THE EXORCIST. 1973. DIRECTED BY
WILLIAM FRIEDKIN. PRODUCED BY/SCREENPLAY BY WILLIAM PETER BLATTY.
BASED ON THE BOOK 'THE EXORCIST' BY WILLIAM PETER BLATTY. MUSIC BY
MIKE OLDFIELD.
STARRING LINDA BLAIR, ELLEN BURSTYN,
LEE J. COBB, JASON MILLER, MAX VON SYDOW AND MERCEDES MCCAMBRIDGE.
THE EXORCIST 3. 1990. DIRECTED
BY/SCREENPLAY BY WILLIAM PETER BLATTY. STARRING GEORGE C. SCOTT,
JASON MILLER AND ED FLANDERS.
'THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS
YOU...'
I had no notion in the world of making
THE EXORCIST the subject of
my Halloween viewing last year (2015). I'd been keeping an unwatched
copy of the film in my DVD collection for months, though purely on the understanding that I was too
chicken to watch it and always would be.
Then a visit to a charity shop on a gloriously
sunny Halloween afternoon unexpectedly turned up a copy of the
special 25th
anniversary version for a euro. One euro!
Glory be to God. I wouldn't be much of a collector of horror stuff if I left it
behind.
I took it
home and watched it straightaway, on Halloween afternoon with the
curtains wide open and the sunlight streaming through the windows. Not,
perhaps, the way it should be watched but hey, if it got me in front
of that screen, what did that matter...?
It was
as good as everyone said it was, and about a million times more
scary. I know that some film critics consider THE EXORCIST
to be the best film
ever made, never mind the best
horror film. Certainly
in 2010, it was chosen by the Library Of Congress to be preserved as
part of its National Film Registry as being 'culturally,
historically or aesthetically significant,' which
is a pretty big deal for a movie, I can tell you. But of
course you probably already know.
Anyway, I
don't know what motivated me to watch it so suddenly like that after
years of shying away from it. Maybe I was emboldened (is that still a
word in these modern times?) by the broad daylight and the sounds of
hundreds of happy Halloween shoppers tramping up and down the streets
outside my house in search of booze or monkey nuts or the perfect pumpkin.
Also, it
wouldn't be nightfall for hours. I was as safe as houses, heh-heh-heh.
Whatever the reason, I did it and I'm now going to share my findings
with you. I bet you're all thrilled skinny about that...!
Director
William Friedkin was up first with a nice informal chat about the
film. Look at you, I
thought disbelievingly, wearing your nice unthreatening
cardigan, talking in your nice calm friendly voice about the film to
come as if it WASN'T considered
the scariest, most disturbing horror film ever made. I've heard how
terrifying it is. I know, Mr. William Friedkin, I know...
Mind you, he
never tried to deny it was scary, I'll give him that. He was just
hoping that I, the viewer, would get out of the film what he and the
film-makers had tried so sincerely to put into it all those years ago. In all honesty, I think I did, if
pants-wetting terror was the aim of Friedkin and his minions. Snigger.
Based on true
events but changed around a bit, it's the story of Regan MacNeil, a
normal little American girl who becomes possessed by the demon
Pazuzu, a nasty piece of work who makes the sweet, affectionate
pretty twelve-year-old do and say the most unspeakably disgusting and
inappropriate things.
Her devoted
but understandably terrified mother Chris, an actress and single parent, eventually
decides to have the child exorcised, after first going down the
medical route and finding no help there. Well, you know what doctors
are like. Every one you go to gives you a different diagnosis.
At first, I
hated Father Damien Karras, the priest from the nearby church to whom
Chris turns for help. I found him a wishy-washy,
crisis-of-faith-having mope who allowed his elderly and infirm
mother to live in a rat-hole of a slum.
He's a bad son, I thought. A terrible son,
in fact. I sure-as-heck wouldn't want to be dependent on him
in my twilight years.
The elderly Father
Lankester Merrin, the priest who leads the actual exorcism and whom we first see in Iraq encountering a demon with whom he's
successfully done battle before, seems much
more kick-ass. And I'm sure he's a better son to his Mammy. Let's
face it, pretty much anyone would be. This,
however, was only what I thought after my first viewing
of the film.
