The Unseen: The Exorcist, The Shining, and the Terror of the Supernatural (October 2024 Horror Film Series, Part II)

Warning: The following article contains major spoiler alerts and disturbing content.

There is an old principle in the horror genre that “what we don’t see” is scarier than what we do. Jason and Michael may stack up a pile of bloodied and butchered corpses. But we’ll fear those corpses far less than the soft sounds of the killers’ footsteps creeping up a stairwell. In no other category of horror is this principle more fitting than in the “supernatural” category. After all, most of us rarely- if ever- see ghosts, werewolves, vampires, demons, or witches.

Welcome to the second article in our October 2024 series. Today, we’ll explore some of Hollywood’s creepiest horror films involving the spectral, the paranormal, and the realm beyond the merely corporeal. Let’s begin with an exploration into a film that- as a native Washingtonian- hits very close to home (literally)- The Exorcist.

A Story of Possession

William Peter Blatty adapted his own 1971 novel of the same name to the big screen in 1973. William Friedkin (The French Connection) directed the movie. Blatty also produced the film as part of Hoya Productions. Evan A. Lottman, Norman Gay, and Bud S. Smith edited the movie. Owen Roizman provided principal photography, and Jack Nitzche provided the score (including the iconic “tubular bells”). Warner Brothers distributed the film.

In Georgetown, Washington, D.C., Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) pursues an acting career with movie director Burke Dennings (Jack MacGowan). She rents out a luxurious apartment with her 12-year-old daughter, Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair). Meanwhile, Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller), a practicing psychiatrist at Georgetown University, counsels other priests while dealing with his ailing mother in New York and his own crisis of faith.

One night, Chris hosts a dinner party where Karras’ colleague, Father Joseph Dyer (Father William O’Malley) informs Chris that Karras’ mother has passed away. Suddenly, Regan appears in front of the whole party and publicly urinates. Her mother comforts her. Any hope that this was merely an isolated incident, though, vanishes when her condition worsens. Regan becomes violent. She flails helplessly and exhibits abnormal strength. Her bed violently shakes, and, one night, Chris finds the house completely empty (except for a sleeping Regan).

When Chris takes her daughter to medical examiners, they find no physical cause(s) for her condition. Things grow more sinister when Chris finds Dennings dead at the base of a public stairwell (his head turned backward). Detective William F. Kinderman (Lee J. Cobb) investigates a potential murder. Further aberrant behavior and symptoms (including crab walking and full body sores) drive Chris to conclude that her daughter is demonically possessed.

Chris therefore hires Father Karras and an older priest, Father Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow), to rescue her daughter. Merrin, who recently underwent a terrifying experience involving a stone talisman and a demonic vision in Hatra (Northern Iraq), tries to assist his spiritually lost colleague as the two attempt to rescue Regan from the clutches of Satan and his own “assistant,” Pazuzu (voiced by Ron Faber).

Lights, Camera, Terror

The Exorcist is probably most memorable for all its grotesque visuals—Regan crab-walking down the stairs, masturbating with a crucifix, levitating, and spinning her neck 360 degrees. Foley engineers allegedly created the sound of the latter by crushing up credit cards. The cinematography undoubtedly gave the film a lot of its horrific vibes. Roizman, who previously collaborated with Friedkin on The French Connection, oversaw filming all the scenes except the one in northern Iraq (which cinematographer Billy Williams handled). Roizman and Friedkin wanted their movie to appear as though they shot it with only the light available. Unlike the interiors of other horror films (Psycho, e.g.), MacNeil’s house would appear “normal and inviting” but suggest ominousness. Friedkin “demanded complete realism” and “wanted to see pictures with glass in them, mirrors on the walls and all the highly reflective surfaces you would naturally find in a house,” Roizman said. They never tried to cover anything up, which meant that the kitchen set (comprised of stainless steel and glass) was “virtually impossible” to light beyond the practical ceiling fixtures and whatever other lights they could manage to sneak in and hide.

