Documentary Series Review: Shudder’s “Cursed Films: The Exorcist”
By: Joseph Perry (Twitter)
Cursed Films, the latest in streaming service Shudder’s original offerings, is a five-part documentary series that delves into the facts behind the rumors and legends, and the odd and sometimes tragic events concerning the making of some classic horror movies from the 1970s and 1980s. The series debuted last week with a look at the making of The Exorcist, a film that is still controversial and chilling all this time after its 1973 release.
Writer/director/editor Jay Cheel touches upon several topics in this episode, focusing a good deal of time on actress Linda Blair, who famously played the little possessed girl Regan in The Exorcist. Blair recalls the violent scene that actually injured her back, and recalls both how demanding and brilliant director William Friedkin was, but refuses to answer a question that I will leave for viewers to find out for themselves. Cheel and Blair examine how she was treated by people who had a difficult time separating the child actor from the demon who possessed her character. This part of the documentary is truly heart wrenching.
Cheel interviews other cast members and behind-the-scenes witnesses to the filmmaking events, along with religious experts, scholars, noted film critics, and writers. The talking heads sequences are informative and engaging as these people discuss why doing deep-dive research into the demon Pazuzu for The Exorcist may have been a fateful choice, and how eerie it was that a fire on the set destroyed virtually everything except Regan’s bedroom, and comment on the deaths of the film’s cast and crew members and some of their relatives. Cheel doesn’t merely rehash oft-told stories; he digs for the sensible behind these incidents rather than settling for the sensational. Scenes with real-life exorcist Vincent Bauhaus and some of the people he exorcises initially come off as somewhat corny, but there is a point to them that makes itself known as the episode wraps up.
Cursed Films: The Exorcist is an excellent debut episode for the documentary series. I have also had the opportunity to see advanced episodes for The Omen and Poltergeist, and I am highly impressed that Cheel focuses on facts, and how deaths and accidents affect those close to the victims, rather than sensationalizing these tragedies. This is especially true in his respectful handling of the tragic deaths of young Poltergeist stars Heather O’Rourke and Dominique Dunne.
Cursed Films promises to be a series that offers rational considerations about beloved fright-fare movies that have been deemed cursed, often because of urban legend and gossip. Highly recommended, Cursed Films is available on Shudder in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. The season premiere about The Exorcist debuted on April 2. The episodes about Poltergeist and The Omen will be available beginning April 9, and the shows about The Crow and Twilight Zone: The Movie are scheduled for April 16.
Joseph Perry is one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast (whenitwascool.com/up-hill-both-ways-podcast/) and Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast (decadesofhorror.com/category/classicera/). He also writes for the film websites Diabolique Magazine (diaboliquemagazine.com), Gruesome Magazine (gruesomemagazine.com), The Scariest Things (scariesthings.com), Ghastly Grinning (ghastlygrinning.com), and Horror Fuel (horrorfuel.com), and film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope (videoscopemag.com) and Drive-In Asylum (etsy.com/shop/GroovyDoom).
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