This is fantastic music from Schifrin. Incredibly tense stuff, but I don't know how well it would have fit the film. Freidkin's choice of using such diverse composers as Oldfield, Henze and Penderecki gave the film almost a docu-drama feel at times that added to it's sense of realism, and terror.
Schifrin is a genius, and this music is very "scary", but the film would have been way less scary if this score had been used. "The Exorcist" has an uncanny realness, almost like a documentary. This music would have lent an operatic quality which would have made the film much easier to shake off as being "just a movie". The pre-existing music that Friedkin used had a "found object" quality that enhances the realness and impact. Friedkin is following Kubrick's lead here.
there are parts which sound quite similar to music from scenes in The Amityville Horror and some parts sound pretty much exact to music from scenes in The Amityville Horror but the main them from Amityville definitely is not there :P
The beginning of this is absolutely terrifying! Maybe it's just as well they didn't use this. Instead of fainting in the aisles, people would have had heart attacks. Damn!
it was said that the 1979 version of the amityville horror theme was originally SUPOSSED to be part of the excorcist sound score. Being an idiot, friedkin rejected schifrin's score. He later reused it for the amityville horror.
I'm a huge L.S. fan but Friedkin was right. The score is way over the top. What Friedkin ended up with, if you listen and pay close attention to the film, is extremely unnerving and very subtle. He used works by Penderecki and others of this eerie realm (not just the "Tubular Bells" theme) sometimes almost imperceptibly under the dialog. You could almost feel it more than hear it. It made the film more dignified without huge bursts of music telling us when we should feel "scared."
@oceantracks I totally agree with you. This Schifrin music is creepy enough, but too obvious. Using strange, minimalist orchestral music was a better choice.
This cue matches beat for beat the scene where Fathers Merrin and Karras first enter the bedroom to do battle with Pazuzu. This isn't just scary incidental music- it's very well timed, written, and executed and underscores a classic moment of good battling the darkest depths of evil.
I admire William Friedkin's work in THE EXORCIST, too bad he rejected this because Warner Bros. apparently made him do it and also because he had not a good music taste like some directors (Alfred Hitchcock, Dario Argento, Sam Raimi, etc.) have/had but honestly i thinks is really ignorant from him to call this tune ''Fucking Mexican marimba music'' when actually Lalo Schifrin is from Argentina, THE EXORCIST is a great movie but it's a let down to know that it's director talked too much.
I read an interview with Schifrin where he said that people were actually being physically sick when the film was shown with his original score at a preview in New York. According to him, it was as a result of this that Friedkin decided to have the score toned down (without Schifrin's knowledge). That's Schifrin's account of things. Regardless of all that, this is powerful stuff.
I'm not a big fan of this, though I generally like Schifrin, it seems common, standard. I think Friedkin's choices were great, considering the time constraints, and he should have used much more of Oldfield's TBs, as was done in the "version you've never seen" release.
Friedkin's first choice for the music was legendary composer Bernard Herrmann, but with a short deadline and the fact that Herrmann wanted to do the score in England, it forced Friedkin to go with Lalo Schifrin, who then recorded the music in two days in the fall of 1973. Friedkin felt the score was all wrong, "This movie needs very little music. It should be subtle and small. Not to scare the audience, that was the point Lalo and I differed on. It needs restraint." Schifrin was dismissed.
It was Warner Bros. executives that asked Lalo to do a softer score because of the audience being to scared by the combination of music and images in the film's early previews. Friedkin reportedly hated the new score. Or at least that's what Wikipedia says...
Friedkin made a good movie-- quite effectively scary -- but he was obviously an idiot when it came to music. Anything Schifrin does good, and this stuff sounds amazing! I'd like to know the cues.... what music in which scenes.
@torridscene Not sure I agree at all. This music is OK, but too standard, too commercial. Think of the music Friedkin chose for the opening credits of The Exorcist (by Crumb, I think): just faint, eerie, other-worldly violins. You're hardly even aware that they're there. It's far more subtle than this rather overblown score. I can see why Friedkin rejected it.
