You are a specialist in religious phenomena. How did you come to be interested in horror films?
In graduate school I took a course on religion and America in which we saw The Exorcist (1973), by William Friedkin (1935-2023). One of the obstacles in religious studies is that you can’t “see” beliefs, whereas there is something very significant in the way people react to a horror film: someone can say that demons are a superstition, but if they are unable to watch films like The Exorcistis that a part of him deep down thinks there’s more to demons than that. Horror films are cultural artifacts that gauge audiences’ sensitivity to the supernatural.
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In the book you co-authored with Eric Harrelson, The Exorcist Effect (Oxford University Press, 2023), you talk about the “holy trinity” of horror films. What are these films?
The first of the three is Rosemary’s Baby, by Roman Polanski, released in 1968. The second, The Exorcist Friedkin’s film was in many ways a Catholic response to Polanski’s film. As for The Omen, (The Curse1976), by Richard Donner (1930-2021), was a Protestant response. Together, these three films shaped the way a generation of viewers thought about themes such as satanic cults, demonic possession, and biblical prophecy.
What are the similarities in the success of these three films?
It may seem strange to put it this way, but these were very “realistic” films. Rosemary’s Baby et The Exorcistin particular, strove to develop credible characters in supernatural situations. Originally, The Omen was supposed to feature goat-hooved demons, but its writers chose to have all the characters die by strange coincidences to make the film seem more plausible. Undeniably, this concern for plausibility led people to take these films more seriously.
How did the promotional campaigns for these three films play a crucial role in their reception by the public?
Horror movie audiences respond very favorably when they are told that a story is “true” or when doubts are left hanging over the veracity of the facts that supposedly inspired it. This is quite typical of the horror genre: it almost always sells a “story about the story.” By this standard, the marketing of The Exorcist was very effective and pioneering in telling the audience that the film was based on a “real case”. He also managed to emotionally prepare his audience, making them dread seeing the film. This is how many people fainted and vomited during the screening when it was released. It is amusing to note that such marketing effects fade over time. When I show The Exorcist to my students today, many of them are bored.
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