A History of Horror

The Essential Films takes you on a journey through terror.

Featuring:
28 Days Later (2002)
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
Alien (1979)
Aliens (1986)
American Psycho (2000)
An American Werewolf in London (1982)
The Amityville Horror (1979)
Army of Darkness (1992)
Audition (1999)
The Babadook (2014)
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
Beetlejuice (1988)
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)
The Birds (1963)
The Black Cat (1934)
Black Christmas (1974)
Black Sabbath (1963)
Black Sunday (1960)
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
The Blob (1958)
The Body Snatcher (1945)
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
Candyman (1992)
Carnival of Souls (1962)
Carrie (1976)
The Cat and the Canary (1927)
Cat People (1942)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
The Changeling (1980)
Child's Play (1988)
The Conjuring (2013)
The Crazies (1973)
Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
Creepshow (1982)
The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
The Dead Zone (1983)
Deep Red (1975)
The Descent (2006)
Dial M for Murder (1954)
Don't Breathe (2016)
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1921)
Dracula (1931)
Drag Me To Hell (2009)
Dressed to Kill (1980)
Duel (1971)
Eraserhead (1977)
Event Horizon (1997)
The Evil Dead (1981)
Evil Dead (2013)
Evil Dead II (1987)
The Exorcist (1973)
Eyes Without a Face (1960)
The Fly (1986)
Frankenstein (1931)
Friday the 13th (1980)
Friday the 13th Part II (1982)
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
Freaks (1932)
Fright Night (1985)
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
Get Out (2017)
Ghostbusters (1984)
Godzilla (1954)
The Golem: How He Came into the World (1920)
Goodnight Mommy (2014)
Green Room (2017)
Gremlins (1984)
Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922)
The Haunted Castle (1896)
The Haunting (1963)
Halloween (1978)
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Hellraiser (1987)
Horror of Dracula (1958)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)
House of Wax (1953)
House on Haunted Hill (1959)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
I Bury the Living (1959)
I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
The Innocents (1961)
It Follows (2014)
Insidious (2010)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
The Invisible Man (1933)
Island of Lost Souls (1932)
Jacob's Ladder (1990)
Jaws (1975)
Jurassic Park (1993)
King Kong (1933)
The Last Man on Earth (1964)
Les Diaboliques (1955)
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927)
The Lost Boys (1987)
Mad Love (1935)
Manhunter (1986)
Maximum Overdrive (1987)
Misery (1990)
The Mist (2007)
The Monster Squad (1987)
The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
The Mummy (1932)
The Mummy (1959)
Near Dark (1987)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Nosferatu (1922)
The Omen (1976)
The Others (2001)
Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Paranormal Activity (2009)
Peeping Tom (1960)
Phantasm (1979)
The Phantom Carriage (1921)
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Phantom of the Opera (1943)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
Poltergeist (1982)
Predator (1987)
Psycho (1960)
Re-Animator (1985)
Rear Window (1954)
[REC] (2007)
Repulsion (1965)
The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Ring (1998)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Rope (1948)
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Saw (2004)
Scanners (1983)
Scream (1996)
Se7en (1995)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
The Shining (1980)
The Silence of the Lambs (1990)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Sleepaway Camp (1983)
Stephen King's It (1990)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
The Stuff (1985)
Suspiria (1977)
The Terminator (1984)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Them! (1954)
They Live (1988)
The Thing (1982)
The Thing From Another World (1951)
Trick 'r' Treat (2007)
The Unknown (1927)
Vampyr (1932)
Videodrome (1983)
Village of the Damned (1960)
Wait Until Dark (1967)
War of the Worlds (1953)
White Zombie (1932)
The Wicker Man (1973)
The Witch (2016)
The Wolf Man (1941)
The Woman in Black (1989)
Zombieland (2009)

Music:
"Abyss (JG Thirlwell Remix)" by John Carpenter

The Essential Films Podcast Episode #016: The Exorcist (1973)

The Essential Films Podcast Episode #016: The Exorcist (1973)

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EPISODE DESCRIPTION

What an excellent day for an exorcism. On today’s Halloween podcast adventure, Adolfo and Mark discuss the 1973 William Friedkin classic: THE EXORCIST! On this week’s show:

