I could be wrong because Friedkin sometimes says silly things in Hollywoodese, but I find it hard to believe he would say that about John Boorman, director of Point Blank and Deliverance. John Boorman is a giant.

There’s lots to say about what’s great about Exorcist II. But at a high-level it’s just one of the rare works of genuine visionary mysticism in film, much less Hollywood film. Its concept of The Wings of Pazuzu is a timeless idea about how evil really works in society (armed with this concept, one can enter many even greater works of art like Altman’s Short Cuts). Equally the idea of the Good Locust is profound from a filmmaker expert in Arthurian legend.

Visually, the film is amazing: the glass cells expressing layers of consciousness (very Jungian), the graphic matches (Linda Blair drawing/Linda Blair dreaming) and psychic editing (Linda Blair tap dancing), the African dreamscapes, the apocalyptic climax. This is the essence of cinema—restoring silent movie aesthetics and enchantment.

From a Ledgie perspective, I intuit a not-fleshed-out connection between the appeal of Stevie Nicks’s “dreams” on the phenomenon of Rumours in 1977 and the rejection of Linda Blair’s Good Locust in 1977 (they look remarkably similarly pretty). Great artists tapping into the zeitgeist, addressing some primal need with primal myths, but one is palatable, the other rejected. One grooves within a popular idiom, the other embarrasses in its radical earnestness (and some undeniable flaws insignificant next to its achievements). A case for further study.

According to Wikipedia (I know, not always 100% reliable) the source is in McCabe, Bob (2000). The Exorcist: Out of the Shadows. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-71197-509-5. The whole quote was:

Friedkin saw half an hour of the film: "I was at Technicolor and a guy said 'We just finished a print of Exorcist II, do you wanna have a look at it?' And I looked at half an hour of it and I thought it was as bad as seeing a traffic accident in the street. It was horrible. It's just a stupid mess made by a dumb guy – John Boorman by name, somebody who should be nameless, but in this case should be named. Scurrilous. A horrible picture".

Thank you for confirming that Friedkin is as petty as he is a terrible filmmaker lol

My Top 10, pretty close to in order:

The Birds (1963)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Trilogy of Terror - “Amelia” segment (1975)
The Devil's Backbone (2001)
Carnival of Souls (1962)
Get Out (2017)
It Follows (2014)
The Funhouse (1981)
The Wolf Man (1941)

Honorable mentions: A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), The Woman in Black (1989), It (2017), Drag Me To Hell (2009), Dracula (1958), The House of the Devil (2009), the Annabelle series for pure kitsch value.

Daphne du Maurier's stories seem to be getting a good representation in these lists. For those who find a spooky story just as good as a spooky movie, you could try seeking out the original short stories of The Birds and Don't Look Now by du Maurier (or any of her work). Those last few paragraphs of Don't Look Now... :eek:

Drag Me To Hell was such a hoot. Love it.

The Ring (US remake) was the scariest thing I ever saw in a cinema as an adult. Samara may as well have been crawling out of the cinema screen.

Trilogy of Terror is a good pick. To this day my sister who is in her 50s is terrified of watching it as a child. In the mid 70s we were toddlers and watched it on TV. To this day it still has an impact on her. I would always slide a knife under her bedroom door to scare her as a kid.

Why do I not have a difficult time imagining this?:p

I'm surprised you weren't looping Oh Daddy and sliding nude pics of Mick under the door. Now THAT would be terrifying!:p

These are some of my all time favorites as well. The Glick brothers scratching at the window used to scare the daylights out of me. Have you seen Halloween Kills yet?

I saw Halloween Kills last night. Lots of carnage in that movie. It was pretty good considering how long the Michael Myers character has lived. I loved the tribute to other Halloween movies like the masks from Season of the Witch and the nurse from the original Halloween making cameos. It was a good idea to continue the Halloween night from the last movie 2018.

I didn't love it, but it was OK. I agree about bringing back some of the old characters like Nurse Chambers, Sheriff Brackett and Lindsey Wallace. I didn't care for Anthony Michael Halls portrayal of Tommy though. I have to say I miss the "stalker" aspect of Michael. Also, I thought the angry town mob was a little over done. I mean, the last film erases all the sequels after 1978. In this series, Michael has been incarcerated for the last 40 years, but they are behaving as if he's been running amuck the whole time. LOL. sorry I could talk about Halloween for hours.

I agree with your assessment of the movie. I thought its 2018 predecessor was a better movie. However considering how long the series has been drawn out, its a miracle its not a trash movie.
I also can talk about Halloween and John Carpenter movies for hours. The Fog is another favorite that features many of the same actors as Halloween. I also am in the minority but Season of the Witch is a cult classic but I get what people don't like it. Its hard to have a good scary movie without understanding WHY the evil is happening. My dream of a lifetime is to visit the lighthouse in CA in the movie The Fog.

The Fog is amazing. It's a perfect "ghost" story. I can watch it and be scared, but not have to cover my eyes because I don't like gore. HIII is also a favorite. People give it crap because there is no Michael Myers, but if it was just called Season of the Witch, I bet they would like it.

Haven’t seen it since I was a kid, but always enjoyed The Fog. My favorite John Carpenter film is The Ward. Check it out!

A 2021 Special Edition!

#TheNineWorthies - 9 Best Horror Films - Part II: The Revenge of the Runners-Up
10. Mom and Dad (Brian Taylor, 2018)
11. I Walked With a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943)
12. Nosferatu the Vampyre (Werner Herzog, 1979)
13. Ganja & Hess (Bill Gunn, 1973)
14. The Green Inferno (Eli Roth, 2013)
15. Candyman (Bernard Rose, 1992)
16. Blood and Roses (Roger Vadim, 1960)
17. The Stuff (Larry Cohen, 1985)
18. The Haunting (Robert Wise, 1963)

You may know this but John Carpenter was forced to add some gore to the Fog. It was a ghost story where the fog killed people. During the initial screening the audiences were not that thrilled. So they edited in the slayings from the ghost sailors with the hooks. John is very creative and he never wanted to continue the Michael Myers story. He wanted to create a series of Halloween movies that had different plots thus Season of the Witch. The movie was not popular and when Michael Myers returned the following year it was impossible to pass up when audiences craved. So I admire his creativity and devotion wanting to do different things.
Btw, I love the music of the Fog.