I assume you're talking about the hospital corridor scene. It was one of the scariest shocks I've ever had in cinema...and the way Blatty set it up was nothing less than brilliant.
sharenurse station scene is my favorite scene in horror history
shareHard to beat...the way Blatty used stage magic (mainly lighting and dubbed sound) to make the viewer think that Nurse Keating is opening and closing a door...but in reality there was no door, which permitted the sudden "out of nowhere" advance of the... well, nearly everyone knows who, but for those who don't I won't elaborate further!
:)
I thought she unlocks a door, opens it, turns on a light, shuts it, opens it again, shut the light off, shuts the door and then the assailant came from the corner? Walk me through that there was no door...
shareAll subjective, i.e. my opinion. I can't prove there was no door, but I've stopped the relevant frames and it looks to me like either Nurse Keating "goes thru the motions" of unlocking, opening/closing, relocking a door. When the door opens, a blue light shines out. Now I've seen this scene so many times it makes me dizzy, so my impressions may be wrong, but sometimes it looks to me like there's no solid door there - Keating going through the motions, plus "key-sounds" and "door sounds" on the soundtrack, and the turning off/turning back on of the blue light as the "door" is opened and closed, create the illusion of a door where in reality there is none. Why no door, and why the illusion of a door? Precisely because if we think a closed (and locked) door is really there, the sudden entrance of the shears-bearing, sheeted figure is utterly shocking, not least in part because it seems impossible. It looks like it almost comes out of the wall. It does not come around any corners. It emerges exactly where the putative door is placed.
Otoh, the last time I viewed the scene, damned if I didn't get the impression that there WAS a real door, but it was manipulated so unexpectedly swiftly that the effect was still created of the white-sheeted murderer (who, btw, is not that Christ statue come to life, as some people think) emerging out from a solid object - the wall or the door.
Sorry, I don't mean to be confusing on this, but as I said, the scene is so cleverly executed that it works for me every time, and I've seen it so often that now my fevered imagination can support both theories - a real door with real blue light naturally shining when it's opened and stopping shining when it's closed... AND/OR a stage-magic illusional door that isn't really there, but is only a very clever gimmick created by lighting and soundtrack "door-and-key" noises...
Buddy after I read your first post I emailed this to a bunch of friends and we ziprutered the whole thing. We're thinking it might have actually been a curtain because there's a part where the light looks like it's coming at her feet but not the rest of her body. Definitely wasn't a door though. What an awesome scene...
shareA curtain... interesting - I had never considered that device. That damned scene is so mysterous and, as you said, awesome. Classic and unforgettable.
shareThe sfx Cleary insinuate that the nurse is locking a door. There was likely no door there during filming, but I agree with you, who said she was just going through the motion of locking a door. False sense of security to make you feel as if nothing could possibly come from there. The same false sense of security suggested with the cop walking out of frame split second before the attack. Not sure where patchmyballs is getting a curtain theory from. Who uses a key to lock a curtain?
shareHard to beat...the way Blatty used stage magic (mainly lighting and dubbed sound) to make the viewer think that Nurse Keating is opening and closing a door...but in reality there was no door
Yeah, there could be a door in some of the shots. As I wrote earlier in this thread:
= = = = =
... I can't prove there was no door, but I've stopped the relevant frames and it looks to me like Nurse Keating "goes thru the motions" of unlocking, opening/closing, relocking a door. When the door opens, a blue light shines out.
Now I've seen this scene so many times it makes me dizzy, so my impressions may be wrong, but sometimes it looks to me like there's no solid door there - Keating going through the motions, plus "key-sounds" and "door sounds" on the soundtrack, and the turning off/turning back on of the blue light as the "door" is opened and closed, create the illusion of a door where in reality there is none. Why no door, and why the illusion of a door? Precisely because if we think a closed (and locked) door is really there, the sudden entrance of the shears-bearing, sheeted figure is utterly shocking, not least in part because it seems impossible. It looks like it almost comes out of the wall. It does not come around any corners. It emerges exactly where the putative door is placed.
Otoh - the last time I viewed the scene, damned if I didn't get the impression that there WAS a real door, but it was manipulated so unexpectedly swiftly that the effect was still created of the white-sheeted murderer (who, btw, is not that Christ statue come to life, as some people think) emerging out from a solid object - the wall or the door.
Sorry, I don't mean to be confusing on this, but as I said, the scene is so cleverly executed that it works for me every time, and I've seen it so often that now my fevered imagination can support both theories - a real door with real blue light naturally shining when it's opened and stopping shining when it's closed... AND/OR a stage-magic illusional door that isn't really there, but is only a very clever gimmick created by lighting and soundtrack "door-and-key" noises...
= = = = =
I would have liked to see this in the theater and really get a good look at that door and the lighting...
I've posted on this scene. I saw it in a packed theater and the audience was into the movie. Without spoilers - the humorous part of the set up got a nervous, screaming laugh out of the audience and they were still giggling when the bomb dropped a bit later. Some people were still laughing when they started screaming again. Sounded like a bunch of Dysons about to blow up. :)
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I would have loved to be there! A very effective setup for "THE" scare.
shareI rewatched the movie this past week, and just now rewatched the Bonus Features. After viewing both, I’m with you bastach, I don’t think there was an actual door there. Movies are all about make believe, and all that was needed to create a door effect was some proper movements from Nurse Keating, plus a few sound effects and lights. We never see a door in the final product (except in insert shots from the nurse’s station POV), and nowhere in the Bonus Features do they make it clear. However, I’m in the “no door” camp because it just seems simpler for the timing of the scene. The actor carrying the autopsy shears couldn’t open it. He was standing there, shears up and ready to go.
One thing that makes the scene so darn scary is we never expect someone to come out of that room behind the nurse. We’ve “seen” the door closed, and we’ve “heard” it being locked. Blatty was brilliant with this scene and our expectations.
Such confident film making from one with no experience . You just can't imagine some film makers, with masses more experience , having the audacity , to film a scene this way. Barely any dialogue . Barely any.....well...anything . Just so so good.
shareYeah, I think that nails it - minimal flash and spectacle, zero cgi, and Blatty throws an absolute shock scene right in our faces - in a classic, impossible-to-forget scene...
shareTop 5 greatest scenes I ever saw, good lord the theater screamed I mean men and women.
shareYa know, even after having seen it numberless times, sometimes it still makes me jump... just like that damn phone call that Karras receives in his room when he's deep-listening to the demon's voice on audiotape...
shareIt's a very good scene, unfortunately it didn't become iconic.
shareAs mentioned the scene is so well set up, the "demon's" appearance so unexpected. I especially liked the presence of the security man/attendant in the background doing nothing unusual but moving around just enough to catch the eye and in so doing, distracting our minds from considering what if anything might happen to nurse Amy.
Too late to die Young
There's no question it was a door. One can clearly hear her clank the door shut and lock it. Remember, the demon can open drawers and all sorts of stuff at will. The light shuts off and that's when you see the blue. Either moonlight or a nightlight.
sharethe whole hospital scene from the start is amazing,when Kinderman first enters the hospital we see a nun/nurse violently shaking her hands, giving rise to the idea that she is at this moment of time possed. Blink and you'll miss it
shareTo this day in my opinion, it is the scariest scene in cinematic history.
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