On the 12th Day of Halloween, My Tue Love Gave to Me: A Deep-Cleansing Pea Soup Bath.
The Exorcist
Christmas gets a sickening amount of attention don’t you think? There exists a metric ton of traditions, a host of songs, the giving of gifts, and even a song about giving gifts. You all know the song I am referring to, even if you don’t know all the lyrics and only come running in from the other room to sing that obnoxious ‘’five gold rings’’ part. Well I’m sick of Christmas having all the fun and have decided to requisition the 12 Days of Christmas song to serve a more Halloween-y purpose. We’ll investigate some of the requisite horror titles we all dust off around this time of year, and I will complement each blurb with a film-related gift to give to your true love…that is, if you gravely dislike your true love.
The Exorcist is the quintessential demonic possession movie by which all subsequent are judged. This reputation is no fluke, but indeed well earned. Roger Ebert called The Exorcist an “exploitation of the most fearsome resources of the cinema.” I feel I need not waste time summarizing the film as it wouldn’t find comfortable purchase upon this list were it not familiar to an overwhelming majority of you.
What I find so terrifying about The Exorcist has less to do with the graphically frightening images of Ragan’s head spinning or her unsettling yoga practices—made famous by the rerelease—and more to do with the flashes of disturbing imagery throughout the film. These moments are so subtle as to be near subliminal. That devilish face that pops up always seems to greet me in my nightmares.
But yes, the moment when she vomits up a heaping helping of green slime onto the hapless priest is disgustingly seminal. As such, bestow upon your true love a flood of warm, visceral goodness. They will loathe you for it.
