Danusha V. Goska

The Scariest Movie and Scarier Current Events

This is Danusha Goska.

"The Exorcist" has been called the scariest movie ever. When it was first released in 1973, some filmgoers vomited, fainted, or fled. "The Exorcist" was re-released last September. Will this 27-year-old horror classic shock today's audience? Some argue that its special effects are outdated. The recent, and very successful "Blair Witch Project," however, had no special affects. Perhaps another factor dates "The Exorcist." The movie's antagonist is, of course, Satan, from the Hebrew, "the accuser." One of the scariest aspects of the film for me was that Satan knew his opponent's secret sins, and blurted out these sins for all to hear. The poor priests opposing Satan stood publicly accused by their every private sexual thought, or conflicted relationship. This satanic role is consistent with scripture. The Jerusalem Bible identifies Satan as a "supernatural spy, anxious to find fault in humans." Satan's hostility is motivated by envy. "The Exorcist" came out, of course, during Nixon's final days. When congress made his secret sins public, caution reigned. We never knew what dirty words Nixon spoke; in their place was written the circumspect phrase, "expletive deleted." Not so nowadays. Kenn Starr's special effect was to make our current president's secret sins horribly and explicitly public, not via satanic possession, but via the internet. After recent tell-all scandals, I don't find Hollywood's Satan as impressive as I used to.

For Speak Your Mind, this has been Danusha Goska.

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