The classic horror movie that terrified Stephen King from the first minute: “Scary from the start”
Based solely on his reputation as one of the most iconic figures in horror history regardless of medium, Stephen King shouldn’t be a person who frightens easily, considering he’s dedicated his life to crafting spine-chilling stories designed to strike fear into the hearts of readers.
Then again, there’s a stark difference between writing terrifying tales he knows exactly how they’ll end and watching live-action horrors created by a filmmaker without warning of what’s coming next. As a result, a single scene was all it took for King to realise that he might be better off peeking at the movie in question from behind the cushions.
King’s bibliography has covered all sorts of traumatic things, whether it’s hardcore blood and guts, supernatural shenanigans, far-flung fantasy, serial killer thrillers, tales of obsession gone awry, or hard-boiled crime stories. Many of them have been brought to the screen at least once, but the percentage of them that lived up to his expectations is a great deal smaller.
Ironically, despite being one of spooky storytelling’s leading lights, King’s favourite adaptations of his work tend to be dramas. He did say Brian De Palma’s Carrie was better than the book, though, but he maintains a soft spot for Frank Darabont’s The Shawshank Redemption and Rob Reiner’s Stand by Me above all others.
That being said, it’s fitting that the film which left King so troubled and traumatised was itself a literary adaptation. It hailed from a corner of the world he knew all too well, and yet, it couldn’t prepare him for the horrors to come. From the very first scene, King and audiences worldwide knew they were in for a dark, dingy, and dangerous detour into demonic possession and allegories on religion and spirituality, which ended up as an all-time great, a record breaker, and a history-maker.
“The Exorcist is scary from the start when in the prologue, the clock suddenly stops,” he told A.Frame. “It’s very claustrophobic for a studio movie, and every time we go back to that bedroom with Regan, we dread even more what we’re going to see. But for me, it’s the grisly grace notes that make the film.”
King is a massive fan of William Friedkin in general after naming the filmmaker’s Sorcerer as his favourite movie of all time, but it was The Exorcist that first confirmed him as a major player in Hollywood after The French Connection had skyrocketed his profile to new heights with its Academy Award wins for ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’.
The seminal horror was the first film in its genre to ever make the ‘Best Picture’ shortlist at the Oscars, becoming the highest-grossing R-rated release in cinema history into the bargain. The intensely atmospheric introductory scene may not be as overtly nightmarish as the events that follow, but it sets the stage perfectly. From there, The Exorcist never lets up, with King unable to collect himself until after the credits start rolling.
