Movies
Unearthed Article from 1974 Recounts the Total Madness of Experiencing ‘The Exorcist’ in Theaters
You couldn’t even imagine the chaos that ensued when William Friedkin‘s The Exorcist was released during Christmastime 1973. Unearthed by a reddit user, a writer for The New York Times recounted the nightmarish release that resulted in massive lines, filthy theaters, and the unthinkable stench of stale vomit in the air. It was such an event that people braved freezing cold weather or paid bribes to jump ahead in line. It was chaos and exactly the kind of cinematic experience we both miss and crave in today’s age of reserved seating and extreme comfort.
“…people stood like sheep in the rain, cold and sleet for up to four hours to see the chilling film about a 12‐year‐old girl going to the devil,” wrote Judy Klemesrud, on Jan. 27, 1974, looking back at The Exorcist‘s extraordinary run in theaters. “They lighted bonfires at their waiting post on Second Avenue, between 59th and 60th Streets, to keep warm, littered the streets with food wrappings, got into fist fights.
“Once, on a Friday night, they even stormed Cinema [when it] looked as though they weren’t going to make it inside after four‐hour wait.”
Security at the theater reported they had been offered bribes as high as $110 to let people jump to the head of the line with scalpers getting an upwards of $50 for a pair of tickets (that’s almost $300 adjusted for inflation).
That was just the battle to get inside the theater.
A guard told the writer of The New York Times, “a number of moviegoers vomited at the very graphic goings‐on on the screen. Others fainted, or left the theater, nauseous and trembling, before the film was half over. Several people had heart attacks.” Even more insane, “One woman even had a miscarriage,” he added.
Klemesrud reflects at the strange irony of the frenzy noting that, at the time of release, The Exorcist received “mixed” reviews.
A full month after the film’s release, Klemesrud returned to the theater to experience the first showing on a Thursday morning. A screening that was still packed. She spoke to people in line and learned why many were there so late in the game, which ranged from being part of the hype to being fans of the book, or wanting to see furniture being thrown around a room.
More interestingly, was her experience “like I’d never had before in a movie theater.”
“The house was full of course, except for the first two rows. Before the movie began, there was a feeling of tenseness throughout the theater, a random scream here and there, nervous giggling. The young man to my left sat on the edge of his seat throughout the film, and kept shouting, ‘Oh, wow! Oh, wow!’ Now and then he would touch my elbow, as though for reassurance. Two girls on my right slouched deep in their seats, covering their faces with their fur chubbies when things ‘got scary’. During the exorcism, there was continuous screaming in the theater and it sounded like the old screaming‐for‐screaming’s‐sake that one used to hear at early Beatles and Rolling Stone concerts. I noticed several people leave in the middle of the film…”
The single most interesting bit from the article is Klemesrud’s shock at the film’s R rating.
“My own chief complaint was that the movie got an R rating, and, therefore, is open to little kids as long as they are with a parent or adult guardian. I think that if a movie ever deserved an X rating simply because it would keep the kids out of the theater, it is The Exorcist.”
It’s so much fun looking back at some of the biggest horror releases, especially ones that were a rare event. You can read the full article from way back in 1974 at The New York Times archive.
Here’s some actual footage from the release, also shared by reddit users.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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