Movies
Watch Unseen FX Test Footage From ‘THE EXORCIST’! (Exclusive)
I’ve been teasing a massive Halloween treat for a few days now. I hope this makes your head spin!
Bloody Disgusting is beyond excited to present you with an exclusive look at never-before-seen special effects test footage that’s been unearthed from William Friedkin’s 1973 horror masterpiece The Exorcist! The footage was provided by someone very special to us, who unfortuantely cannot be named.
Let me attempt to explain what you’re about to see (it will be broken into 3 parts with more “treats” coming in a few days!)…
This footage came from a 16mm print which was labeled as such: “Warner Bros color timed anamorphic test – The Exorcist.” The case had William Friedkin’s name hand written on the address label.
The following footage was shot on 35mm. This print was a 16mm reduction of the 35mm footage, probably intended to view tests at home or in the office.
The most interesting thing to my buddy is that this was shot SCOPE. As he explains, the camera slates in this footage list Friedkin as the director, so this leads one to assume Friedkin was originally going to shoot The Exorcist in scope. This footage, to the best of his knowledge, is totally unreleased anywhere and is the ONLY footage ever seen of the Exorcist set shot in scope. And it’s premiering exclusively right here on Bloody Disgusting!!!
He also believes that the man you sometimes see standing by the bed with a moustache is WILLIAM PETER BLATTY supervising the tests. (Note: this may appear in future videos I share next week.)
Another interesting thing you see in this footage is the ENTIRE ROOM is on some sort of device which makes it shake back and forth violently. Neither of us remember a scene in the finished movie where the entire room swivels around as if it is unhinged from the rest of the house…
HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM BLOODY DISGUSTING!
Below you’ll find the first of 4 videos (shared over 3 days) in which we see some effects tests where Regan floats, and where she is being thrown around her bed. Frightening even in test footage!
Movies
R-Rated ‘The X-Files: I Want to Believe’ Director’s Cut Gets New Title and Streaming Premiere Date
After a slight delay, Disney has finally announced a new streaming date for the R-Rated director’s cut of The X-Files: I Want to Believe. According to Gizmodo, it’ll also come with a new title.
The X-Files: I Want to Believe Vrach Frankenshteyn begins streaming on Hulu on August 14.
The new cut was first teased in an interview with director Chris Carter on the Fail Better With David Duchovny podcast from last year, where he teased a much scarier movie he intended.
“Now I have a chance to go back and make the scary movie that I always intended to make,” Carter explained last year. “It’s not just doing a Director’s Cut to do a Director’s Cut. It’s really kind of bringing to life something that for me was on the page and never got to the screen.“
The director’s cut of the film was initially set to arrive on Disney+ in June, but quietly disappeared from the schedule without a word. Polygon reported the delay was “due to some last-minute adjustments being made to the film.”
The release’s new “Vrach Frankenshteyn” title certainly suggests those adjustments have been made, likely referring to a Frankensteining of bonus footage.
In the film, Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) have been out of the FBI for several years, with Mulder living in isolation and Scully having become a doctor at a Catholic hospital, where she has formed a bond with a critically ill child patient.
When an FBI agent is mysteriously kidnapped, and a former Catholic priest who has been convicted of pedophilia claims to be experiencing psychic visions of the endangered agent, Scully is asked to bring Mulder back to the bureau to consult on the case because of his work with psychics.
The brand new R-rated cut will “faithfully restore the filmmaker’s original vision.”
Look for it on Hulu next month.