The music is another crucial element of the film. The subliminal editing in The Exorcist was done for dramatic effect - to create, achieve, and sustain a kind of dreamlike state” and that “there are no subliminal images. It tapped sources of fear and dread that were rooted deep in the psyches of its audience.įrom /6/the-exorcist-1973/ :įriedkin has claimed that subliminal messages are both “a very effective storytelling device. It skirted on the edge of theology and metaphysics. The Exorcist was not merely another horror movie. I maintain they were used for a more sinister function.
SUBLIMINAL MESSAGES IN THE EXORCIST MOVIE
The psycho-terror was conducted through the use of subliminal, subaudial sounds in the soundtrack - the screams of slaughtered pigs, the buzzing of angry bees - and subvisual images in the movie frames - the pace of the priest Father Karras as a grotesque death mask - presented at sound and speed levels too low and too fast for the ear and eye to consciously absorb.Įven after it was revealed that subliminal techniques were used liberally in the movie, many people (such as director William Friedkin) saw it as merely a case of enhancing the narrative with special effects, art often being cited as the one field where the end justifies the means. And that is exactly what The Exorcist was. Eventually, Blatty himself was revealed to be a former CIA agent, a specialist in psychological warfare. The Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles helped to finance the film based upon the novel by Blatty, who claimed it was based upon an actual case. if yr ears perked up last nite hearing joebob toss out that blatty was "in the psychological warfare" division of the airforce, here's some info ive collected over the years:Īadl.org/sites/default/files/aa_sun/aa_sun_19740628_p015-008.jpg You could do a whole room 237 frame-by-frame on this, one of the true hideous, unrepeatable achievements of studio horror.
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