WHO REMEMBERS? The UK Nostalgia Podcast
A nostalgia trip for anyone in the UK who grew up on dial-up Internet, Findus Crispy Pancakes, and playground rumours that couldn’t be fact-checked online. We’re not historians — we don’t do dates, and we barely do facts — but science says reminiscing gives your brain a dopamine hit, so think of us as your weekly dose of hazy memories, childhood flashbacks, and confidently misremembered events.
Expect frequent arguments about who remembers things properly as we rummage through the UK’s collective memory box.
WHO REMEMBERS? The UK Nostalgia Podcast
Who Remembers........The Exorcist?
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A foggy memory can be the scariest companion. For the first of our Halloween specials, we test the power of cultural memory by “blind remembering” The Exorcist—piecing together plot points, infamous scenes, and decades of rumour without a fresh rewatch. That playful premise leads into something deeper: how myths, marketing, and moral panic shaped the legend of the “scariest film ever made,” and why certain images still make us flinch.
We retrace the story as most of us actually know it: a mother, a sick child, doctors out of answers, and a room that seems to swallow all warmth. From the party humiliation and bed convulsions to the crucifix scene and pea-soup projectile, we examine what is remembered versus what’s real, then check ourselves against the record—opening in Iraq, an actress mother, “Help me” surfacing on skin, and two priests whose doubts become weapons against them. The famous lines ring out, but it’s the quieter cruelties—grief mimicked in a demon’s voice, faith tested in a locked room—that keep the film’s reputation intact.
We also pull the camera back to the phenomenon: banned trailers, fainting audiences, and the production “curse” that refuses to die. Do those stories prove its power, or just show how horror marketing works? From The Shining to The Conjuring and Hereditary, we explore what still chills us today—less gore, more suggestion; fewer effects, more implication. If you love nostalgia, folklore, and the anatomy of fear, you’ll feel right at home here. Hit play, share your scariest Exorcist memory, and tell a friend. If you enjoy the show, subscribe, rate, and leave a review so more listeners can find us.
Halloween Setup And Blind Rules
SPEAKER_01Hello and welcome to Who Remembers, the UK Nostalgia Podcast. And in the Halloween special, we are asking Who Remembers the Exorcist? That's fucking X Files.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I know.
SPEAKER_01I just it just felt right. Jubilabell's though. I mean that's a that's a topic to be for Well, we're gonna do a blind remembering here, by the way. Uh neither of us have watched this. Uh, when was the last time you saw this film?
SPEAKER_00I don't know if I've ever seen it all the way through.
SPEAKER_01Whoa, this will be some incredible remembering remembering something you've never seen.
SPEAKER_00I think I've probably sort of pieced it together. Um I I worry, I've said this pre-recording, that you just want to shout a couple of catchphrases because we were debating what film to do. Well, we're obviously. The audience will discover that we've gone first, despite the fact there's very little story, because you want to say sort of like impressions of a possessed girl.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that is probably true. I the reason I want to do this, and it is my pick this, if this goes horribly wrong, blame me. I think this is the scariest film ever made.
Release Year, Theme, And Trailer Myths
SPEAKER_00I think we'll discuss that after we've remembered it. I I think let's not let's not muddy the water. I think let's let's go through the exorcist and then we'll talk general horrors. Fair play. This this should be, if all goes to plan, this should be out just before Halloween on the 28th.
SPEAKER_01I'll I'll be away that week, but what what we're doing, like by the way, you you you were a bit worried about your mic, it's a bit echoey, isn't it, today? Um because you're in a in a large room.
SPEAKER_00Uh yeah, I think it adds so I'm uh staying with their dog tonight, and yeah, it's uh it's a big it's a big old thing.
SPEAKER_01It sounds like the start of an horror film, yeah. It does sound like the start of a horror film. I mean, obviously.
SPEAKER_00Something I thought somebody was tapping on the window, but then it turned out it was a tree, but then there's no breeze.
SPEAKER_01It's weird when you stay at someone else's house and you don't really know your surroundings, and sort of I don't know, it does seem a bit everything seems a bit like there's a field behind me as well that I they could see me, but I can't see them.
SPEAKER_00So it's yeah, it's quite when if I don't make it through if you get possessed.
SPEAKER_01So I right I what what you were saying, because I can't obviously we've done no research into this. Yeah, if you're new to this, blind remembering means we go into something that we've not done any research on and we see how much we can remember of the film or whatever it is that we're doing. We may be way out.