Subsequent
viewings caused me to change my mind about Father Karras. In fact, I
became quite attracted to him (he's so sexy and dark-haired, I bet
his chest-hair would be jet-black and curly!) the more I watched the
film and I began to feel more sympathetic towards him regarding his
poor old Mum.
Of
course he was gutted
about her death and the place and manner in which she died. You can
tell by the way in which he reacts to the demon's horrible taunting
that he loved his mother dearly and would feel guilty about her death
till the day he died. I was
sorry I'd been so quick to judge him.
Over the years, I'd heard so much about
this iconic horror film and seen so many clips and stills online that
I was pretty much able to tick off the key scenes in my mind as the
movie progressed. Here's the projectile-vomiting scene. Here's the
grotesque head-spinning scene.
Here's the (ahem) crucifix-being-used-for-a-naughty-purpose
scene. Here's the levitation scene. Here's the giggling scene. There
they all were, one after the other in all their grisly glory, each
scene more frightening than the last.
Unfortunately,
as I was watching the 25th
anniversary version as opposed to 'THE VERSION YOU'VE NEVER
SEEN,' I missed out on seeing
the infamous 'Spider-Walk'
scene, which I'd really been looking forward to.
Fortunately
for me, however, it turns out that the unwatched DVD I'd been
hoarding in my collection for months is in fact 'THE
VERSION YOU'VE NEVER SEEN,' so
as soon as I recover from this Halloween-afternoon
shock-to-the-system, I'm going to try to watch this other version.
Mind you, I can't say when that'll be. My recovery could take some
time...!
(Since writing this review in the
Autumn of 2015, I've watched the other slightly longer version
and seen the 'Spider-Walk' scene and also, I'm certain, I've caught several more
subliminal sightings of the demon Pazuzu. This version is ten minutes
longer than the one I watched first and it has a few little extra scenes
in it so I'd have to deem it the better version, by virtue of this
fact.)
Needless
to say, THE EXORCIST garnered
all kinds of awards and plaudits and critical acclaim and you guys know
all about these by now. There's not much I can add to what's been
said about this fantastically ground-breaking piece of cinematic art
except to say that I wish I'd thought of the idea first, haha. I'd be
set for life.
I
loved William Peter Blatty's novel too, by the way, but the film is
miles better. Even so, I enjoyed the book. Reading it for the first
time was like the first time ever I read Ira Levin's ROSEMARY'S
BABY, Robert Bloch's PSYCHO
or Peter Benchley's JAWS, my
three favourite horror novels of all time.
I'm sad
to have to say this, but we're unlikely to see this calibre of horror
novel again in our lifetimes. These books were all made into some of
the best films ever made, and not just horror films either, not that
a horror film is some sort of second-class citizen of movies. It most
certainly is not, as
we horror aficionados know
all too well.
Each
one of the above books is a timeless horror classic. I only wish they
hadn't stopped writing 'em. Think how different the world of film and
literature would be if we had even one novel
a year of this extraordinarily high quality to look forward to.
A special
shout-out to the Make-Up Artist Dick Smith and the Special Effects
people who were in charge of creating Regan's face in the various
stages of possession and the disgusting pea-soup projectile vomit and
all the blood and stuff. These guys should have been up for a ton of
awards as well. I'm not clear why they weren't as their work on this
film was surely groundbreaking.
I also loved
the character of Lieutenant Kinderman. A shrewd cop, he has a human
side too. A bit like Columbo. Remember Peter Falk as Columbo? 'Just one more thing...!'
Anyway, I loved
the way the Lieutenant tried to get both priests to go to the cinema with him
because he gets 'free passes' and
he hates going to the flicks alone. Aw, bless his buttons. I'd love
to have a friend who got free movie passes. I'd go with him any time
to see a free film.
THE EXORCIST 3 was
actually directed by the writer, William Peter Blatty, and is a
follow-on from the original film. I watched it at eleven o'clock at
night as part of the Irish Film Institute's 2015 Horrorthon and I saw
it before I saw the
original.