Alamo Drafthouse adventures
Has Edgar Wright ever made a bad film?
Halloween season movies
When did we first experience THE EXORCIST?
Terrifying even for a lapsed Catholic
The exorcism of Roland Doe
William Friedkin sounds like a more educated Donald Trump
William Peter Blatty’s power as producer
Friedkin making the cast and crew film in a freezer
The urban myths and legends of the film production
Mercedes McCambridge
The power of nitroglycerin
The prologue confuses first time viewers
The amazing make-up job on Max Von Sydow
The secret behind Captain Howdy’s subliminal messages
The banned trailer
Who owns a Ouija board?
How the parallel stories of Regan and Damien Karras intersect
The GREAT Lee J. Cobb
The “Exorcist” Steps
The Crucifix Scene
Audience reactions: fainting, barf bags, etc.
Friedkin, the sadist
Campbell’s Pea Soup
How Jason Miller got the role
The original Damien Karras
“Help Me”
The iconic shot of Merrin arriving at the McNeil house
“Why you do this to me, Dimi?”
Angering the crew by slapping a priest
Damien Karras’ story arc and crisis of faith
The differences between the Theatrical and Extended cuts
The Spider Walk
The massive box office success of the film
The disappointing sequels
REPOSSESSED does not hold up

FILM REFERENCES IN THIS EPISODE:

THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)
ALL THE KING’S MEN (1949)
THE WAGES OF FEAR (1953)
ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)
ROSEMARY’S BABY (1968)
THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)
THE STING (1973)
THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974)
EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC (1977)
SORCERER (1977)
ALIEN (1979)
THE SHINING (1980)
AIRPLANE (1980)
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980)
THE THING (1982)
THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1985)
THE NAKED GUN: FROM THE FILES OF POLICE SQUAD (1988)
REPOSSESSED (1990)
THE EXORCIST III (1990)
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993)
FIGHT CLUB (1999)
THE ROOM (2003)
SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004)
EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING (2004)
DOMINION: A PREQUEL TO THE EXORCIST (2005)
HOT FUZZ (2007)
GRINDHOUSE (2007)
THE DARK KNIGHT (2008)
SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD (2010)
THE DARK KNIGHT (2012)
THE WORLD’S END (2013)
WNUF HALLOWEEN SPECIAL (2013)
OUIJA (2014)
BABY DRIVER (2017)

LINKS:
Our New YouTube Page
Original Exorcist Trailer
Exorcist II: Heretic Trailer
The Exorcist III Trailer
The Exorcist: The Beginning Trailer
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist Trailer
Repossessed Trailer
Audience Reactions to The Exorcist

SOCIAL MEDIA

Twitter
Essential Films 
Forced Perspective
Adolfo Acosta
Mark Espinosa

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The Essential Films

Faust (1926)

FAUST
F. W. Murnau
1926 • 106 Minutes • 1.33 : 1 • Germany
UFA

Cast: Gösta Ekman, Emil Jannings, Camilla Horn, Wilhelm Dieterle, Frida Richard, Yvette Guilbert
Screenplay: Hans Kyser based on the play by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Cinematography: Carl Hoffmann

Produced: Erich Pommer

THE SCREEN SENSATION OF TWO CONTINENTS!

Earth and sky shall surely quake, when the dead themselves awake, answers to the Lord to take. When the court is held in sway, hiding shall no longer pay, all must out on Judgement Day!

A beautifully shot lyrical film of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe play.  God and the Devil are in an epic battle for the fate of the Earth and they wager the outcome on the soul of Faust, a learned alchemist. Faust, at first, just wants to help his people as a pestilence sweeps his city but Satan soon tempts him with youth, love and power. Faust gives in to his base desires, and the Devil is winning the battle. Can Satan fully corrupt Faust? Or will Faust find redemption, and in turn, salvation? 

The film is filled with beautiful imagery that seems to only be found in German expressionist films of the era.  A heavily special-effects laden film for the era, throughout the narrative we see the horsemen of the apocalypse, burning letters etched into the soul contract and ominous hooded figures. It's a feast for the eyes, and is essential viewing for its shot compositions alone. The atmosphere Murnau creates is haunting.  Very few inter-titles are used, with the story relying heavily on its visuals. At the time, it was the most expensive German film ever produced, only to be surpassed by Metropolis a year later. Fittingly, both films are credited with seriously contributing to the early visual effects industry.  The film is also said to have inspired the "Night on Bald Mountain" sequence from 1940's Fantasia.

Emil Jannings, usually a somewhat hammy actor, puts his over-the-top antics to wonderful use here as the evil dark lord Satan, imposing a menacing presence throughout the film. The rest of the cast is solid, but overshadowed greatly by Jannings.

The last major film Murnau produced in Germany before his debut in the United States with the Academy Award winning Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans in 1927.