SPEAKER_00Uh I'm gonna say 80. Oh no.
SPEAKER_01I think about 76, 77. Oh, really?
SPEAKER_00I'm saying I think 70s, definitely. 81, 82.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna type this, write this down actually. 1981 for you, 1976 for me. I think it's 70s this because I always remember my dad saying he saw it when he was younger.
SPEAKER_00Um I think I'm thinking you're probably right, actually.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think it might be a bit younger. And obviously, does it start with tubula bells?
Is Possession Real Or Just Illness
SPEAKER_00Obviously, the the Mike Oldfield I mean that that is the sort of theme to it. I I presume was used on the trailer. I don't know if it was just used after the event. But talking of that, have you seen the trailer that they had to ban?
SPEAKER_01Um, I've seen this before, and um it's horrible. It's like imagine seeing it at a cinema, it's just like a black screen and then like devil faces screaming and things like that, and they had to ban it because it was too scary. That was before it had even come out. Obviously, there was so much controversy about this film. People like committed suicide and all sorts, didn't they, after with that?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but is that true?
SPEAKER_01I don't know because I've done no research.
SPEAKER_00No, I haven't. But that's that's the myth. Oh yeah, people ran out of cinema screaming and stuff. Did they really?
SPEAKER_01I don't well, my dad said it's scary. He would like horrified he had to switch it with a light on. He was about to scream.
SPEAKER_00He's scared of his own shadow though, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think you were based on a true story though, weren't you? I think. Isn't there an exorcism as a as a yeah?
SPEAKER_00I I seem to think is it Annalise Annalise or Michael or I think it's just German, yeah. Uh I think I've listened to um a case podcast about a girl who's possessed, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I think have you seen the audio recordings of that? Have you heard that? That's awful. That's really it whether it's true or not, she's probably just playing up to the, you know, playing up to it. But it's a really like horrible sort of fucking hell. Won't listen to that on a scary night. I don't listen to that tonight.
SPEAKER_00I mean again, yeah, we we're supposed to be remembering the plot, but I I think probably should be done after the event, but but we're on it now. Do you think is it is it just a mental breakdown? Is it what what because presumably you're not this is where I kind of get struck down in this big big house on my own, isn't it? But presumably we're saying that there is no such thing as the like possession by the devil, like but I I don't yeah, possibly you can believe that you're possessed by the devil. I think I think that's plausible that you you kind of oh yeah by instinct, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I think that I think people believe it. Whether this kid did who is based on, I'm not entirely sure. But I think you can absolutely think. I mean, you see, obviously, when you've got um schizophrenia and stuff like that, there's all sorts of things going on. So I don't know if that's what makes sense of people. A mental illness that yeah, who's to say, mate? Who's to say? So I think it's I think it starts with tuberbells.
SPEAKER_00And I think the first scene like hunting something piano and joint.
SPEAKER_01I remember where you I think it starts with two dogs fighting, and I think I presume that's like some sort of uh sort of symbolism, uh yeah, a metaphor for what's a white dog and a black dog, is it like good for evil? It might be, well, yeah, I'm not sure.
Plot Beats We Half Remember
SPEAKER_00One dressed as Jesus and one's got like a devil outfit.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the devil one's red, yeah. No, I do think there's two dogs starting, it started fighting, should I say?
SPEAKER_00I'm sure that's the I can't believe it though. It kind of feels quite like that. That would be quite moody to set the scene. So I'm I'm with you. Yeah, I'm not disagreeing.
SPEAKER_01And I think it starts and it's just a normal family, you know. She's a normal girl, I think, isn't she? Reagan, by the way, played by Linda Blair. I do remember that. Um someone whose mate's called Reagan, and he reminded me of her all the time. Uh but yeah, Linda Blair. Uh no, no relation to Tony, as far as I know. Uh imagine him, but some people say he's the devil, though, don't they? In fact, Tony Blair. Um used to deal with devils at once, didn't they? Like, and stuff like that. Uh, but I think I think she's just like not feeling very well. I think this is how it starts.
SPEAKER_00I think it's a normal family, and it starts as like uh almost like a fever, like an illness, like a temperature, like all the time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so we're feeling a bit shit. Like they do with doctors, get some paras. If you're not if you're all right, what do they always say, doctors? Get two weeks and come back if you're it's basically like when you know that when they can't be out, just fob you off, yeah. Yeah, but to be fair, they're normally right. You come back two weeks later, you feel fine now. Um, but I think weird stuff starts going on around her.
