Pennywise in Guadalajara

Sometimes you're walking down the streets of Guadalajara, minding your own business... When you run into Pennywise the Dancing Clown.

Author of "The Exorcist" on Johnny Carson (1974)

I came across this old video after reading that William Peter Blatty, author of "The Exorcist" and the film's screenplay, had appeared on The Johnny Carson Show.

The interview with him is fascinating, but so is everything else about the episode. The pacing is much slower and less flashy than modern TV, and the audience reaction more subdued. People had a greater ability to take their time processing what they were watching.

Despite the differences, though, the "current events" in Johnny's monologue are timeless: a pipeline that threatens the environment. A celebrity with controversial political views. And, of course, unthinkable scandals in Washington.

If only we had an Exorcist who could rid our world of these things.

Episode of "The Johnny Carson Show" from January 17, 1974. Blatty interview begins 51:40 into the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEKPFSRqY-o

Festival Macabro: clausura con Tyler MacIntyre

La ceremonia de clausura del Festival Macabro, en el Museo de la Ciudad de México.

Con la presencia de Tyler MacIntyre, director del largometraje horror-comedia "Patchwork".

Macabro film festival: Stuart Gordon

Chilling with Stuart Gordon, director of "Re-Animator" and many other horror greats.
Bloody good time.

Dennis Paoli in Mexico City

Just hanging out in Mexico City with Dennis Paoli, the screenwriter of "Reanimator", and giving him a copy of my book.

The Wisdom of "The Exorcist song": a Halloween Meditation

The Wisdom of "the Exorcist song":

A Halloween Meditation

Tubular Bells, minute one

In honor of Halloween, I’d like to invite you to listen to the first 30 seconds of this song, “Tubular Bells”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LEWkwvaNcs

Now pause the song. I’m sure you recognize it—most people know it as “That Creepy Song from the Movie ‘The Exorcist’”. Go ahead, listen to another thirty seconds.

What feelings does the song evoke? Most of us associate this music with the same feelings that we associate with horror movies in general. Fear, darkness, terror. Hopelessness. We think of the pure, unadulterated horror that people feel when they watch a good, scary movie like “The Exorcist”. The sort of fear that, back when the movie originally came out 40 years ago, caused people to pass out, or vomit into the movie theater trash cans.