|
|
William Peter Blatty & William Friedkin discuss the first cut of The Exorcist. (Mark Kermode, 1998)
My review of The Exorcist 25th Ann. DVD for NTSC User Magazine. (Paul Davis, 1999)
My Review Of The Exorcist for SLAP magazine. (Paul Davis, 1998)
In the
1970’s movie makers explored and established many of the existing generic
conventions. The Godfather and A Clockwork Orange set the standard for
future crime films, Enter The Dragon took it’s place on the throne as the
king of Kung-Fu, Star Wars dominated the Sci-fi scene, Jaws resurrected
the disaster movie, Grease and Saturday Night Fever had everybody pointy
finger-dancing all over the world and the war genre was revitalised with
The Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now. The horror genre had a superb
decade. Introducing movies such as John Carpenter’s Halloween, Tobe
Hooper’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Brian De Palmer’s Carrie, The Omen and
The Amityville Horror. All of these films were acclaimed in there
own way and have gradually gained a respectable stature in classic horror
cinema. These films were scary, but no-one would have compared these
to a screen shocker that had appeared on theatre screens as early as 1973.
The Exorcist made
movie history when it was released twenty-five years ago. No other
film would dare to go the limits to which William Friedkin had persisted
to make a historical adaptation of William Peter Blatty's best-selling
novel. I wasn't even born when the film was released but I'll always
remember my dad talking about it when I was nine years-old, talking about
how he saw people fainting and running from the cinema screaming.
The Exorcist was released in
America on boxing day 1973. Made by one of the biggest movie companies
in the world, directed by an Oscar-winning director, it summoned crowds
from all over the country to stand in cues for over four hours in blizzards
and sell out movie theatres. Two hours later a majority of those spectators
would run from the theatre screaming! This wasn't just a movie, but
a news story. Reports of fainting, people being institutionalised,
and at least one miscarriage encouraged evangelist Billy Graham to brand
the film evil and state that the mark of the devil was embedded within
the film's celluloid. Although by the time it was ready for a UK
release it had a reputation as bad as Charles Manson, it was described
as the greatest advert for the church imaginable. The audiences didn't
care about the impact it hurled upon religious groups, they wanted to see
a scary movie.
It was nothing like
anyone had seen before. Sure, similar movies such as The Devils and
Rosemary's Baby had centred on a similar subject, but these films never
subjected to a 12-year-old girl becoming possessed by a demon, levitating
over her bed, making sexual advances toward her mother and masturbating
with a crucifix. The effect was phenomenal because this wasn't The Devils
or Rosemary's Baby, it had a psychological impact on movie goers around
the world. Author of the novel and screenplay, William Peter Blatty
was indeed shocked ( but also glorified ) when he saw the first cut of
the film, but director William Friedkin was enraptured with his movie and
whether the reaction was positive or negative it was a response, "...you
were alive for those two hours," says Blatty.
The film is described
as the Titanic of its day, although it was aimed at a totally different
audience it still broke the box office, raking in $160 Million world-wide.
European press reports following the movies world-wide release blamed a
series of strange behaviour; suicidal and criminal upon the film.
A belief that there is something inherently dangerous about the The Exorcist
is an idea which persists today.
Mark Kermode, a freelance film critic who
is a regular on BBC Radio One and in my opinion the world’s leading authority
on the film, recently aired a documentary celebrating the 25th Anniversary
of The Exorcist. The appropriately titled Fear Of God : 25
Years Of The Exorcist went behind the scenes showing interviews with William
Friedkin, William Peter Blatty and performers Ellen Burstyn, Max
Von Sydow, Jason Miller and the controversial child actress Linda Blair.
It also delved deep into the cutting room and aired footage that hasn't
been seen since 1973. Kermode has been researching the movie's history
ever since it's release when he was eleven years-old, but I feel
now that it's time for an opinion of someone from the "younger generation".
Being a student and college film critic, I've always loved to analyse movies,
and have watched horror movies since an early age. I was very independent
in the choice of movies I watched, starting with An American Were-Wolf
In London and gradually getting to The Exorcist. I did not find The
Exorcist scary at the age of 9, but now I find it more terrifying
as I get older.