SPEAKER_00Like I think there's a few deaths and stuff, and and I imagine I mean my memory is terrible of this film, like I said, I don't even know if I've seen it. Am I mixing it up? The plants start sort of rotting or like food going rotten, or like is that this?
SPEAKER_01Maybe something like that, yeah. I think it's like sort of I don't know. I think I I got this feeling there's loads of accidents and stuff going on. A bit like Frank Spencer. You're like you, isn't it with your uh dyspraxia? Dyspraxia, yeah, it might just be that, she might have just got dyspraxia.
SPEAKER_00Frank Spencer's possessed by the devil, that's why I like it.
SPEAKER_01Oh better.
SPEAKER_02The diddle diddle diddle with roller skates on.
SPEAKER_01I love that scene. Uh but I think it really starts getting going. So there's a bit of a few weird things going on, but no one's really connected it, I don't think, yet, to Reagan. And I remember a bit where she comes downstairs, I think they're having a party, and she remembered she pisses on the floor. Do you remember that scene?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I vaguely, somewhere I I I wouldn't have remembered that, but now you've said it, I kind of think, yeah.
SPEAKER_01The mum looks horrified. I don't know who plays the mum, but the mum looks horrified going like what you what you do with she'cause she's obviously how old is she? About 10, I want to say, Reagan, something like that.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I'm I'm guessing because I think there's some sort of like uh what is it? Allegory or is it is she kind of sort of pre-pubescent? Like, is it something to do with becoming a teenager almost? So I'm guessing sort of 11 or 12, maybe, but I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but I think the first proper scene where you realise, ooh, hang on. I think it's that scene where she's you know, she's bouncing up and down on the bed. You know, that scene she's mum mum, like and I don't think she's actually proper being possessed by it, but it's obviously in there so much.
SPEAKER_00She's not in control of what's going on, like yeah. It reminds me of uh Mr. Bean in room 426, where he's he's testing how bouncy the bed is, and his body's sort of convulsing up and down, like it's a bit like that, I think.
SPEAKER_01But then I think I think like so obviously and I think I think they take it to a psychologist then, and psychologists just said, Yes, fine, you're not what you're worried about, baby.
The Party, Bed Convulsions, And Shock Scenes
SPEAKER_00Take some paracetamol, get some.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, take it, come back in two weeks, yeah, sit sit down. But then I think the main thing is, and I remember this scene, is where I I think she's driving home a mum from work or whatever, and there's loads of ambulances outside her house, and someone's been someone it looks like someone's jumped out of that window in their house, yeah, and it's the window that Reagan's obviously staying in. And this is that I think this is the scene where a mum goes up and obviously she starts moving all these beds around and stuff, doesn't she? Like, obviously, she's been possessed by this.
SPEAKER_00Have we got to the the bit yeah where she kind of first talks through a different voice?
SPEAKER_01Is that is that well uh I I thought the first scene of the devil, and I could be way off here, it's a long time since I've seen it, is when she's lobbing a crucifix into a into a private area. Do you know when she's doing that and she's going, Fuck me, Jesus, fuck me, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00Do you remember that scene? Again, yeah, now you've said it. Uh there's a lot of this.
SPEAKER_01Horrible, horrible, horrible, really controversial scene. And then I think she smacks a mum onto the floor, and then that I think that's when her head turns round and she goes, uh right.
SPEAKER_00So you're right into it now, then. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I think she had her head turns round and she goes, Do you know what she did? Your conting daughter.
SPEAKER_00Sound like Brian Clough. First thing you can do for me is take all the crucifixes put them in the biggest fucking bin you can find.
SPEAKER_01Why don't you be possessed by Brian Clough? I'll tell you what, young man, you won't get in my team if you go. That'd be so bad if your dog got possessed by Brian Clough instead of wandering around. Right, listen here, young man.
SPEAKER_00I don't know if that would that be worse than the devil.
SPEAKER_01I don't know if that'd be a bit worse than the devil, because the devil, obviously.
SPEAKER_00I mean, the devil the devil's kind of evil, you know, you've got to do something about it. If it's just occasional Brian Clough.
