Reviews Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary? Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting

Getting Hooked on Quitting

Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary?

Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous

Is College Necessary?

Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear

Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters

‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Reviews Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary? Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting

Getting Hooked on Quitting

Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary?

Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous

Is College Necessary?

Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear

Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters

‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

“Obsession” hasn’t earned classic status

A true cinematic classic must meet its moment in unexpected ways. Curry Barker's smash hit merely winks at it

Published July 22, 2026 12:00PM (EDT)

Just after the Christmas holiday in 1973, audiences across America donned their winter coats, braving the cold on a mission to see the film that was making viewers faint in their seats and walk out of theaters trembling: William Friedkin’s horror masterpiece, “The Exorcist.” The film was such an instant, massive sensation that local news stations around the country sent reporters to interview audience members in theater lobbies and prospective viewers standing in long lines stretching far past the box office. 

One woman waited for four hours, only to come out of the theater with her voice and legs shaking; another said she drove 100 miles for the experience. In a piece for Dallas’ ABC affiliate, correspondent Patti Burns said: “No one knows exactly what makes a movie a hit. But one thing is for sure: ‘The Exorcist’ has got it.”

In the 50 years that have followed, audiences have become somewhat less susceptible to scares, but no less susceptible to phenomena. If a film can conjure a significant enough buzz, people will want to see it, no matter the reason for the hype. Take “Avatar,” which seduced audiences with its immersive 3D format so intensely that some viewers reported experiencing depression returning to the real world. The buzz around “Hereditary” was aimed at viewers looking to be scared “Exorcist”-style for the new age.........

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