Hilary Swank’s mother made her promise to never watch ‘The Exorcist’
When it comes to horror films, most people will have one or two that they don’t want to go near with the proverbial big, long stick.
Sometimes it’s due to its real-life inspiration, think Zodiac or Amityville Horror, sometimes it’s an especially terrifying film, and sometimes after watching something once, we think, ‘never, ever again’, which tends to be my approach to almost every horror film I’ve seen.
For Hillary Swank, there is one film she’s managed to go without watching for her entire life, even though she’s a big fan of the genre, explaining, “I remember I was a big fan of scary movies as a kid. It’s something I saw all the time. I wanted to be scared”, but this didn’t quite extend to The Exorcist, and honestly, we could leave the article there. The 1973 film is widely considered to be one of the scariest films of all time to this day, and for many who grew up in its wake, even the sheer mention of it sends shivers down their spine.
At the time of its release, it was groundbreaking, and until that point, horror had somewhat been considered silly, outlandish and not all that scary. But William Friedkin’s masterpiece, with all its vomiting, masturbation and contortions, proved to audiences that film could be truly terrifying, such that some audience members found it so shocking that it landed itself in a few lawsuits, but Swank’s aversion to it has little to do with the film itself and more to do with the reaction of her mother.
According to the actor, her mother explained, “You cannot see the Exorcist. You can never see The Exorcist. The Exorcist will ruin you for life”.
Clearly, her mother didn’t have an issue with Swank watching horror movies in general, and so the actor really took this advice to heart: “It’s just been beat in my head that if I see it I won’t ever be able to stay alone in a room”; so, what was it about the film that terrified Swank’s mother so much?
Well, as stated above, it was a film that was way ahead of its time, and so you can understand the effect on the audiences, however, there’s something about this film that, no matter how ridiculous or hammy we might find the effects now, many of us still cower in fear in its shadows. Then again, maybe it’s something to do with The Exorcist’s supposed curse.
The film follows the demonic possession of a young girl, Reagan, and the attempts of two priests to exorcise her. Given this subject matter, there’s always going to be a group of people claiming the demon is real, yet this claim is a little more substantiated given the weird goings on surrounding the film’s production, from a fire taking out the whole set except for Reagan’s and on-set injuries to nine of members of the cast and crew dying shortly after the film.
Then there were the people injured while watching the movie and the church struck by lightning during a screening. All around, the film had a bit of a reputation, and some presumed the entire thing was cursed; so, either Swank’s mother was just really, truly terrified by the movie, or she believed her daughter might get struck down or cursed upon watching.
Regardless, the actor took the advice to heart and managed to avoid the movie, despite loving the genre, and honestly, I don’t blame her; I’ve done the exact thing.