SPEAKER_01But she does say it in like a I f I see her voice in this. If I remember her voice being really gruff, sort of you know, like a devil sort of voice. But I swear in that scene, when she goes, Do you know what she did? Your counting daughter. I sort of swear she says that in like a really sort of English way. I might be misremembering that.
SPEAKER_00I can't I can't say you're wrong, so we'll go with it.
SPEAKER_01You know what she did? She got all your medals, your pots, and your pants. So good. It'd be very good that. What did you feel like your daughter going? Well, I had a chat with my dad and we decided that I was right. Um but anyway, so I think at this point, we're obviously getting it. This is why you didn't really want to do it, because there's not much plot. And we've probably missed Lord's out, but they get the preacher out, don't they? At this point, those two priests, you know, the the younger man and the and the white-haired.
SPEAKER_00Which is like obviously it's called the Exorcist. So presumably, like the film is about the priest, then is it?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I suppose.
SPEAKER_00So I think it's not called like the exorcism of whatever, it's the exorcist. So so is because presumably, and obviously I remember the priest coming in, and the the power of Christ condemns you, or whatever it is he says, compels you, condemns you.
SPEAKER_01I just like just condemn it.
SPEAKER_00The power of Christ does not condone you, young man.
Priests Arrive And Famous Lines
SPEAKER_01Young man, you've got to do more than that to get me out of it. That reminds me, is that horrible, that terrible scene in it. And I always remember my mum saying she found this really scary and told this scene. Is you know when she writes help me in a stomach? Yeah, yeah. That is so ridiculous. Why who's doing is is Reagan doing that? Like, what where is she? Why is she in a stomach?
SPEAKER_00I mean, this is why I thought it was a poor choice. I I don't remember it well enough to I I I kind of know what you're talking about.
SPEAKER_01But the priests obviously come round, and by this point, she is not talking like Brian Clough anymore. She's talking because I remember reading sort of devil voice now, innit? Like uh Frank Frank Butcher, honey, honey, honey, pet. Would you rather be possessed by Brian Clough or Frank Reed? Frank Reed, Frank Butcher. Um, honey, pet. I'd probably rather be possessed by Frank Butcher. I think it'd be more fun. You can't think what you're on about. But yeah, so I remember Luke reading that the actress who played the devil voice woman, because obviously Linda Blair only, whatever she was, 10 years old, didn't do that voice. Um, she smoked like 30 cigarettes every second.
SPEAKER_00I mean, we're sort of jumping ahead again, but surely this film must have messed her up. How much of sort of the final cut or edit or whatever did they involve her in?
SPEAKER_01There's loads of myths, and like I said, I've not done any research for this, um, because obviously it would be cheating. But there I remember there's loads I don't know if they are myths, but there's a lack of thing that so many people in the Exorcist either died or were cursed in some but like is it poltergeist is like that as well? The film loads of curses and stuff, and I think, yeah, but we'll look at the end, we'll have a look at the end. But I do I I think she got a bit messed up from it. Linda Blair later went on to star in uh uh LA 7 with S Club 7.
SPEAKER_00Well the same same person, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Not playing fucking Hani Harney, huh? No, not playing uh the devil, but yeah, the same same actress. I can't remember I know that. That's a fun fact that I didn't know that off the top of my head. But so I think these priests come round. This was the bit that made me laugh more than anything when I first watched it. And it's how she says it is he reads Bible verses out to her, like that Jesus Christ comes into you, and she just goes, Fuck him, fuck him. Do you like I don't know, like a proper argument, fuck him. I love that scene, like she's so sort of matter-of-fact in bed. And I think they throw holy water on her, and it's sort of working, I think. She's like, Oh, and then if I remember the one of the priests' mum dies alone, can you remember this bit?
SPEAKER_00I again, yeah, that that sounds familiar. Um I'm terrible for this, but you wanted to do this, and I yeah, I remember the general. Well, we'll be nearly over, actually. We've definitely nearly done it. So I do sort of no one.
The Ending We Think We Know
SPEAKER_01So his mum died alone because he couldn't get there in time, and she turns into his mum saying, You left me. Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you left me, and he's like crying and he can't cope with it anymore. So he goes out of the room, and I think when he comes back in, she's killed the other priest. But I don't think you actually see her kill him. Oh, I don't remember that. Yeah, the other priest definitely gets killed, and he loses his shit. This other priest, and says, like, Come into me, the power of Christ compels you, the power of Christ compels you, and that says, Come into me, come into me. So then she does go into him and he jumps through a window, and what we sh what we he dies, and with it the devil dies. And that's this that's that's exorcist done.