With evidence from
the film’s recent theatrical re-release on Halloween weekend, we know that
The Exorcist is still shocking audiences all over the world. Though
it is regularly screened in cinemas nation-wide, the re-release is a totally
new print, colour corrected and digitally re-mastered shown for the first
time in stereo sound. The film is once again a box-office winner,
selling out cinemas all over the country in the first weekend, being the
eager beaver that I am, I still managed to see the film five times, being
the first one in and the last one out...This new print was later released
on DVD in the USA and due to a recent decision by the British Board Of
Film Classification, The Exorcist will once again be on the shelves of
your local video shop by April, aswell as a DVD release this summer.
It’s not the scary
movie now as it was for audiences in 1973. Occasionally laughter
would replace shock, though I must stress that not one person in the sold
out theatre laughed during the crucifix masturbation scene, only gasps
of horror. I think that you only take out of The Exorcist what you bring
to it. It’s not your average “make you jump” movie, it’s a film that takes
a lot of thought, you need total concentration on the film to keep up and
in my opinion, you’re only going to find this film scary if you are mature
enough to know what is terrifying and what is funny. For me
as someone who has seen the film fifty to sixty times on a TV screen and
know what is going to happen, witnessing The Exorcist on the big screen
was horrifying experience from which I don’t think I’ll ever recover...
On August 20th 1949,
a 21 year-old student called William Peter Blatty, came across a newspaper
article in the Washington Post at Georgetown University. The
article was a brief outline about a so-called case of demonic possession
that was taking place in nearby Mount Rainer, MD. The possessed
was a 14 year-old boy called Robbie Mannheim (or John Hoffman depending
on your source), who lived with his family at 3210 Bunker Hill Road, Mount
Rainer, Maryland. It is said by Thomas B. Allen, author of the 1993
book Possessed, that Robbie had a good relationship with his Aunt who was
a self-professed medium and that they’d regularly used an ouija board to
contact spirits on the other side. On 15th January 1949, unexplainable
events such as footsteps in the walls, strange scratching noises and drum
beats would occasionally baffle the family, but this was only the beginning.
Eleven days later, Robbie’s aunt unexpectedly died in St. Louis, and Robbie
immediately tried contacting her through his ouija board.
Over the next few weeks Robbie’s
bedroom was a haven for a series of strange noises, but on Thursday 17th
February Robbie spent the evening at the house of the family’s local minister
and what Reverend Luther Miles Schulze witnessed that night, would force
him to recommend a Catholic priest to the family. The Reverend
witnessed Robbie’s bed violently shaking and the un-aided movement of a
heavy arm chair and the mattress that Robbie slept on.
Between 27th February and 4th
March , in the control of Father Hughes, Robbie underwent an exorcism
at Georgetown Hospital, where he brutally attacked Father Hughes with a
bed spring. The manifestations did not end there. Branding
would amazingly appear on the boy’s skin, in red welts the words ‘Saturday’,
‘Louis’ and ‘3 1/2 weeks’ randomly scratched themselves onto his body.
While these occurrences were under way, Father Raymond Bishop and Father
William Bowdern were investigating the possibility of demonic possession.
The Mannheim’s were conducting private seances, and claiming that it was
indeed Robbie’s aunt who was inhabiting his body.
Finally on Wednesday 16th
March, Father Bowdern conducted an exorcism in the home of Robbie’s uncle
in St. Louis. During the ceremony, more branding and welts
would appear on Robbie’s back, including the words ‘Spite’ and ‘Hell.
Robbie would also spit accurately into the faces of the priests, he would
mime masturbation and he would constantly taunt the priests about the sexual
relations of priests and nuns. He even spouted out phrases in Latin, a
language that he had never known of or studied.
Having failed to have Robbie
put away in a mental asylum, Robbie was returned to his home town where
he was put into a secure mental ward. The exorcism was continued
here on Easter Sunday, where probably the most brutal attack took place.
During this exorcism the word ‘Exit’ appeared on Robbie’s chest, with an
arrow pointing down to his penis. When this had fully formed, Robbie
threw a powerful blow to Father Bowdern’s genitals. Following these
attacks, Father Bishop accounted that Robbie spoke ‘the voice of the devil’
during the exorcism, that Robbie’s physical appearance had become sinister
and that when ever the exorcism was being performed, the room unnaturally
dropped in temperature.
