On Friday Sept. 17, Professor Rory Mulligan, who teaches the Drew Seminar “Scary Movies and Cultural Unease,” hosted the first of four public screenings of one of the class’s studied films. The film featured this week was The Exorcist (1973).
Before the film, Mulligan gave a short presentation with a slideshow that featured information about the film and fun facts about its production. The presentation was packed with information intended to give viewers more context about the film before viewing.
Hayden Mattson (‘24), who attended the screening and had previously taken the course, said the opening of the experience was an enticing start of the event.
“I enjoyed the slideshow at the beginning with the awesome fun facts, [it] really pulled me in,” he said.
Mattson added that the atmosphere was, “lowkey,” but said that it “still felt like a big event.” Fellow attendee Gyedi Appiah-Pipim (‘24) said the viewing had, “a real movie theater feel.”
Mulligan said, “Horror is a genre that is best enjoyed in a group setting—the communal gasps and laughs add to the effect of the film in a way that isn’t possible when viewing alone.”
Three additional screenings of Get Out (2017), Halloween (1978) and Scream (1996) will take place over the course of the fall semester. Be on the lookout for more information regarding these events!
