *shudder*

[Mikey]

When I was a kid I thought the Exorcist was the scariest movie ever.

Today I find it kind of boring

Go figure

I don't find Carrie scary at all ... never did

[Nostalgiabuff]

I never found Carrie scary...except that jump out of your skin moment a the end when her hand shoots out of the grave and grabs Amy Irving.

Exorcist was scary as hell but scariest movie ever? i don't think so

[Adam West]

It was the end of "Carrie" that also scared the living daylights out of me. It was one of the first real horror films I had seen and knew whenever "the music" came on...expect something scary to happen but it threw me for a loop. Maybe just growing up Catholic and seeing all the strange candles, statues, icons and the way she killed her mom just creeped me out. Ironically, I realize that the Exorcist also involves Catholic priests but didn't find anything scary about it. I never saw it as a teenager so maybe that's a reason why it never scared me. Also, I guess it is engrained in pop culture so much that you will see scenes satirized in other movies (the Shrek Halloween movie is one example) that it takes the creep factor out of it.

[Adam West]

As a side note; I got spooked really easy when I was a kid. I remember watching "The Birds" when I was younger than 10 and I think I pooped my pants. "Creature from the Black Lagoon" also scared me for some reason but again I would watch them when I was in Elementary School during "Creature Feature" so maybe a lot of it has to do with the age that you first watched a film. My 14 year old daughter loves horror movies and I try my best to make sure it is age appropriate. Unfortunately, her friends' parents don't share my view and she will tell me about "Saw" or "Paranormal Activity"....I have seen brief clips of both but not the full length version.

[Adam West]

Kind of strange to watch the Shrek Halloween special with them and my daughter is laughing at the sattires to movies like "Psycho" or "The Exorcist". She gets it because she has seen the movies. My younger son was telling me this evening that he was being forced to watch "Halloween" on the SciFy channel tonight because my daughter wanted to watch it. I told him it was edited and he wasn't forced to watch anything. He could simply leave the room and do something else. He had that wicked smile on his face that told me he liked the film.

[Hector]

Creature from the Black Lagoon was the scariest Universal Monster flick for me...the incoming Gillman walking towards the camera...his breathing moving gills...and that famous music....that really scared the bejesus outta me back in the day...lol.

Again with Carrie...nope...nada...it doesn't even make my top 20 of scariest movies...sorry.

Exorcist? I could hardly open my eyes when I first saw it at the theater...I had nightmares for days...lol.

[Hector]

The Ring is pretty creepy...both the original Japanese and the American remake.

[wolfie]

Time changes everything when it comes to what is scary. Without realising it events that are going on in your life and in general in the country have a big effect on the way you feel when you see a film.

Remember people ran screaming from the cinema in 1931 when Dracula & Frankenstein were shown. The films have not changed but that would not happen now.

In order to fully appreciate the impact The Exorcist had you would have to wipe your memory and go back in time to 1973 and watch it then. All the things that you have seen since then will alter the feelings you have watching this film now.

Your mind will never let you recreate that moment that you first saw something, it is never the same second time round.

[Brazoo]

The Exorcist scared me a lot as a kid - now, no.

When people list the scariest movies or scenes they often prey on normal things we do that make us vulnerable already. Like the shower scene in Psycho - for example.

I think one of the things that makes The Exorcist so effective is the way it exploits these vulnerabilities for the kid AND the mom.

At some point get scared lying in bed - imagining the worst things that could happen - and being turned into that monster and loosing all your control is a really frightening idea.

On the other side, even the least superstitious and reasonably minded parent must get irrational fears about the well-being of their kids - so the mom's story is effective as well.

[fallensaviour]

I find it kind of boring,I don't find it scary at all ...Never did.
I never understood how people could...LOL

That newer film The Rite with Anthony Hopkins was scarier than this one.