Then on Monday 18th April
at 11pm, during the thirtieth exorcism, Robbie jumped to his feet and yelled,
“Satan! Satan! I am Saint Michael, and I command you, Satan, and other
evil spirits, to leave this body, in the name of Dominus. Immediately!
Now! Now! Now!”
Robbie then endured the most violent
spasm yet, until the disturbance suddenly stopped. He looked up at
the priests and said, “He’s gone”.
This case of possession
not only interested Blatty, but seemed to excite him. What I mean
by that is that Blatty is a religious man who had considered entering the
priesthood, and if this story could prove that evil spirits and devils
existed, it was possible that God also existed.
Twenty years had
passed and now Blatty was a successful comedy writer. Some of his
work included Promise Her Anything and the second Pink Panther movie A
Shot In The Dark. In the late 60’s comedy had dried up considerably
and Blatty eventually became unemployed and instead of constantly turning
up at the local employment agency, he was reminded of the 1949 case and
wanted to write a non-fiction piece on the Maryland exorcism. His
first step was to contact the ageing Father Bowdern. Blatty asked
Bowdern for help while he wrote a true to life account of the 1949 events,
which Blatty thought would authenticate to the general public that the
devil was manifesting in the real world. Bowdern was willing to help
Blatty, but was denied clarification to publicise the story, because of
the family.
Blatty was now right
where he’d started. Though he didn’t want to rest the idea.
He had now decided to right a fictional story based on the Maryland exorcism.
He contacted Father Thomas Bermingham, his teacher in high school, to be
his technical adviser on the project and make sure that the story stayed
clear of comedy. They both conducted extensive research for just
under a year before Blatty wrote the first page of The Exorcist.
To separate Blatty’s story from the 1949 case, he made the possessed a
12 year-old girl instead of 14 year-old boy.
The story of The Exorcist centres
on actress and mother Chris MacNeil, who lives with her daughter Regan
in a town house in the Georgetown section of Washington D.C. Through
an ouija board Regan becomes possessed and is soon spewing obscenities
and masturbating with a crucifix. In between these fits of shocking
behaviour, she is examined by every medical specialist imaginable.
Still Regan’s possession progresses, she vomits green bile, spins her head
in a 360-degree turn, and later appears as a boil covered demon.
Rapidly running out of options, Chris finally turns to a careworn Jesuit
priest, Father Damien Karras in the hopes of conducting an archaic ritual
an exorcism.
Blatty modelled the character
of Chris on his (then) neighbour, actress Shirley MacLaine, who still claims
today that the distorted photo on the front of Blatty’s hard-back novel
of The Exorcist is in fact her daughter, Blatty denies this and says that
it’s his daughter. The book was published by Bantam Books in the
summer of 1971 and on the first four weeks of sales it was rapidly dropping
to decline. That was until Blatty had a forty minute promotional
spot on America’s premier chat show The Dave Cavett Show. After this
show his book took a phenomenal turn around and became an instant best-seller.
His book was in the top ten for fifty four weeks, tempting publicist Paul
Monash to buy the movie rights from Blatty, which Monash then sold on to
Warner Bros. for $641,000. With Blatty’s contract securing him a
place at the helm as produce and screen writer of the film, Blatty was
now in search of a director. The studio had already approached Stanley
Kubrick, who refused to direct it unless he could produce it, and Michael
Nichols, who was working on another project. Blatty had just previously
seen The French Connection and he wanted Billy Friedkin, who’d won an Oscar
for best director for that film. This was not the first time Blatty
had been brought to the attention of Friedkin. In the late sixties
Blatty had written a TV screenplay for Gunn, which Friedkin had been lined
up to direct. What impressed Blatty about him was the fact that Friedkin
bad mouthed Blatty’s Gunn screenplay, to his face. Before a
director was hired Blatty found out that Monash was making changes to Blatty’s
story without his permission. These changes consisted of cutting
the Iraq prologue, taking out Father Merrin altogether and change the location
from Washington to Los Angeles. Blatty also found out that Monash
was ready to hire a director named Mark Rydell. Blatty was furious,
and demanded that Warner Bros. fire him. Warner Bros. had no choice
when Blatty threatened a lawsuit, and Monash was released from the project.