Principal photography began for The Exorcist on August 14, 1972¹. Even though the movie is set in Washington, D.C., the crew shot many scenes in New York City, including CECO Studios for the interior of the MacNeil residence². Other locations included Goldwater Memorial Hospital, Bellevue Hospital, and Fordham University’s Keating Hall^3,4. The film also shot its opening sequence outside Mosul, Iraq. Because the Iraqis and Americans didn’t have diplomatic relations, Warner Brothers feared that Friedkin and his crew would never return.

The one location that the crew shot in Washington DC was the exterior of the MacNeil house. The residential home at 36^th and Prospect Streets (with a Mansard roof that accounted for attic space) was situated not far from the famous “Exorcist Steps”⁵. The crew covered the neighboring stairs with 13-millimeter-thick rubber pads to shoot the scene in which Karras throws himself to his death. The crew also shot various scenes directly in and around Georgetown University; places that include Healy Hall, Lauringer Library, the Dahlgren Chapel interiors, the archbishop’s office, and The Tombs (a local pub)^{6, 7, 8}.

The “exorcism” scenes themselves were undoubtedly the most challenging to film. Friedkin wanted the bedroom set to be cold enough to see the actors’ breath (as described in the novel), and so he purchased a $50,000 refrigeration system that cooled the set to −20 °F (−29 °C)^9,10,11,12. Since the set lighting warmed the air- which remained cold enough to film for only three minutes at a time- the whole scene (which the crew shot in chronological, film-script order) took a month to complete^13,14.

Shooting the scene in which the ceiling cracks preceded shooting the one in which Regan levitates off her bed. The crew used the cracks to cut a hole in the wall, rig it with monofilament wires, and then attach the wires via hooks to the 80-pound (36 kg) actress^11,14. Blair’s bodysuit (under her nightgown) concealed the wires^11,14. Roizman had filmed similar scenes before, painting the wires to match the background so they would not show. This was difficult on The Exorcist because of the changes in background.

Special effects supervisor Marcel Vercoutere designed a special harness for stuntwoman Ann Miles to perform the infamous “crabwalk/spider-walk” scene, but Miles had college gymnastic experience, and so she didn’t need it¹⁷. It did, however, take her two weeks to practice the maneuver¹⁶.  Vercoutere also built a latex, life-sized dummy of Linda Blair with help from makeup artist Dick Smith to shoot the famous “head-spinning” scene. They even tested the dummy’s visual believability by placing it in the front seat of a taxi and then seeing if, when they turned its head, pedestrians turned theirs¹⁵.

Life Imitates Art

Tragically, the horror from the film didn’t stay relegated to the fictional story, and many strange or haunting incidents occurred. A purported curse may have been the reason a bird flew into a circuit breaker on the house sets, starting a fire that destroyed all of them and set the shooting back six weeks¹⁸. This purported curse may have also been the reason that Burstyn and Blair both suffered lower back injuries, a carpenter accidentally cut his thumb, and a lighting technician accidentally lost his toe (separate incidents)^10,19.  Various people connected with The Exorcist (or their family members) died not long after they shot the movie. These included MacGowran, Blair’s grandfather, Sydow’s brother, a night watchman, an operator for the Regan bedroom refrigeration system, and an assistant cameraman’s newborn^10,19.

While British film historian Sarah Crowther believes all these creepy coincidences had a practical explanation (Friedkin’s driving, relentless production), Friedkin himself wasn’t nearly so skeptical. “I’m not a convert to the occult”, he told the horror-film magazine, Castle of Frankenstein, “but after all I’ve seen on this film, I definitely believe in demonic possession … We were plagued by strange and sinister things from the beginning”¹⁹.

The Exorcist also contained a few “quietly terrifying” moments. Father Karras falls asleep and dreams that he cannot communicate with his mother across a busy street in Manhattan. Meanwhile, Regan has a split-second vision of a demonic figure with a ravenous glare!

