Double Features and the Magic of Horror Cinema | Part 2
By Harper Smith
Previous ⬅ Double Features and the Magic of Horror Cinema | Part 1
In life, there are moments in which we experience something special, something profound and lasting, a tangible touch of god, forever changing us. For some, it’s a memory of playing catch with their father, going to see a concert with a friend, or a handful of other situations we tend to immortalize in our own heads and memories. For me, August 17th, 1990, is one of those memories. A day so imprinted into my psyche that I hold so much happiness from it, and the ability to recall the feeling of experiencing a double feature that not only entertained a then 9-year-old me, but also changed the way a very young me looked at life, death, god, and rebirth.
The day leading up to those series of moments was special. I went through the entire school day, folding my hands and listening, making sure I was on point with whatever my teacher was speaking about. I needed the seconds, minutes, and hours to pass because I knew the moment the bell rang and I got into my grandmother’s beat-up car, the night was mine. It was Friday and that meant I would be spending my evening in my local theater alone, yes, but full of imagination and, by then, with a lust for horror. What I did not know, though, is that that night would not be the typical horror fare. No…on that night, I was going to experience The Exorcist III and Flatliners, two films that would immediately become so special to me, that I find myself smiling and almost feeling choked up recalling the memories.
I’ve been on record many times speaking about my fractured childhood, so I’ll spare that part and spare you readers about why going to the cinema was so important to a younger me (still is). But I will say that while most kids my age were breakdancing or trying to kiss every girl in class, I was watching movies. Movies were all I wanted, all I needed, and I’d rush home every Friday night, finish my chores, eat my “you bake” pizza from Trader’s Pizza in Visalia, CA, and then get a ride to either the Tower or Fox theaters, our local stomping grounds for film. Yet, this night was special as the wind blew in my face, my then-long hair touching my face while I stood in line with my trusty note from my father saying I could watch whatever I wanted to, something that always worked in a pre-Columbine world.
Joel Schumacher’s Flatliners was the first film playing, which to my best recollection, had been playing for a couple of weeks already, so it was a good primer for what I came there for: William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist III. The Exorcist III became a film that I not only loved but is my second favorite film of all time to this day (second only to Carpenter’s Halloween).
Flatliners challenged a young me in ways I hadn’t been challenged prior. It’s an excellent look at what it means to confront your demons and let them go; it touched me in ways I wasn’t prepared to face. I was so hurt and damaged at that point in my life that the idea of death and what’s waiting for us and how letting go of past trauma is key to growth. That and many other themes found in that wonderful film seemed to latch onto me with fervor.
What Flatliners did was show me that not only do we need to eventually let go of what hurt us, but that people can change, people can work on themselves each day, something I’ve always been fascinated with. The idea that death is only the beginning and that sometimes it’s our personal demons that hold us down spoke to me. The film’s look at the effects of bullying and the power of what you do and say was not lost on even a 9-year-old me. I took those lessons to heart, and the very next day I worked twice as hard to show the kids, who perhaps did not have friends, that they had someone in their corner. I tried so hard to be kind to all of them and it’s something I try very hard to put forward these days as well. There’s a power in film that allows its viewers to ask themselves, “How do I feel about this?” And Flatliners has always been just that: a film about a group of friends who, for various reasons, want to touch death as close as possible, which was director Schumacher asking us all, “What have YOU done in the past that you could benefit by atoning for it?”
I sat in my seat transfixed by Flatliners, and while I absolutely loved that film, a special thing happened next. From the moment it started until the moment the lights went back on, The Exorcist III reached into my soul and lived there, rent-free. Both scary and philosophical, Blatty’s film asks us so many questions about faith, the lack thereof, pain, suffering, and horror, that it’s impossible for me to watch the movie without asking those very questions — something I live to do.
There’s such a great take on friendship, duty to others (and yourself), and letting go of the people we love who, for better or for worse, aren’t who they used to be. The character of Kinderman gives us an everyday man, struggling with what he doesn’t believe in, forever questioning why god would allow such suffering, a question that he also asks in The Ninth Configuration.
As a 9-year-old, those questions were so very important. At that age, we’re often looked at as idiot children without grown-up thoughts, but at nine, I was beginning to ask those questions, beginning to lose myself in those questions, and beginning to answer them for myself, a quest that took me decades later to finally pinpoint for myself. I wouldn’t have been led to that quest had I not watched that special film that night. A double feature that, to put it honestly, was one of the most important double features I’ve ever experienced, an existential night of film that led a younger me on a lifelong journey of self-discovery. It has been such a fulfilling journey to walk. 🩸
About
Harper Smith is a film journalist and composer, hailing from the Central Valley of California. For over a decade now, they have annoyed readers of many sites and magazines with an overabundance of Halloween 4 love and personal essays. Follow them on X @HarperisjustOK and visit their website Rainydaysforghosts.bandcamp.com.
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