This is horrifying. Who knew Lalo Schifrin could make some genuine nightmare fuel? The opening has the ambience of souls crying out from hell, it's spine tingling.
Mostly not bad in its own right, but had they gone with this score over the existing one, The Exorcist would be a largely forgotten film or, at best, a niche/cult favorite today. It would not be known nearly as widely as it is.
This might be the most menacing thing I've ever heard. Just saying. It was taken out of the movie because audiences were too frightened during trailers. That's normal. Whatever.
Schiffrin is a Legend,
obeahuk 2 weeks ago
07:53 eerie crystal glasses that he used the Amityville films.
timelessmusic21 3 weeks ago
That last piece sounds like romantic dinner music. Sooooothing.
SellawEvets 4 weeks ago
Man, Tubular Bells is awesome but this... oh my fucking God man, that's all I can say.
LaGoonch 2 months ago
This is fantastic music from Schifrin. Incredibly tense stuff, but I don't know how well it would have fit the film. Freidkin's choice of using such diverse composers as Oldfield, Henze and Penderecki gave the film almost a docu-drama feel at times that added to it's sense of realism, and terror.
zenmachinefilms 3 months ago
tnx 4 posting very rare!!!! AAA+
nadir6661 3 months ago
in wikipedia is said to be 6 minutes how come 14 ?
nadir6661 3 months ago
Not bad. Lalo is legendary
codename617 3 months ago
@codename617 not bad? just not bad omg....
nadir6661 3 months ago
where did you find it?
curtis74200 4 months ago
the music at 12:21 end is so romantic......i feel like i'm falling in love when i hear it
zealberg 4 months ago
Schifrin is a genius, and this music is very "scary", but the film would have been way less scary if this score had been used. "The Exorcist" has an uncanny realness, almost like a documentary. This music would have lent an operatic quality which would have made the film much easier to shake off as being "just a movie". The pre-existing music that Friedkin used had a "found object" quality that enhances the realness and impact. Friedkin is following Kubrick's lead here.
windowdresser 4 months ago 3
there are parts which sound quite similar to music from scenes in The Amityville Horror and some parts sound pretty much exact to music from scenes in The Amityville Horror but the main them from Amityville definitely is not there :P
LivingDeadKidd 4 months ago
Friedkin dubbing this work of art, "fucking Mexican marimba music"
LOL
racist asshole,
Lalo is Argentinian.
LatinoHeatMexico 6 months ago
The beginning of this is absolutely terrifying! Maybe it's just as well they didn't use this. Instead of fainting in the aisles, people would have had heart attacks. Damn!
8Ho03EdONl1liL 7 months ago
it was said that the 1979 version of the amityville horror theme was originally SUPOSSED to be part of the excorcist sound score. Being an idiot, friedkin rejected schifrin's score. He later reused it for the amityville horror.
jdon11236 8 months ago
Man this music needs to be used in a horror film.
Deavi783 8 months ago
I'm a huge L.S. fan but Friedkin was right. The score is way over the top. What Friedkin ended up with, if you listen and pay close attention to the film, is extremely unnerving and very subtle. He used works by Penderecki and others of this eerie realm (not just the "Tubular Bells" theme) sometimes almost imperceptibly under the dialog. You could almost feel it more than hear it. It made the film more dignified without huge bursts of music telling us when we should feel "scared."
oceantracks 9 months ago
@oceantracks I totally agree with you. This Schifrin music is creepy enough, but too obvious. Using strange, minimalist orchestral music was a better choice.
TheMightyHartley 8 months ago
This is was considered to scary even for ''The Exorcist'' standard.
Evanest25isBack 10 months ago
This cue matches beat for beat the scene where Fathers Merrin and Karras first enter the bedroom to do battle with Pazuzu. This isn't just scary incidental music- it's very well timed, written, and executed and underscores a classic moment of good battling the darkest depths of evil.