SPEAKER_00Funnily enough, I was gonna ask you, I can't remember how it ends. I I assume they just sort of exercise the devil. Yeah, but so he's he takes the devil into himself.
SPEAKER_01He takes the come into me, come into me, yeah, and throws himself through a window. Which, if it's the devil, I don't think that's gonna finish the devil off, is it realistically? Think how powerful the devil is.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he's sort of survived millennium, but his one weakness is diving being different if someone throws him through a window.
Wikipedia Check: What We Got Wrong
SPEAKER_01So that's it, Liam. That is the exorcist done. So I'm gonna go on Wikipedia now and see how far wrong we were.
SPEAKER_00I think you're probably right, by the way. It's probably his 70s.
SPEAKER_0173? I said 76. That is a lot earlier than well, not a lot earlier than I thought, but so the plot in northern Iraq, don't remember that. Uh is this the dogs fighting? Lancaster, oh, it must be, yeah, basically an archaeological dig. Uh oh, so the unearthed something.
SPEAKER_00I I didn't know that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the unearth, uh yeah, the unearth something. So that I don't know if they're like I'm not gonna go through the entire wiki page, obviously. Um oh yeah, and there are two dogs fighting outside this big statue that looks really evil. Um and then in Washington, Chris McNeil was the other priest, I think. Uh oh no, I'm I didn't know that. Chris McNeil is her mum and she's an actress. Did you know that? In the film, I mean. Yeah, in the film, the Regan's mum is an actor. Why would that why would that shock you? No, I mean in the film, like she's like a celebrity though, is what I'm saying. I don't know if that's like another part of the yeah, anyway, it's 12-year-old uh Reagan. Uh the older she hosts the mum hosts uh a party, um and Reagan urination. Yes, appears really unwellination and pisses all over the place. Uh then Reagan starts to become violent, uh, but medical tests can find no cause why. Um, but then she exhibits abnormal strength and adult behaviour and starts speaking in an otherworldly voice. That one's with a clough uh thing. Yeah, but yeah, oh yeah, so someone is found dead at the bottom of uh that outside their window, and it obviously Reagan's throat through this person out. Reagan has a f a uh fate furiously masturbating with a crucifix, turning her head backwards and speaking in the Oh, that's why she's speaking in the voice of the guy she's killed. Do you know the Brian Clough?
SPEAKER_00It turns out it was Brian Clough she threw through her window.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so like young man, yeah. So that's what uh that's why she's Ah I never knew that. Right. I always wondered why they did that in last year. Well you was good.
SPEAKER_00It was good remembering though that she was speaking through a man's voice.
SPEAKER_01So she's now convinced daughters are possessed, so they'll say they get the uh the fucking yeah, the the possessed uh Reagan claims to be the devil and I forgot about this, vomits into the uh pre-screen.
SPEAKER_00Did she go on the roof at one bit? Have we mentioned that?
SPEAKER_01No, I think you might be getting mixed up with that deleted scene, you know, the spider scene.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, where she's sort of up on a roof.
SPEAKER_01Is that is that I don't know if she's on a roof. I thought she came downstairs. I think she comes downstairs like a spider, they deleted it because you could see the wires. Um because the like more fours, but walking backwards. Yeah, it's horrible that scene. Really fast. They didn't have that music, so oh, I'm shivering, shivering, doing that. Ooh, horrible. Um, anyway, so the yeah, the the words help me appear on a stomach. Ridiculous. And yeah, the price.
SPEAKER_00That's Reagan, yeah.
SPEAKER_01But why would yeah? I don't know how that would help me. Yeah, so they do an they they decide to do an exorcism on her. So when they arrive at the house, uh the read from the Roman ritual, but the demon curses them, uh, did a little enters the bedroom where the demon appears as his mother, as we said. Yeah, um, so he excuses himself uh and he carries on. But when she comes back, uh he's dead. He died of a heart attack.
SPEAKER_00Ah, see, that sounds more familiar. That's why it fumes me when you said she killed him.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but dies of a heart attack the other priest, and he's and she's laughing, and he's fuming. You don't say fuming here. It beats the possessed Reagan into a fit of rage and demands that the demon comes inside him instead. Carris then jumps out of the window, tumbling down the stairs. So, yeah, but I don't think it did bad real, is there? It's not much of a story, but you know No, there's not much to it.
