It’s the most well-known cult horror film of all time. But it turns out that the Exorcist was terrifying even before it came out in cinemas. Many Hollywood producers from the time turned down the chance to produce it (like Stanley Kubrik), since the crew mysteriously fell ill and one of the actor’s babies was involved in a bike crash. The film was considered cursed by many people in the industry.
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As scary as it was, the film could have ended up being even scarier because of the music. The original music was not actually supposed to be composed by Mike Oldfield like the soundtrack we all know, but actually a composition by Lalo Schifrin. The original music can only be found in a trailer that didn’t end up being released. Accompanied by a series of terrifying images, it was truly sinister.
The trailer was so sinister, that listening to it even made some spectators throw up… literally! The trailer was actually so disturbing that viewers could be seen running for the toilets to be sick. The director therefore decided to go with Mike Oldfield to make the music in order to ‘spare’ the spectators.
However, when the film came out in cinemas, the production confirms that a lot of people passed out or became ill during the screening.
