After so many years I finally sat down and properly watch The Exorcist.
No longer would I be contempt to five minute intervals.
Usually consisting of Linda Blair character Reagan being possessed by a legion of demons and saying and Performing all kinds of over the top and horrid things.
I didn't realize how little The Exorcist itself took up.
It's only really properly towards the end of the movie. The rest of it is just Reagan's mother going from Doctor to doctor, psychiatrist or psychologist. medical treatment after medical treatment. Trying everything in her power to save her daughter from supposedly going completely insane.
It's more depressing than anything.
Obviously we know that there's some sort of demon possession early on given the supernatural events. But this poor mother doesn't.
At one point I think she starts to suspect that she's going insane along with her daughter. Buying in that the events are just part of hallucinations brought on by her own mind.
At least until you get to the spider walking scene.
At that point you really do have to put your foot down and say; ''Okay something here is clearly wrong. And medical science isn't going to answer this problem.''
It's time to call up the priest, rabbi, the imams. Whatever the heck the equivalent would be in the Shinto religion.
Like just get everybody involved.
Or maybe institutionalize your kid earlier on as well.
I get that, you want to save face and you don't want to put your daughter through the stresses of a mental institution. Especially as some of them were still pretty bad at this point. But when your kids physically attacking the help and throwing them about the room, spitting up blood. I think you have to give into pressures at that point.
I love how the exorcism itself it's not only a last resort but is taken on bad faith by practically everyone involved.
The priest doesn't believe it's going to work. The parent doesn't really want to believe it's going to work the Church itself is hesitant to commission the exorcism.
Heck the only person who seems to believe it might have some sort of effect is one of the doctors after giving up on his own practice. Claiming that some sort of superstitious ritual might be the best alternative for your daughter.
I'd say he's a lazy doctor but given that it works in this universe maybe he just know something the rest of us didn't.
I'm wondering if some sort of Islam equivalent to an exorcism would have been equally as beneficial.
These evil spirits seem to float around the whole world and when they were originally in Iraq nobody there seemed to be plagued by demons. The forces of evil are there, but they seem to be kept at Bay.
Perhaps the teachings of Muhammad work even better than that of Christ.
There's an alternative they could have practiced in one of the other Exorcist movies.
Anyways The Exorcist is still a really well put together movie. It has a creepy atmosphere, really good special effects, solid acting and surprisingly light on music cues.
It's a slow gradual burn with a fantastic Climax and well put together filler scenes to keep the whole thing interesting.
Oh and that scene with Reagan at the hospital getting that anagram brain scan, whatever the heck that thing was called. Is easily the freakiest part of the whole movie.
Supernatural horror no matter how fantastic or how disturbing can never compare to the simplicities of medical examination.
Exorcist II
And then there's Exorcist 2.
I went into this movie hoping that everyone was wrong about it.
That it was actually a great film that was simply misunderstood and overshadowed by it's massively culturally and economically successful predecessor.
But sadly that's not the case.
The acting is weird and clunky. The direction the actors are given is strange and unnatural.
The overall story feels confused and fragmented.
We have a Regen again who's still being harassed by the Demons of her past. Only now she's hooked up with this weird medical device that somehow connects brains together with flashing lights and the Legion of demons was only one Dimond called '''Pazuzu''' who's from some part of fictionalized central Africa.
The whole African subplot feels like it was written by Margaret Landon and it's just needlessly stereotypical for some odd reason. Also we're sexualizing Reagan.
Did we really need to do that?
Cuz it comes off a hell of a lot creepier than anything else in this movie and it's not supposed to.
It's just a major disappointment.
I don't know if you could have made an exorcist to all that good but I wish they would have committed to one of their stories.
If you want to do a story involving plague locusts being associated with a Dimond and having them run rampant route one of the bread baskets of Africa then just do that story. We don't need a regen anymore. Let the girl go on for life. Or if you are going to focus on her and let the actually do that again.
Cuz otherwise we just end up with a weird story where we spend 40 minutes and an unnamed part of Africa and then we're back at the house in Washington DC where the original exorcism happened.
Why does that house matter?
In the original movie they moved houses and the demon just went with them.
Reagan is what matters in that regard not the stupid house they happen to be living in.
There is one scene I like.
The priests finally needs James Earl Jones who is this original Exorcist kid from years previous who was saved from the evils of Pazuzu (yes that name still sounds dumb). There's a test where the priest has to walk on this bed of nails to get across to him.
And it's this whole test of strength thing where if you believe hard enough you might be able to survive the Endeavour.
It has some legitimate tension to it.
I think could have made for a far better movie if it was more the focus.
Just this priest trying to deal with Illusions and trickery by ancient spirits and mystical elements mixed in with his own Roman Catholicism. Diving in and out of Consciousness thought as he tries to save a man from a demon possession that took hold in an unfamiliar territory.
The Exorcist meets 'Into the Heart of Darkness'.
Oh, and here's the kicker.
There's no exorcism in this movie!
At the end of it the priests just ends up fighting this Pazuzu demon thing that happens to look like Reagan. But She still there as well but she's not being possessed at that time. They could have played with that angle but didn't.
They just wanted to make a supernatural monster movie but also need it to somehow work it in with an already established film.
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