Martin Scorsese’s most controversial horror opinion: “I prefer the escapism”
Martin Scorsese, whose work on the likes of Taxi Driver, Goodfellas and The Irishman among many more has led him to become one of the most influential filmmakers of all time, is first and foremost a keen film historian and student of cinema. Perhaps one of the most generous directors of his calibre, Scorsese is more often than not willing to sit down with anybody to talk about movies.
The very nature of cinema has always bred discussion. While some artists prefer to keep their influences close to their chest in an attempt to avoid them bleeding into the perception of their own work, Scorsese has often been forthcoming in sharing vast lists of the movies that shaped him and his creative process. It’s a refreshing change and means we have the opinion of one of the finest filmmakers of all time on a whole host of pictures.
The truth is, Scorsese, like any other artist, has leant heavily on the work of the past to focus and refine his own talent. “I prefer the escapism of fantasy, rather than the escapism of incredible sentimentality,” Scorsese once said regarding his storytelling ability. “What I’m afraid of is pandering to tastes that are superficial. There’s no depth anymore. What appears to be depth is often a facile character study… But they’re making a product, and a product’s gotta sell,” the director added.
Elaborating on the importance of cinema in shaping social perception, the director stated, “Movies touch our hearts and awaken our vision, and change the way we see things…they take us to other places, they open doors and minds. Movies are the memories of our lifetime; we need to keep them alive.” While that might be a fitting retort for a man who is heavily indebted to the film industry, his hefty experience both in the movies and in life, adds a certain weight of gravitas to his rhetoric.
As long as you don’t count 2010’s thriller Shutter Island, you can be sure to say that despite Martin Scorsese’s exploration of several genres, horror has always been an art form he has evaded, though no doubt appreciated. This has been illustrated by the director’s own list of his eleven favourite horror films, in which he details why Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Jack Clayton’s The Innocents and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining make the list of his all-time favourites. “Kubrick made a majestically terrifying movie…where what you don’t see or comprehend shadows every move the characters make,” Scorsese commented on Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 classic, based on the novel by Steven King.
One film, however, which doesn’t make it onto Scorsese’s list but is miraculously noted as a favourite, is the sequel to William Friedkin’s classic horror The Exorcist, titled Exorcist II: The Heretic. The original is about as pivotal a movie as one can hope to find in the horror genre. It changed a generation of filmmakers and left millions afraid to turn the lights off. However, the sequel is far below this impressive watermark.
Widely regarded as a cinematic flop, John Boorman’s film, adapted from William Peter Blatty’s horror novel stars Linda Blair, Richard Burton and Max von Sydow and continues the story of young girl Regan MacNeil and the demon that still lurks within her. It’s a safe enough premise, but the movie falls down on many areas, with a wafer-thin script and performances that belie the calibre of the actors on show.
With a religious past marked with tormenting Catholic guilt, Martin Scorsese makes a case for Boorman’s sequel, stating: “I like the first Exorcist, because of the Catholic guilt I have, and because it scared the hell out of me; but The Heretic surpasses it. Maybe Boorman failed to execute the material, but the movie still deserved better than it got”. Although the third film in the trilogy, The Exorcist III, often receives love from underground horror communities, it is rare for the widely disliked Exorcist II to take praise, particularly from the opinion of such an acclaimed director.