Spectral Monsters

Demons. There is something unique about them. They are the height of spiritual evil. People have generally classified demons into four categories (in terms of their relations with humans). There are angels in the Christian tradition that fell from grace, there are malevolent genii or familiars, there are demons that receive a cult, and there are ghosts and/or other malevolent revenants²⁰. People have also conceived of souls that inhabit other worlds, but most societies have not included them in their categories.

Some have classified vampires as demons with human heads and appended entrails. Those in the Middle Ages believed that incubi and succubi were spiritual beings. The Zoroastrians taught that 3,333 demons- some with specific dark responsibilities for war, starvation, sickness, and other miseries- exist. The Ancient Mesopotamians believed that the underworld (Kur) was home to many demons²¹. In Christian theology, figures such as Amon, Beelzebub, and Baal all flank Satan, the “arch demon,” in Pandemonium (later, Hell). John Milton classically coined the term for the realm of “all demons.”

It, Stephen King’s famous 1986 tome of a novel, centers on a paradoxical demon. Pennywise, who taunts, tortures, and kills children, is a “dancing clown.” A clown- at least historically (until serial killer John Wayne Gacy ruined its image)- was a figure of joy and laughter. That is what of course makes an evil clown so disturbing. Pennywise is an extraterrestrial, interdimensional entity capable of teleportation, weather control, psionics, telekinesis, mind control/possession, invisibility, low-tier omnipotence, illusions, and shapeshifting. And yet he resides in a sewer. This makes perfect sense.

After all, we shuffle away everything disgusting, objectionable, and terrifying. We deposit it somewhere “out of sight and out of mind.” But it is never really either. That is why Pennywise can appear to the children in whatever form they individually fear the most—illnesses, zombies, their sexual orientation, their own body, etc. Those are their “demons” (lurking in the “sewer”), and only once they confront them together can those demons lose their strength. It is a Jungian idea as old as time: “What you need most will be found where you least want to look.”

Ghosts are another spooky subject of fascination when it comes to the spiritual. Poltergeist (1982), The Haunting (1963), and The Ring (2002) are all horror classics. M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense (1999) follows Dr. Malcom Crowe (Bruce Willis), a Philadelphia-based child psychologist, who strives to help Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), a young boy who purportedly “sees dead people.” Cole envisions dead cyclists, revolutionary-era colonists hanging in a gymnasium, and terminally ill young girls. The Sixth Sense drives home the common theme that ghosts linger in the material realm because of “unfinished business.” The film is also, of course, famous for its final twist in which Dr. Crowe learns the haunting truth about himself.

The Haunted Hotel

Let us return to Stephen King on the subject matter of ghosts and what is arguably the most famous supernatural horror film of all time, The Shining (1980). Like Carrie (1976), in which the titular character- pushed to her breaking point- uses telekinesis to exact revenge on her schoolmates by crushing, burning, and electrocuting them, non-material forces drive Jack Torrance, The Shining’s main character- to commit atrocities as well.

World renowned cinematic auteur Stanley Kubrick directed The Shining. He adapted the screenplay from King’s novel alongside Diane Johnson. John Alcott provided principal photography. Ray Lovejoy edited the movie. Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind were responsible for the film’s music. Its production companies include The Producer Circle Company and Peregrine Productions Hawk Films. Warner Brothers distributed the movie.

Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and their son, Danny (Danny Lloyd), arrive at the remote Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Jack, a struggling novelist seeking a winter caretaking position, speaks with the manager, Stuart Ullman (Barry Nelson). Ullman informs Jack that the previous caretaker, Charles Grady, murdered his two daughters, his wife, and himself a decade ago.

In Boulder, Danny has a premonition and a seizure. Wendy discloses to a doctor that her husband once dislocated her son’s shoulder in a drunken rage. Jack has been alcohol-free ever since. At the Overlook, the hotel’s head chef, Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers), meets Danny. The two discover a telepathic connection known as “the shining.”

As the days and weeks pass, Danny experiences various hallucinations and horrific visions, including the bloodied corpses of the two murdered twins. Meanwhile, Jack grows frustrated and mad, constantly berating and snapping at his wife. Jack also envisions various ghosts, including bartender Lloyd (Joe Turkel) and Delbert Grady (Philip Stone).