SPEAKER_00Um I mean, again, like to me, what surprises me is like, would you not call that film the possession? Why why is it called The Exorcist? Like, what I don't know. I don't know, to be completely honest.
SPEAKER_01I'm I really, really.
Audience Reactions, Bans, And Urban Legends
SPEAKER_00The priests are not major characters, are they?
SPEAKER_01Like, no. No, no, yeah, it should be but you think it should be called Reagan. You think that'd be scarier? Ronald Reagan. I don't know. And Brian Clough, call it that, Cloughy. Um, but yeah, so uh I'm just having a look now about the uh what you're talking about. Oh, by the way, because I'm just looking at here, uh, sound effect. The sound effects were amazing in the start, I think. This film is what you're saying now where you are like it's a really quiet sort of film.
SPEAKER_00Can I just uh can I just make a confession? I've I've moved rooms because it was creeping me out, it's gone so dark outside. Okay, now I couldn't see anything out the back window, but obviously, because I've got a light on, everyone can see me. So not so much sort of scared of the devil. I just I just don't like the fact that somebody snooping around might be able to see me and I can't see them. Brian Clough.
SPEAKER_01Young man, you want to skip away from that window?
SPEAKER_00I'm in the kitchen now, so they might be able to see me, but at least I can see them.
SPEAKER_01That's good, that's good news. Uh Sloburn will mess imagery. I forgot about that. Do you remember that devil face uh that shows up every now and then? I think it's on it about four or five times just above the minute.
SPEAKER_00Again, I I do remember reading about this, but is that is that one of these urban myths or is that just no this is I'm just looking at this on Wikipedia, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Apparently. Yeah, so watchdog uh examining the the the yeah, and flashing.
SPEAKER_02Do you think that's okay?
SPEAKER_01So, Regan, have you actually been possessed? Well, not very good at possessing this quiz, are you? Goodbye, you are the weakest link. She said that. Uh yeah, so let me have a look at the aftermath as well. The audience reaction, this is what we wanted to look at as well. Um blah, blah, blah. People run out of the film, apparently.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but again, I I don't know if this is a I don't know if the people trying to sell the film. It's very easy to put a thing out. Oh my god, did you hear what happened in uh Ontario?
SPEAKER_01That this can't be true, right? Listen to this. Reports of a strong audience reactions were might widespread. Many of you have fainted. I sort of see that, you know, whatever. A woman in New York was said to have miscarried during the showing. One man was carried out on a stretcher after 20 minutes, so it's been a stretcher, like just after 20 minutes, she's not even possessed, then she's got a temperature. One cinema said the block the vomit in the bathroom blocked access to the sinks because that many people were being sick.
SPEAKER_00I mean, possibly like obviously we've all we've seen sort of a lot more modern, sort of gory, graphic horror films these days. Maybe in that area, yeah, maybe this was shocking.
SPEAKER_01Ambulances were on call outside theatres. One Toronto theatre said uh they sold out for every show, and they practically have a plumber living there now due to the amount of people being sick.
SPEAKER_02Again, many Catholic viewers are like clickbaity these days, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00Like, one guy in in uh bounds all his hair.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, this one man he lost all his hair. It's odd for brass eye that, isn't it? Everyone's since uh everyone's this sort of thing has lost his hair. Anyway, um yeah, some Catholic viewers lapsed in their faith. Why the fuck would you do that? I don't understand, like it's not I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because ultimately they they they kind of beat the the devil, don't they? That's yeah unless there's yeah, but it's not true.
Curses, Coincidences, And Set Stories
SPEAKER_01So it's like you know what I mean? It's like I don't watch uh I don't know, I don't watch threads and start thinking, uh do you know what? There is gonna be a nuclear war. I mean I suppose that's a different I do do that, that's a terrible example. So I don't think though then I don't watch Star Wars and think, oh, one day we're probably all gonna be in space, you know, but fighting whatever the Ewoks and fucking Lego men or whatever they are. Um yeah, that famous scene, yeah. Uh journalists complained that the coverage of the film was distracting people from the ongoing Watergate scandal. Um but yeah, basically the religious response, obviously, all the religious people went mad about it. Uh and it were banned. It was banned. Well, it was restricted in the UK after a Christian public action group um handed out leaflets uh telling people not to see it. Um, in 1981, the Exorcist was released on home video in the UK, uh, and a majority voted to grant it, but it was vetoed even with the 18 certificate, and it was withdrawn in 1988. So I didn't realise this, you couldn't get the Exorcist, and this is probably why I found it so scary because this is my era of growing up from 1988 to 1999. You couldn't watch the Exorcist anywhere, because it would never be.
