Nick West at 2011-08-21 22:54:21:

The consensus seems to be The Exorcist, which I'll agree with. That shit traumatized my eleven-year-old brain.

However, I heard that Serbian Movie is balls to the walls, the most disturbing thing put to film outside of a snuff film.

My friend, who LOVES horror movies gave away his copy. This guy who said, "meh" about The Human Centipede, watched it and immediately gave it away.

He said he had to stop it three times. he vomited once, took a walk, and went upstairs to check on his daughter as she slept.

Yeah, I think I'll skip that one.

Having said that, I think there's a big difference between "scary" and downright disturbing.

One is a bit fun. The other...

Scott at 2011-08-22 00:14:47:

Has anyone seen The Exorcist lately? I was channel hopping a few months back when I just happened to catch it on cable all the way from the beginning. It has a storytelling style reflective of that era and one I miss: Lots of room to breathe, no music in the soundtrack, a nice build-up of events, so that the viewer can slowly acclimate themselves to the phenomenon of demon possession.

It's helpful they include that Opening Incident with Van Sydow's character on that archeological dig.

But again in terms of psychological journey, there are several compelling characters, none more so than Father Karras (Jason Miller). He goes from lack of faith to faith -- or at least attempted to faith. All his modernistic and logical concerns about religion completely blown out of the water by the in-your-face reality of demon possession.

The movie scared the crap out of me.

BTW I have been to two exorcisms, both of theme pentecostal variety. Fascinating. They can take days and days, and the religious team members do a tag team approach. It's exhausting work. I spoke with one of the lay ministers involved with one exorcism when he took a break. He was completely drenched in sweat and could barely talk, that's how much effort he put into the ritual.

Demon possession represents perhaps the most powerful form of character disunity there is.

RonC at 2011-08-22 12:56:57:

Has anyone seen The Exorcist lately? I was channel hopping a few months back when I just happened to catch it on cable all the way from the beginning. It has a storytelling style reflective of that era and one I miss: Lots of room to breathe, no music in the soundtrack, a nice build-up of events, so that the viewer can slowly acclimate themselves to the phenomenon of demon possession.

As Carl would say, "Synchronicity!"

Not only have I seen it fairly recently, but it was always the movie I pointed to when people would say my first act (on an old draft) took too long to build up. I'd say, "But haven't you ever seen The Exorcist? Wasn't that 'slow burn' effective? Didn't the suspense build and build until - *bam!*?" To which I always got, "Yes, but that was thirty years ago..."

Point taken. And now my story kicks into gear fairly immediately. But I'll never not love a slow burn, getting to know a bunch of characters and what makes them tick, and knowing that something is going to happen to them, and relishing that suspense...

On a similar note, I've also always called my ending a "Raiders of the Lost Ark" ending - which I argue is *not* Deus Ex Machina - but I digress. But like The Exorcist, where the main character arced from doubt to faith, Indy arcs from an agnosticism bordering on atheism to, well, not faith but *knowledge*. And that's a theme that's resonated with me my entire life and is basically what my story is about.

Anyway, I'll stop rambling.

BTW, speaking of Jung, I have these for you:

Carl Jung: The Wisdom of the Dream

Carl Jung's Near-Death Experience

Scott at 2011-08-22 13:48:03:

@RonC: Holy crap! Thanks for the Carl Jung videos. I've got several, but not seen these. Jung blows my mind on so many levels, but most relevant for this site how his ideas are incredibly beneficial to the craft of writing a story. I wish some zillionaire would pay me to take a year off because all I would do is read everything Jung wrote. I feel like I'm just scratching the surface, but even what I'm discovering with that is pure gold.

Here's a special blast of synchronistic creative juju coming your way as thanks for those links.

WHHHHHHHHOOOOOOSSSSSSHHHHH!!!!!