Blatty then played The French Connection for the Warner executives, and
they immediately granted him permission to approach Friedkin.
Blatty sent
a copy of the book to Billy Friedkin who halfway through a promotional
tour for The French Connection.
“ I was gonna go to dinner with some people
and while waiting I opened the book and started to read it. I cancelled
the dinner. I stayed in the rest of that night and finished it. And it
was, of course, mesmerising.”
(Billy Friedkin)
Friedkin phoned Blatty
the next morning and asked him why he had sent him the book. Blatty
told him the background to the story and told him that he was currently
planning the movie, and concluded with asking him if he’d direct it.
A few days later they met up and Blatty suprisingly produced a screenplay
in front of Friedkin’s eyes. Billy was delighted and read it with
excitement. When he had finally finished reading, he told Blatty
that it was not very good and would be four hours long. Friedkin
then said that the film would be near enough impossible to shoot.
Blatty was left with a lump in his throat and needed a way to renew Friedkin’s
interest. He then went on to tell Friedkin that it was based on a
true story, and explained the whole of the 1949 case to him. With
this now in mind, Friedkin re-read the book and was impressed with the
realism and depth of the story.
Both Bills then re-wrote the
script together by circling parts of the book that would be good to shoot
and still structure the story. They’d both agreed to drop the sub-plot
that revolved around Chris’ servant Karl (this sub-plot involved his daughter
Elvira), a number of hints that would suggest Karras or Karl killed Burke
Dennings and shortened the dialogue tremendously. They finished the
revised script in three weeks and started to discuss casting.
Both Blatty and Friedkin
had ideas for the role of mother Chris MacNeil. They first approached Audrey
Hepburn who’d only agree to do it unless they changed the location to Rome.
Next in line was Blatty’s first choice Shirley MacLaine, who was working
on The Possession Of Joel Delaney. To add to the list was Jane Fonda,
who said, “ Why would any studio want to make this capitalist rip-off?”.
From that both Bills kind of got the idea that she didn’t want the part
(though she later stated that she didn’t do it because she doesn’t believe
in magic). With another choice, Anne Bancroft, too pregnant to play
the part, Blatty was rapidly running out of options until Warner received
a phone call from Ellen Burstyn. She never had a starring role but
Friedkin thought she was an interesting character. Friedkin drove
out to her house in the Hollywood hills and was greeted by a hippie who
offered him some grass in her first sentence. She went on to tell
him that it was fate that she would the part, and Friedkin left her house
feeling that it wouldn’t be her. Later that night he gave her a call
and offered her the part, and she was obviously delighted.
The part of the ageing
exorcist Father Lankaster Merrin was decided immediately once Friedkin
had seen a photo of the French Catholic priest Teilhard De Chardin, who
looked exactly like Swedish actor Max Von Sydow. Von Sydow was contacted
and had agreed to meet with them. Friedkin showed the photo of the
French priest and Von Sydow was baffled at the fact that he was 38 and
the priest looked to be in his late sixties or early seventies. Friedkin
told Von Sydow that they had a make-up genius waiting to give him the look
of a seventy year-old missionary. With that Von Sydow signed the
contract to play Father Merrin.
Casting the Jesuit priest Damien
Karras brought Billy Friedkin and Bill Blatty to their first argument.
Billy wanted to turn to his lead actor in The French Connection, Gene Hackman,
but Bill Blatty wanted to go with a crowd favourite by the name of Marlon
Brando. Friedkin rejected Brando flat because of worries that he’d
take over the film, and Blatty didn’t want Gene Hackman because he didn’t
think he be the right person to play a priest. With a week long argument
coming to an end, they decided to compromise and go with a unknown actor
by the name of Jason Miller. Miller was a playwright who won a Pulitzer
prize for a play he’d written in 1971. He was a firm favourite (behind
Hackman) with Friedkin after he had auditioned for the part, reading the
piece of dialogue in which Karras announces that he has lost his faith.
