Did watch a couple of them though. As a teenager I watched The Exorcist. Later on, during college, I watched The Shining, and was struck by the clear fact that only a mind familiar with insanity could have written such a story. These two experiences taught me that watching horror movies is not my cup of tea at all, and probably not such a good idea for anyone.
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After watching The Exorcist on the big screen I had trouble sleeping for a few nights. On the second or third night I was laying awake in bed and heard a thumping that seemed to come from the closet. Thinking (hoping) that it was my imagination I tried to tune it out but the noise persisted. Finally I had to get up to investigate...it must have been about 12:30 or 1:00.
In the darkness I approached the sliding door of my closet. The closer I got the more vivid became the memory of how the kid approached the door in the movie. Still I had to investigate to see what was making the thumping sound, which became louder and more distinct as I got closer and closer to the door.
I finally got the nerve to slide the door open. As soon as there was room our cat leapt out, slamming against my leg on its way to freedom. Don't think I've ever jumped so high before or since.
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Another time my friend Brent and I went to Acapulco for spring break, back in 1983, during my one and only graduate year in college. We were looking for some night life and happened upon a club called Baby'O. I'd never heard of it, but there was a long line so we waited and found out at the door that you can't get in without a date. So we went back out on the street and, thanks to my friend Brent's charm, managed to grab a couple of girls to be our "dates" so that we could get in. The one with me claimed she appeared on the Spanish version of Vogue magazine, and I quite believed her - she was a stunner. Soon as we got in, however, they went their way and Brent and I sat at one of the loser tables overlooking the dance floor.
Baby'O was a bit like some of the discos we'd seen in the US, only much more sophisticated. Lots more energy. We sat there watching everything going on and occasionally Brent would get a girl to dance with him, but I stayed put so we wouldn't lose the table. As the night wore on - we were there about an hour and a half - it cranked up and strange things started happening. The music got louder, the lights got dimmer, the crowd got more boisterous, and then a screen came down behind the stage. Interesting, I thought, don't see this in the US.
It was what was shown on the screen that blew me away. They showed various scenes from here and there, then up popped a scene from The Exorcist! The scene where the girl vomits the green pea soup. They showed it over and over, and then the priest was there with the cross trying to exorcise the poor girl's demons. I looked around, and what shocked me most was that the crowd seemed to be getting into this. It stoked them...they were actually enjoying watching this sickness on the screen, whooping and hollering and asking for more!
I was thoroughly disgusted and, though not a practicing Christian at the time, felt strongly that Satan was having his way in that place. Very soon thereafter Brent and I left, not even knowing whether our "dates" were still there or not.
After leaving we spotted the Princess cruise ship on which the Love Boat TV show was filmed. What happened there is another story for another day...
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