It was probably for this reason that it didn't resonate as much with me as it might have done had I been watching it in the correct order. That's me, sadly. Always doing things arseways. I believe it's a typically Irish trait known as 'putting the cart before the horse...!'
It was probably for this reason that it didn't resonate as much with me as it might have done had I been watching it in the correct order. That's me, sadly. Always doing things arseways. I believe it's a typically Irish trait known as 'putting the cart before the horse...!'
Anyway,
in this sequel we have Lieutenant Kinderman from the first film
trying to solve a series of satanic murders that have their roots in
what happened to poor little Regan MacNeil a decade and a half
earlier. The film also seems to bypass the events that occurred in
the second film in the series, 'EXORCIST 2: THE HERETIC.'
George
C. Scott as Kinderman was nominated for a GOLDEN RASPBERRY
AWARD FOR WORST ACTOR for his
performance here but I think that's totally mean. I thought he was
lovely and solid and huggable in this, if a wee bit hammy. Nothing
wrong with a bit of ham though, especially if there's some nice
cheese and a couple of slices of bread to go with it.
I also
loved the friendship between Kinderman and the cuddly old grey-haired
'n' grizzly Father Dyer from the first film. The stuffed penguin on
the windowsill made me cry buckets. Mopey old Father Damien Karras
(whom, as I told you earlier, I now fancy) reprises his role from the
original film but with a twist. A big fat demonic twist,
haha. I still didn't like him that much,
though he possibly has more balls this time round.
The
dark, steep flight of special EXORCIST steps
are back too, and they are flippin' terrifying. They
played a huge part in the first film and they really should have a
credit of their own, they're so memorable and evil. Can steps be
evil? The answer is yes. Most definitely yes. Without a doubt.
I
wasn't really scared stiff as such at any point during this film.
Rather, I'd describe myself as having felt unsettled or disturbed as
opposed to outright petrified. The
film is creepy enough but, like most films, it couldn't hold a candle
to the original movie for sheer terrifying-ness, if there is such a
word.
Also, maybe if I'd seen the original film first, I wouldn't have felt such a sense of 'disconnection' to THE EXORCIST 3.
Also, maybe if I'd seen the original film first, I wouldn't have felt such a sense of 'disconnection' to THE EXORCIST 3.
What I should
probably do is to sit down and watch the two of 'em back-to-back in
the right order. All in good time, folks. All in good time. Give my
shattered nerves a chance to piece themselves back together...
(Subsequent viewings on my part of THE
EXORCIST 3 have revealed it to be a horror classic in its own right.
And the more I watch it, the scarier I find it becomes. Isn't that
strange?)
If I
may be less than positive for a moment, I'd just like to say that I
initially found the murder of little Nurse Amy hilarious. In the
space of a few seconds, she was slit from top to bottom, stuffed with
rosary beads and stitched right back up without anyone spotting
whodunnit. Mind you,
that is one under-staffed and poorly-lit hospital. I wouldn't trust
my loved ones to its
tender mercies, that's for sure. Any
more than I'd initially have sent my old Ma to the Damien Karras
Retirement Home...!
When
the words 'Ed Flanders' came
up on the screen at the start of the film to signify the actor who
played Father Dyer, the whole audience sniggered, probably because
'Ed Flanders' sounds a
lot like 'Ned Flanders,' Homer
Simpson's saintly moustachioed neighbourino in THE
SIMPSONS. Oh and, by the way, cheesy sex symbol Fabio turns up
briefly as an angel in Heaven. Hmmm. Say no more.
To
return briefly to the first film, THE EXORCIST, it
seems incredible that such a superb film, a horror masterpiece like this one, can
be forty-three years old this year without seeming in any way
outdated or irrelevant. To my mind,
it can hold its own with anything that's being produced today.
'What an excellent day for an exorcism...'
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA
HARRIS.
Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, film blogger and movie reviewer. She has studied Creative Writing and Film-Making. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, womens' fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra's books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B015GDE5RO
You can contact Sandra at:
http://sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.wordpress.com
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