The biggest challenge was
the casting of the 12 year-old girl Regan MacNeil. At first, Blatty
felt that they would have to cast a twenty-five year old midget, because
of the film’s content, but Friedkin was determined to give this film a
certain realism that demanded the casting of a twelve-year-old. Friedkin
decided that he’d only get the perfect actress for Regan, if both child
and parent had there own interpretation of the theme and story. He
went on to interview hundreds of girls for the part but none of them really
suited the role.
“Let me tell you a story about one of the girls
I auditioned. She was a really cute nine-year-old who seemed quite ‘hip’.
She sat down in my office and began to talk. I asked her if she’d read
The Exorcist, and she quickly responded that she had not, but assured me
she knew the story. I asked her to give me her interpretation. She matter-of-factly
replied, ‘ It’s the story of a little girl who gets possessed by a devil
and does a bunch of bad things.’ I said, ‘What kind of bad things?’, and
she said, ‘Well, the girl masturbates with a crucifix.’ I asked if she
knew what it meant and she sighed, ‘Sure’. I must admit that I was somewhat
taken aback, but I looked at her and asked, ‘ Do you do that?’ She looked
at me, paused for a moment, and said, ‘Doesn’t everyone?’”
(Billy Friedkin)
After a four-month duration, Friedkin
was down to twelve girls, that he still wasn’t confident with and admitted
to Blatty that maybe they should use a twenty-five-year-old midget.
That was until a young girl by the name of Linda Blair was brought in by
her mother. Linda was a working child model/actress from New York
and she astounded Friedkin. After a lengthy interview with both Linda
and her mother, Friedkin filmed Linda with Ellen Burstyn on an empty sound
stage, acting out the ouija board scene. He then asked her to read
some of the demon’s dialogue, which was obscenities and cursing.
He then realised that Linda had the ability to turn her innocence into
utter horror, and that is what he wanted. She then went on to do
screen tests, make-up tests and so on. He then contacted his associates
at Warner and they told him that if he believed that she could play the
part then go ahead and cast her, and so he did.
A week before shooting
began Blatty and Friedkin had their second argument, this time it was about
whether or not Ellen Burstyn should have a limousine meet her at the airport
in New York. Friedkin said that she should and Blatty said no, he
said she could get a cab. Friedkin didn’t react to well to that comment
and said that he’d rather Blatty fire him than treat his cast like that,
and to Friedkin’s surprise Blatty did fire him. After a nervous weekend,
Warner executives explained to Blatty that he had no legal right to fire
Friedkin, so he was re-instated.
Shooting began in August 1972,
with Friedkin replacing production designer John Robert Lloyd with Bill
Malley and ordering the entire set to be rebuilt, which halted shooting
for six weeks. Friedkin also brought in his camera man on The French
Connection, Owen Roizman.
To film the prologue in Iraq
was almost impossible, because of the diplomatic relations between the
United States an Iraq. It’s been reported that it took eight months
before permission was granted to film there.
“I must say that I have never been affraid
going into a situation, but I was afraid and that is one of the reasons
why I went.”
(Billy Friedkin)
A unit was set-up in Iraq to shoot the prologue,
the first ten minutes of the film which introduces us to Father Merrin
(Max Von Sydow), the exorcist. The scene sees Father Lankaster Merrin
on a dig site in Nineveh, Northern Iraq. There are diggers and excavators
tearing at the ground, as Father Merrin is summoned to the
base of the mound to look at some uncovered
artefacts, which turn out to be a St. Joseph’s medallion and a small statue
head of the demon Pazuzu. While Merrin is walking the streets of
Mosul we see many allusions to what will happen later in the film. For
example, the old woman in the speeding cart vaguely resembles Regan during
her manifestations and the blinded eye of the steel worker is a prefigure
of Regan’s demonic eye rolling. In the curators office we see Merrin examining
the St. Joseph’s medal and the Pazuzu amulet, then to see an old pendulum
clock behind him stop. My interpretation of this sequence was that time
had stopped and that the present had been interfered by ancient evil.
The scene carries on with Merrin leaving the curators office and confronting
a life-size statue of Pazuzu. The sound of dogs fighting, makes this
scene really intense, and if listened to properly the sounds are heard
again later on during Regan’s possession, as well as the sound of the hammers
hitting the anvil earlier in the scene. The confrontation between
Merrin and the statue amplifies the eerie sounds from around him and clearly
signifies a classic stand off between the forces of good and evil.