SPEAKER_00You could, couldn't you? You could kind of get like dodgy copies of it and yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01But when someone says to you this film was that scary that it would ban.
SPEAKER_00It's kind of built up a bigger reputation because it's so scary they had to ban it. We we were kind of told that before we'd even seen it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and this is the thing, there's obviously other films, video nasties and stuff, or even Clockwork Orange, I think, were banned, but that was due to violence. Imagine like because I remember growing up, oh, they banned it, it was that scary. And you and already you you I I like sort of building myself up when I hate I always wanted to watch it, but I would dreading watching it, if you get what I mean. And I actually watched it about four or five paints first time. And I've got to admit, we were all scared. We were all thought we were tough, tough guys, but we were all like really like scared of it. So, but yeah, um Mark Commodore's favourite ever film. Oh, really? So Stephen King says it's a social horror film, but yeah, that's basically it. Um Effect on the industry, cultural reference points. I can't really find anything about the the Exorcist uh curse or anything like that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, one of these where like well did you know everybody involved in the production died a horrific death.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, literally as soon as it ended, the truth about the Exorcist Curse off uh grunge uh I'm on to now. Uh but yeah, brother, uh there were some untowards happenings, apparently. Uh what? A story during the interview, possibly this the house was totally destroyed except for the bedroom which remained intact. It doesn't make any sense because it wasn't on the ground floor, so that's physically impossible. Oh, you know why? Because the room was a separate set from the house. Of course then. So that's a myth that someone's like obviously, you know, circulated. Er, yeah, so uh apparently lightning bellowed from the sky, and uh a four injured a 400-year-old cross was struck nearby to film him. So nine people connected to the film died before it was completed, but I imagine it were a big production. Are you having that, Liam?
Is It Still Scary Today
SPEAKER_00I don't like these sort of things. I I have nothing to compare it to. Like you know, if there's a few hundred people involved. And what does it mean like died before you know if if they employed like an old upset guy who's about 90 and he and he died, then yeah, that's that's life. That's life.
SPEAKER_01One of the actors that Jason Jason Miller, who played one of the uh he actually was a psychologist, but he was he was a priest as well. The guy at the end who says coming to me. Imagine imagine remembering this word for word. He said, as he was filming, a priest came up to him, handed him a medallion, and said, Reveal the devil for the trickster that he is, he will seek retribution against you, or he will even try to stop what you were doing to try and unmask him, and then walked away.
SPEAKER_00What? So how would he know what they would do?
SPEAKER_01What they didn't. That's what that's that's the that's the the creep that's the creepy bit. Yeah, so you came up to him, handed him a medallion and walked off. So yeah, but I think this is a fantastic film, William. I really, really do.
Other Horrors: What Actually Creeps Us
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's creepy, like I say, I I don't know if I've watched it start to finish. It is like quite jarring in moments. It's a little bit disturbing. Like I say, I I think in a modern era of sort of gore and horror and shock, it it's probably not quite so impactful. But you have to remember, like we said, this is early 70s. I d I'd I don't know what there was to compare it to at the time, but probably not a great deal to be honest. What's the scariest film you've ever seen? The scary I've never seen it a scary film in a sense that like it it sort of terrified me. But the the most sort of freaked out of being my film is the end of the Blair Witch Project. I find that really like disturbing. I've never seen it, but I do know obviously what it is. Yeah, I mean I don't think it's uh it's it's a kind of spoiler boot. If you're gonna watch it, you've seen it by now. But obviously there's all sorts of sort of weird, freaky things going off. It's uh it's one of the sort of first found footage things, but yeah, one of the guys who's gone missing, they go into this house at the end and You can hear little children laughing and there's handprints on the walls, and he's just stood in the corner, like looking away from them. I love stuff like that.
SPEAKER_01They're the best horrors where it's psychological rather than see it. I think blood and gold stuff here. I've really not bothered about that at all.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think if he'd just sort of been hung or whatever, then you'd sort of think uh but but the fact like he's just stood facing away, it it it's weird. Like you think what the fuck is happening here? Like it's just weird, and that that creeped me out.