Koldeman 10 months ago
I admire William Friedkin's work in THE EXORCIST, too bad he rejected this because Warner Bros. apparently made him do it and also because he had not a good music taste like some directors (Alfred Hitchcock, Dario Argento, Sam Raimi, etc.) have/had but honestly i thinks is really ignorant from him to call this tune ''Fucking Mexican marimba music'' when actually Lalo Schifrin is from Argentina, THE EXORCIST is a great movie but it's a let down to know that it's director talked too much.
murdlok 10 months ago
AWESOME!!!FANTASTIC MUSIC...
altsitzer1310 11 months ago
THIS MUSIC JUST MADE ME SHIT MY PANTS
BigMrJuarez 11 months ago
beautiful
zealberg 11 months ago
Comment removed
zealberg 11 months ago
you have to download with Real Player,
Morricone1 11 months ago
Where can I download this?
TheDazro 11 months ago
I read an interview with Schifrin where he said that people were actually being physically sick when the film was shown with his original score at a preview in New York. According to him, it was as a result of this that Friedkin decided to have the score toned down (without Schifrin's knowledge). That's Schifrin's account of things. Regardless of all that, this is powerful stuff.
brenfen 1 year ago
I'm not a big fan of this, though I generally like Schifrin, it seems common, standard. I think Friedkin's choices were great, considering the time constraints, and he should have used much more of Oldfield's TBs, as was done in the "version you've never seen" release.
tindog13 1 year ago
Friedkin's first choice for the music was legendary composer Bernard Herrmann, but with a short deadline and the fact that Herrmann wanted to do the score in England, it forced Friedkin to go with Lalo Schifrin, who then recorded the music in two days in the fall of 1973. Friedkin felt the score was all wrong, "This movie needs very little music. It should be subtle and small. Not to scare the audience, that was the point Lalo and I differed on. It needs restraint." Schifrin was dismissed.
tindog13 1 year ago
It was Warner Bros. executives that asked Lalo to do a softer score because of the audience being to scared by the combination of music and images in the film's early previews. Friedkin reportedly hated the new score. Or at least that's what Wikipedia says...
yglivetoparty 1 year ago
If you were Lalo and this got rejected you'd have to be all WTF???!!!!
Sounds like he threw a lot at this.
mysticmoose 1 year ago
Scary stuff
dirtyharrypotterful 1 year ago
Friedkin made a good movie-- quite effectively scary -- but he was obviously an idiot when it came to music. Anything Schifrin does good, and this stuff sounds amazing! I'd like to know the cues.... what music in which scenes.
torridscene 1 year ago 4
@torridscene Not sure I agree at all. This music is OK, but too standard, too commercial. Think of the music Friedkin chose for the opening credits of The Exorcist (by Crumb, I think): just faint, eerie, other-worldly violins. You're hardly even aware that they're there. It's far more subtle than this rather overblown score. I can see why Friedkin rejected it.
TheMightyHartley 8 months ago
this is frighting i don't know why would friedkin just get rid of it ....the score they used in the movie is not that much different?????
phoenixondope 1 year ago
this is fucking amazing
drplbiftin 1 year ago
This is horrifying. Who knew Lalo Schifrin could make some genuine nightmare fuel? The opening has the ambience of souls crying out from hell, it's spine tingling.
desotowright 1 year ago 15
Mostly not bad in its own right, but had they gone with this score over the existing one, The Exorcist would be a largely forgotten film or, at best, a niche/cult favorite today. It would not be known nearly as widely as it is.
horgensnot 1 year ago
Damn. Just listening to this shit is scary!!!
MrBigjuarez 1 year ago
thank you for uploading this...
WolReaper 1 year ago
This might be the most menacing thing I've ever heard. Just saying. It was taken out of the movie because audiences were too frightened during trailers. That's normal. Whatever.
franksiv 1 year ago
This song scares me so much every time.
maroondeathtrap 1 year ago
THANKS! We really appreciate it
GanoMaganza 1 year ago
And also, this is defintely going to get a lot of views.
slayer179 1 year ago
Thanks for the upload. I've been looking for it.
slayer179 1 year ago