When shooting of
this scene was complete, William Kaplan (Iraq production manager) was seized
and kept in Baghdad by armed guards because Warner Bros. check to the Iraqi
government had bounced. He was later released when the transaction
had been made.
After the prologue we cross
fade to the early hours of the morning in Georgetown, Washington D.C. Here
we are introduced to Chris MacNeil, who is interrupted by a scratching
sounds coming from the attic. She leaves her bedroom and examines
the hall, checking on her daughter Regan who is fast a sleep. After closing
Regan’s window Chris pulls the covers back over her. We then cut
to the next morning where Chris tells the housekeepers Karl and Willie
that they need to buy some rat traps. An interesting theory that was out
forward by Mark Kermode is that every single character except Damien Karras
is introduced from behind. Most intriguing is the introduction of
Burke Dennings, the director of Chris’ latest movie Crash Course. Burke’s
introduction shows the camera speedily moving up behind him while he’s
being crowded by crew members of the film. This introduction has been interpreted
as a prefigure to his death later on in the film (which we don’t actually
see, only hear about), the camera is from the point of view of Regan who
is running up behind Dennings to push him out of her window.
The possible reason for Karras being the only character introduced face
on is because he is considered as the most important character, which I
do not agree with otherwise the film would have been called ‘The Jesuit’.
In the scene where Burke and
Karras are introduced, we see Chris filming a scene of her movie which
is about the demolition of Georgetown University, currently crowded
by angry, protesting students with a mega-phone. The scene ends with
Karras leaving the campus grounds, as we hear Chris with the mega-phone.
Next up is Chris walking home to the eerie sounds of Mike Oldfield’s Tubular
Bells. Finding a suitable soundtrack for The Exorcist was not an
easy task. Friedkin’s first choice for a composer was a gentleman
named Bernard Herrmann, who lived in England at the time. Friedkin
sent a print of the film to him and then later came to England to meet
him. Herrmann was interested in composing the score, but wanted Friedkin
to make changes to the film. These changes included deleting the
prologue and dialogue exchanges between characters. He then told
Friedkin that he was not going to record it in America and that he would
use a church organ. Friedkin was quite nervous about Herrmann using
an organ, but agreed to him using the organ only if he could be present
during recording. Herrmann was furious with Friedkin’s demand, and
said that he most be alone whilst recording. Friedkin left England
in search of another composer. He then approached Lalo Schfrin (Mission:Impossible,
Enter The Dragon), and stated that the score musn’t be rhythmic.
“ I wanted the music to be in effect a cold
hand on the back of your neck”
(Billy Friedkin)
Schifrin gathered one hundred
muscians and began recording. Friedkin turned up to the session and
was not impressed. He told everyone to stop, approached Schrfrin
with a pointing fingure shouting, “ What the hell is this? First of all,
it’s too loud, it’s too noisey”. Friedkin then took the sound reel
from the recorder and took it into the studio. He placed the reel in a
player, and turned the volume right down. With anger he then ripped
the reel from the player (realising that it was just one hundred muscians
playing loud with the volume down), fired Schifrin and threw the reel into
the road shouting, “That’s where that crap belongs”. Rapidly running
out of time, Friedkin was now searching through LP’s in the Warner archives,
and that is how he he found Tubular Bells.
The next scene sees Chris back
home where she is greeted by Regan’s nanny Sharon and Regan. In this
scene we are introduced to the mother, daughter relationship between Chris
and Regan, and we can see Regan’s innocence as she smiles and giggles so
we can notice the contrasts step by step through the film. For me
the ending of this sequence brought forward another prefigure, that of
Chris and Regan’s scuffle on the foyer floor to be very similar to the
ending of the deleted spider-walk sequence, which was shown in detail on
the Fear Of God documentary.
We learn more about the character of
Father Karras in the next scene, in which we see him in a subway station.