SPEAKER_01Um I'll go through actually. Uh the the top ten Rotten Tomatoes, uh scariest films of all time, obviously popular website. I nearly read that as IT. Number 10, eight, IT. That is for me. I'm I'm terrible with uh obviously uh the 2017 one though.
SPEAKER_00I think the first the first part is quite creepy, the second part slightly laughable, I think. Insidious, never seen it. Yeah, it's yeah, again, that that is quite creepy actually, yeah. Uh Sinister, never seen it. You don't know where we're at uh Halloween, never seen it. Yeah, that's I mean that's a good film. It's not like it it's a bit sort of jump scare, I think, more than anything I would say. No, no, it's not actually, is it? It's like psychological thriller, yeah. Yeah, no, that is a good film, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Uh The Ring, which I have seen. Yeah, I've seen it. And is it not just about that one scene that everyone knows where she comes through TV?
SPEAKER_00Is that not the only like sort of Yeah, I've I've seen the sort of remake and the original of that. Um I mean, yeah, it it is that the scene is quite disturbing when she comes out through the TV, but yeah, I I don't remember sort I don't know, like I think we we'd sort of it was of an era where we'd seen stuff like that. I I wasn't all that creeped out by that. I I was fine with it. Number five takes a chainsaw matica, which I don't think scary, but I think it's a good film. Yeah, I don't think that's like a sort of creepy, like we're obviously we're sort of trying to do Halloween-y things.
SPEAKER_01That's just a like fucking hell, like mental yeah that scene where she puts her where he puts her on the or on the hole. Yeah, that is horrific. It's good that you don't see it again. It's that thing where you don't more horror films need to get there. I don't see it.
SPEAKER_00It's not a Halloween sort of thing, that that's just a like he'll believe madness, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01Uh the shining again, I don't really classify it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's a good film, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Is it a horror film? It's more of a thriller, is it?
SPEAKER_00Uh well, I mean it's yes sort of somebody having a breakdown, but but then it's like the implications of that the place might be haunted. So yeah, I would say it is a it is a horror, yeah. Uh number three, the con conjuring. Oh yeah, actually that that's quite good. I I quite like that because I think they've done too many now, but the sort of implication is that they're investigating these things, but I think as it goes on, even they sort of accept that maybe none of it's real. I'm I'm not sure, yeah. I think that's probably worth watching. Number two, hereditary. Is that is that something to do with a scene with a nun in the background or something? I've never seen scary nun or something.
SPEAKER_01Uh number one, the Exorcist, which apparently got a whopping 19% of all the vault's cast. Um so I think it is renowned, probably still as the the scary. We picked the top dog. We picked the top dog, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So I I'd have to say it's definitely in the top one.
Top Ten Scariest Films Debate
SPEAKER_01Is it is it the best horror film of all time? Well, I won't say that. It's in the top one, Don. Uh yeah, I genuinely really like really did enjoy that one. I know we say it every week, but usually every week and it devalues it every single time. I really enjoyed that one.
SPEAKER_00You used to say it.
SPEAKER_01I really, really did enjoy that one because it's got me. I think but obviously we're recording this ourselves a bit before Halloween, but hopefully people are, you know, sort of listening with their earphones on late at night, going, ooh. If you experience anything creepy whilst listening to this, let us know. Yes, please do. And on that, by the way, by the way, we we have got loads of listeners' requests and stuff that we're gonna go through. We're trying to space them out on as we said. So if someone's had a football one, we're gonna leave it a month or so to do another football one and all that sort of stuff. So bear with us. That's that's how we roll.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, no, no, that was good. That like I say, it's uh not a lot to remember, but I think uh I think we nailed it. I think um past the challenge. That's the challenge past the challenge.
SPEAKER_01Thank you very much, Leah. And we'll I'll hopefully I'll see you again. But we're not sure where you this might actually be coming out after you've been murdered.
SPEAKER_00Hope not, but we'd a little bit tell look and make it true tonight.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for listening to Who Remembers. If you want to get in touch with us, you can find us at WhoRememberspod at outlook.com. If you are a right wing fascist, you can find us on Twitter at Who Remembers Pod. Or if you're a woke note, you can find us on Blue Sky at WhoRememberspod. Once again, thank you for listening, and we'll see you next time for more remembering.