Movies The Exorcist or The Shining - Which is the better film?

[Takes Two To Tango]

Two of the best horror films of all-time.

Who you got?

The Exorcist - Plot Summary:


Accompanied by her 12-year-old daughter Regan, actress Chris MacNeil relocates to Washington, D.C., where she is filming a movie.

Mother and daughter have a good relationship, but Regan begins to act strangely after a while. She undergoes various neurological tests, but doctors can't find nothing to explain her behavior. As Regan's situation reaches crisis proportions, Chris turns to Father Karras, a Roman Catholic priest and psychiatrist, to see if an exorcism might solve their problem.

Karras is incredulous, but the church eventually agrees, calling in Father Merrin, who had previously conducted an exorcism and came face to face with the demon.


The Shining - Plot Summary:


A novelist - Jack Torrance takes a job interview as winter caretaker of the isolated, old, huge and beautiful Overlook Hotel. Jack brings his wife - Wendy and his son Danny.

It happens that Danny, has a mysterious power known as "The Shining". Danny meets Hallorann - the hotel cook in their first day arriving at the Overlook, who warns him about the hotel and the sinister Room 237.

As the days go by, Danny has visions, meanwhile Jack starts driving into insanity, turning more and more aggressive, at the point that Danny and Wendy gets convinced that Jack might try to do something bad.

 

[The Good The Bad The HBK]

Which is scarier? Exorcist for sure

Which would I prefer to watch? The Shining

 

[The Good The Bad The HBK]

Which is scarier? Exorcist for sure

Which would I prefer to watch? The Shining


Edit: i only posted this once. This site sucks lol

 

[moreorless87]

I would give a slight edge to The Shining but there both top 10 horror films ever made for me

 

[Kryptt]

 

[650lb Sumo]

I would give a slight edge to The Shining but there both top 10 horror films ever made for me

A real heavyweight matchup for sure. I say The Exorcist but I could see arguments for both. The whole premise and setting for the Shining are so well done, the big deserted, snowed in hotel, the maze, the ghosts in the dance hall, the bear, the twins etc. in these various rooms down the maze of corridors. The concept of the creepiness of liminal space only started to be discussed widely a few years ago but the Shining nailed it and comes with an unnerving environment and unclear threat, including hallucinations so you can't trust your senses/perceptions, increasing the alienation and 'strandedness'. Whereas the Exorcist is much more up front and shocking. Extremely shocking for 1973! Clear threat, powerful demon vs out-of-his-depth priest, and the demon is scary as fuck. Brings such a sense of dread.

I was thinking I bet both of these are in the top ten horror films ever, and I was thinking The Exorcist will be higher, but I checked Rotten Tomatoes and The Shining is 121 and The Exorcists is 155 lol. Although you could check other lists.

 

[khukurikoo]

The exorcist was never scary to me, and I laughed a lot during the movie even as a kid. So The Shining wins. I know there's the whole demon angle with Lloyd showing up with the drink and the rest of them, but I always thought of the film as just a guy who can't stand his family and then finally snaps when he's forced to be in the house with them for awhile lol

 

[Mr.Maelstrom]

The Shining is my favorite film

 

[I Am Legion]

Both are in the top 10 Horror movies of all time. The Shining has more re watchability and has held up better. I have a hard time thinking of a better horror than The Shining. A creepy Hotel, Jack, ghosts, what more could you want?

 

[William Huggins]

The Shining, it's more re-watchable

 

[Tatra]

The Shining is, as with every other Kubrick film minus FMJ, extremely overrated. It's dull for long periods and relies too heavily on camera angles, lighting & colours... but that was Kubrick.

 

[Elvis.]

Shining is the better film , but exorcist deserves a special appreciation for psychologically damaging a generation

 

[AFanNotAFighter]

The Exorcist captured the public's attention like nothing else back when it came out. The Shining did not. It might be because more people believe in God/Satan than they do haunted houses/ghosts and clairvoyance.

You didn't ask which was scarier you asked which was the better film. I think the Shining is the better made film taking into consideration things like direction and cinematography but I actually found Jack Nicholson's character rather funny despite that not being the film's intent.

 

[Doomer]

Both very good, but even between this two, i easily choose The Exorcist as the better and scarier movie.

The Exorcist, Halloween, The Thing... they are all a higher level horror movie for me.

 

[BFoe]

The Shining is my favorite film, and to me it’s very damn close to perfect. You can watch it over and over and find new things, almost endlessly it seems.

 

[BangBang]

The exorcist was never scary to me, and I laughed a lot during the movie even as a kid. So The Shining wins. I know there's the whole demon angle with Lloyd showing up with the drink and the rest of them, but I always thought of the film as just a guy who can't stand his family and then finally snaps when he's forced to be in the house with them for awhile lol

The Shining could easiltky have been titled - COVID - A real life story lol

 

[MLarson]

Two of the best horror films of all-time.

Who you got?

The Exorcist - Plot Summary:


Accompanied by her 12-year-old daughter Regan, actress Chris MacNeil relocates to Washington, D.C., where she is filming a movie.

Mother and daughter have a good relationship, but Regan begins to act strangely after a while. She undergoes various neurological tests, but doctors can't find nothing to explain her behavior. As Regan's situation reaches crisis proportions, Chris turns to Father Karras, a Roman Catholic priest and psychiatrist, to see if an exorcism might solve their problem.

Karras is incredulous, but the church eventually agrees, calling in Father Merrin, who had previously conducted an exorcism and came face to face with the demon.


The Shining - Plot Summary:


A novelist - Jack Torrance takes a job interview as winter caretaker of the isolated, old, huge and beautiful Overlook Hotel. Jack brings his wife - Wendy and his son Danny.

It happens that Danny, has a mysterious power known as "The Shining". Danny meets Hallorann - the hotel cook in their first day arriving at the Overlook, who warns him about the hotel and the sinister Room 237.

As the days go by, Danny has visions, meanwhile Jack starts driving into insanity, turning more and more aggressive, at the point that Danny and Wendy gets convinced that Jack might try to do something bad.

Both are easily the top two horror movies of all time.

As for me The Exorcist is slightly better.

 

[Grrrr]

Exorcist

 

[Deaths Head]

I laughed at the exorcist at age 6 watching on Christmas Eve in our apartment, not so much the Shining in and even in theatres around people about 8/9 years old still found that one extremely creeped me out maybe bc my father was very similar in ways to Nicholson but the entity in room 237 when she lores Nicholson into the shower and turns into the old fat dead lady really set the tone i guess you had to be there and at that age , the Shining movie is just one claustrophobic atmosphere where they are stuck and the end motivation is eventually to chop your family up ,sorry but that’s way more psychological scary then a little possessed girl in a room you can leave at any time .

The little creepy twins in the hallway is also coincidental , my mom has a pic of her and another girl with the same clothes and looks both look the same standing in a hallway just like the movie from the 1940”s I’ll post it if she can find it .

 

[Deaths Head]

I laughed at the exorcist at age 6 watching on Christmas Eve in our apartment, not so much the Shining in and even in theatres around people about 8/9 years old still found that one extremely creeped me out maybe bc my father was very similar in ways to Nicholson but the entity in room 237 when she lores Nicholson into the shower and turns into the old fat dead lady really set the tone i guess you had to be there and at that age , the Shining movie is just one claustrophobic atmosphere where they are stuck and the end motivation is eventually to chop your family up ,sorry but that’s way more psychological scary then a little possessed girl in a room you can leave at any time .