Another prefigure is brought upon us concerning Karras’ crisis with faith,
as we learn a few scenes later. In the subway station Karras is asked
for money by a derelict creshed on the floor. Where as usual priests
would donate to the needy, Karras walks on in disgust. The scene
carries on with Karras walking through a rubbish filled street in New York,
all noise in this scene is coming from a group of juveniles throwing a
football around and demolishing a parked car. Karras enters a building
which turns out to be the house of his mother. Valisiki Malairos,
a little greek woman, was hired to play Karras’ mother after Friedkin met
her in a greek restaraunt on a desperate search to find a greek actress.
Although Malairos only had a minor role, her character has such a strong
presence over the plot. In this scene we learn about Karras’ relationship
with his mother, that she’s ill and that he wants to put her in a home.
Karras’ mother is not happy about Karras’ suggestion of taking her ‘to
a place where you wouldn’t be alone’.
After we see Karras place some
money on the table and leave her as she is sleeping, we cut to Regan in
the basement unveiling a clay bird to Chris who is descending the stairs.
When Chris puts the bird on the sideboard to dry she finds an ouija board,
and confronts Regan with it. Regan insists that she’s been playing
with it and that she talks to an ‘imaginary’ friend that she calls ‘Captain
Howdy, which is suggested to be similar to her father who is unamed in
the film (Howard). The next scene is another example of Regan’s innocence
and her relationship with Chris. Chris is tucking Regan into bed
as they plan to go on a sight seeing trip for Regan’s birthday (a scene
that was filmed but edited from Friedkin’s final cut). This scene
also shows Regan’s suspicion of the relationship between Chris and her
director Burke, asking Chris whether she was going to marry him; with Chris’
reaction being to laugh off the accusation.
The next scene is one of my favourite.
It’s a conversation between Karras and his superior in the University bar.
Music blaring and packed with students, Karras returns from the bar with
two beers and speaks his mind.
KARRAS:- It’s my mother Tom. She’s alone I never should have left her. At least in New York I’d be nearer, I’d be closer.
PRESIDENT:- Could always see about a transfer Damien.
KARRAS:- I need re-assingment Tom, I want out of this job. It’s wrong, It’s no good.
PRESIDENT:- You’re the best we’ve got.
KARRAS:- Am I really? It’s more than psychiatry
and you know that Tom, some of their problems come down to faith, their
vocation, the meaning of their lives and I can’t cut it anymore. I need
out I’m unfit...I think I’ve lost my faith Tom.
(The Exorcist- Revised screenplay)
That small piece of dialogue,
brilliantly acted by Miller, to me is one of the most important scenes
in the movie. It is the part of the movie that tells us that Karras
is going to be a victim throughout. It tells me that whatever problems
are thrusted before him, he wont be able to cope. After Karras’ heart
pour, we’re transfered back to the MacNeil house; where Chris is on the
phone to the operator trying to contact her husband in Rome. This
scene is particularly important as it’s the only reference to Regan’s sadness
about her mother and father’s divorce. As said later in the film, possession
starts with a conflict or a guilt which leads to the person believing that
their body has been invaded by a spirit. The scene shows Regan over
hearing the phone call in which Chrs uses obscenities in frustration withthe
operator.
The next selection
of scenes are chopped and changed. In the film we are back in Chris’
bedroom where the phone rings during the night. A hand emerges from
the bed covers to answer the phone followed by Chris’s head. It is
indeed a wake up call from the film crew, trying to wake up Chris rolls
over to find Regan is sleeping next to her. ‘ My bed was shaking, I can’t
get to sleep’, says Regan. In the final cut of the movie, this scene is
followed by Chris exploring the attic; but theories suggest that her exploration
of the attic is not a late night wander as it seems to be in the movie.
I’ve found out (and have proof in the shape of a still) that a scene that
originally supposed to be in place before the explore of the attic was
also filmed. This scene was set in the early evening, with Regan
going into Chris’ study to complain about the noises in the attic.
She would then take Regan up to her bedroom and then go up to the attic.
Another theory that supports this is that Chris’ gown is not the same as
the one she wears in the begining of the film (night and morning), making
it almost certain that the brown gown she wears during the attic scene
is in fact an early evening dress that we see her wear previously in the
ouija board scene. Anyway, during the attic scene Chris lights a
candle and looks around for the rat traps (which all have cheese still
in place). This scene concludes with one of the films first supernatural
elements, in which the flame on Chris’ candle blows up. Chris turns
around in shock to see Karl in the ceiling hatch with a torch. ‘Very sorry,
but you see. No rats,’ says Karl.
