So as you may have heard, there’s a new Exorcist movie in theaters. It hasn’t been doing great box office and a lot of people really don’t like it. So it hasn’t exactly set the world on fire. The same can’t be said, however, of the 1973 original, which was a pop culture sensation when it came out, and that’s wording it mildly. The Exorcist became the biggest film of all time, grossing a then-unthinkable $193 million (a few years later, Jaws would take its title).
Of course, there was a reason for this: The Exorcist freaked the fuck out of audiences, and they couldn’t get enough of it. In this fascinating promotional documentary from 1974, you see crowds waiting in line for several hours (sometimes overnight) just so they could get tickets. Multiple times throughout it, there are reports of people fainting, and while I’m sure some of them were authentic, others were probably the movie’s publicity team at work. Watching this really is taking a trip into a time capsule, as in the era of folks reserving their seats online sometimes months before a film comes out, the concept of queuing up for that long to go to a movie is absurd.
Have a great day, y’all! And remember to keep the Devil away!