Cabin fever, writers block, supernatural forces, or some combination of the three eventually drive Jack towards murderous rage. Meanwhile, Hallorann, extra-sensorily detecting danger, tries to help rescue Danny and Wendy from their homicidal father/husband (respectively) before it’s too late!

Breaking Down the Overlook

It’s impossible to discuss The Shining without mentioning all its classic moments—the tidal wave of blood rushing through the elevator doors, the “come play with us” twins, “red rum,” and “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” The latter- which first appeared in James Howell’s Proverbs in English, Italian, French and Spanish (1659)- is chilling in a very interesting way²².

Jack, a novelist, writes out this phrase repeatedly across hundreds of pieces of paper. Such an iteration may initially just seem like a comically severe form of “writers block”. But it also underscores one of the hallmarks of violent fantasies. The person will cling to a single thought (which in turn drives them to the edge). When Jack finds Wendy reading his manuscript, he pursues her up a flight of stairs, threatening to “bash her brains out” with a baseball bat.

Kubrick, notoriously meticulous, drenched The Shining in literary and historical allusions. Plenty of theories claim that the film is an allegory for the Holocaust, the genocide of indigenous Americans, and that it even references the moon landing. Other influences include Stephen Crane’s short story, “The Blue Hotel” (which Kubrick admired) and Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain. “The Simpsons” famously parodied The Shining…turning Homer into the mass murdering father, giving Bart and Groundskeeper Willie “the shinning” (misspelling intentional), and swapping out “all work and no play…” with “no beer and no TV make Homer go crazy.”

The “Shadow”

Film historian Geoffrey Cocks points out the film’s many allusions to fairy tales, including “Three Little Pigs” and “Hansel and Gretal.” Notably- Jack taunts his wife with the classic refrain- “I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house down”- when hacking at the bathroom door with an axe. Austrian born psychologist and scholar Bruto Bettelheim believed the “Big Bad Wolf” stood for “all the asocial unconscious devouring powers” that must be overcome by a child’s ego.

The above refrain precedes what is undoubtedly the film’s most iconic shot. Jack places his head in the door after breaking it open with an axe. “Here’s Johnny!” he tauntingly remarks, before Wendy slices his hand with a knife…a moment of strange dark humor that alludes to the famous late night talk show host. The image itself is an allusion to D.W. Griffith’s Broken Blossoms (1919) and The Phantom Carriage (1921), a Swedish horror film.

King was legendarily upset at Kubrick for altering his main character. In the novel, Jack is an overall good and loving husband/father who becomes a tragic villain when the Overlook Hotel’s spiritual forces overtake him. In the movie, though, Jack’s moral fiber is questionable from the start. The discussion between Wendy and the doctor about his violent drunken outburst highlights this. Kubrick didn’t believe that people could become evil, but that everyone already has evil in them.

This theme of “the Jungian shadow,” later played out across Vince Gilligan’s brilliant crime series, “Breaking Bad” (2008-2013), lies at the core of the film. Is Jack already evil or do the ghosts and other hotel spirits bring it out in him. Lloyd, the ghostly bartender, encourages Jack to drink again.  Delbert Grady, an incarnation of Charles Grady, encourages him to “correct” his family. The “beautiful” nude woman in Room 237 seduces Jack before transforming into a hideous, cackling old person (perhaps a nod to Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath”). The Shining at some level is an allegory for the demons in every person’s mind…the “intrusive thoughts” that terrify us, but which some of us wholeheartedly embrace. That “embracing” is truly the stuff of nightmares!

Conclusion

This October, if you really want something creepy to watch, don’t just stick to knife-wielding serial killers. Explore the elements of horror that lie beyond our everyday world- demons, witches, ghosts, and other spirits. Films like The Exorcist and The Shining all send shivers down our spines by keeping what is truly terrifying “unseen.”

SOURCES

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