In Blatty’s revised screenplay,
the attic scene was followed by Regan’s birthday outing to the Washington
monuments. This scene was filmed and restored earlier this year by
Mark Kermode. Having seen this scene personally I can tell you that
it’s a montage of shots that begin with Chris and Regan in a car driving
through the Washington streets, laughing and joking. Then it cuts to Regan
and Chris walking around the pilars at the Lee Mansion, with Chris taking
photos of Regan. Then finally we see Regan and Chris watching a soldier
march at the tomb of an unknown soldier. This scene is widely known for
finding out Regan’s knowledge of the existence of God, as she asks Chris,
‘Mom why do people have to die? Why does God let them?’. Unfortunatley
this scene was mute when I saw it, but I could clearly lip read what Regan
and Chris were saying. In my opinion the reasons this film was cut
was because Friedkin wanted to bring the running time down to the minimum
of two hours and plus this scene would have slowed down the pace of the
movie. An interesting theory said by Mark Kermode suggests that the
scene wsa deleted because it tones down the feeling of claustrophobia surrounding
the character of Regan. In the film however, we cut to the Dahlgren
Chapel where the unexpecting Bishop sees that a statue of the Virgin Mary
has been visciously desecrated. The statue has coloured, pointed breasts
and a penis, devised by the same clay that we saw Regan use in the ouija
board scene.
The next scene in The Exorcist
was in fact the first to be filmed on 14th August 1972. This scene
takes place in the Bellevue Hospital where Karras’ mother has been instutionalised
by her brother. We see Karras rushing through the corridors of the
hospital followed by his uncle, the man responsible. Once again we
are presented with prefigures that resemble Regan’s manifestations later
in the film. As Karras waits to see his mother, we see a number of mental
patients that in some way prefigure Regan’s possession. When Karras
does see his mother, a beautifully acted scene by Miller and Malairos suggests
that Mrs. Karras is not going to be in the film for much longer.
Her pain, mental and physical has a considerable amount of affect on Damien.
His frustration is releaved however when we cut to him beating the hell
out of a punching bag in the campus gym.
In Blatty’s revised script, the
next scene to follow was Regan’s first medical examination. This
scene contained a montage of shots of Regan undergoing various physical
examinations, plus we see that she is hyperactive and agitated e.g constant
movement, humming and various noises. This sequence was then directly
followed by Chris MacNeil talking to Dr. Klein, in which he prescribes
Regan a stimulant called Ritalin (humourous line where Chris says ‘Stimulant?
She’s higher than a kite right now!’). Klein then goes on to tell
Chris that Regan had been using obscenities in his surgery, and though
being both alarming and funny I can not print the words that Dr. Klein
uses. This scene was brilliantly restored by Mark Kermode; it was
superbly devised (using a series of un-edited takes) and had perfect sound.
Friedkin edited this scene because he knew that the audience would figure
out immediatly that Regan’s problem was not medical.
There is a party happening in
the MacNeil household. Everyone is invited, from the local priest
Father Dyer to the drunkard director Burke Dennings. The music is
playing and the guests are chatting amongst them selves; Regan is dressed
up for the occasion, smiling and giggling. Dennings kicks off the
scene complaining about a pubic hair in his drink, we then look in on a
conversation between Father Dyer and a guest who is an astronaut and Dennings
then accuses Karl of being a ‘nazi bastard’. The most important part
of this scene happens when Chris talks to Dyer about Damien Karras and
reveals that Karras’ mother had just died. In my opinion the party
sequence introduces a gap in the structure of the story. With Dennings
having left almost completly legless, we re-join the happy surroundings
of a jubulant sing-along with Father Dyer merrily playing the piano. The
happy mood quickly trancends as Regan appears in the room in her night
gown. Everyone stops what they are doing and turn to her as if she
has something to announce. Regan stops in the doorway and gazes up
at the astronaut guest. “ You’re gonna de up there.” Says Regan before
she urinates on the carpet.
TO BE CONTINUED
