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Q: Has The Exorcist ever been on video in the UK?
A: Yes. It was available by Warner Home Video in December 1981 until
it was banned by the British Board of
Film Classification due to the introduction
of the Video Recordings Act in 1984. The Exorcist was just one of
around thirty titles (others include Straw
Dogs, Driller Killer and Texas Chain Saw Massacre) that was
caught up in the 'Video Nasties' panic
in the early eighties, it was finally removed from the shelves in 1986.
Q. What is the Video Recordings Act?
A. The VRA was brought into power by the BBFC in 1984. This act ensured
that any film that was released
theatrically between 1st January 1970 and
31st December 1974 either had to be classified or removed from
video shelves by the 1st March 1988. Other
films that were released later such as I Spit On Your Grave also
lost out to the VRA and the Obsenity Law.
Q. Will there ever be 'The Exorcist' Director's Cut?
A. The released version is the director's cut. If you're reffering
to deleted footage being restored then you must
mean the producer's cut. There was a huge
search for the missing footage last year. Mark Kermode restored
scenes such as the legendary 'spider-walk',
the sight-seeing trip, the first Doctor's examination, the
conversation between Merrin & Karras
on the stairs in the exorcism break and the original ending with Lt.
Kinderman & Father Dyer. Mark
hoped to restore these scenes in time for a US re-release which would
contain the footage, but unfortunatley
the sight-seeing trip and the epilogue were missing sound reels. The
sight-seeing trip had no sound what so
ever and the ending was only missing 5% of the dialogue. With Friedkin
not allowing a partial restoration, the
idea was dropped and Mark aired the footage for the first time in his
BBC documentary, Fear Of God: 25 Years
Of The Exorcist. With Blatty's persistance getting the better of
him, he demanded that the search for the
missing sound was to continue. I do not know whether it has been
located yet, but I can verify that if it
is found The Exorcist will have a US theatrical re-release this Halloween
and will include all but the 'spider-walk'.
Q. Is The Exorcist to be released in the UK and if so when?
A. Do you not watch the news? On February 9th
The Exorcist was given an '18' certificate for an UNCUT video
release on April
26th. It will hit the retail market in October in time for Halloween and
will be released on PAL
DVD this summer.
I have word that Mark Kermode is in talks with Warner Home Video to have
an even
longer version of
The Fear Of God: 25 Years Of The Exorcist. That is longer than the 75 minute
version that
was on the US DVD.
It is not definate yet, but I will broadcast the outcome on my homepage
as soon as I know.
Q. I was wondering if you could give any information about The Exorcist 25th anniversary edition?
A. The special edition is completly digitally
remastered showing off a new print, colour correction and a brand new
enhanced stereo sound
mixed by Buzz Knudson. Quite frankly it is the way it was supposed to be
seen. This
version will be released
here on video.
Q.
I have seen the new version released
at the cinema and there is a lot of stuff missing if you have read the
book
don't you agree?
A. The film is not a complete transformation
from novel to film. Blatty's first screenplay included many of the
book's sub-plots
but Friedkin demanded that the script be re-written... and so it was.
Blatty's 4-hour tv remake
of The Exorcist will
be more your cup of tea, it's currently in pre-production.
Q. Did Mark Kermode ever find out any more about the true life case behind the film?
A. Most, if not all of Mark's information on
the 1949 case is well documented in both of his BFI books and The
Fear Of God documentary.
Q. Incidentally, did the BBFC cut the crucifix masturbation scene?
A. I've heard several people say that the original
cinema release of The Exorcist was missing the masturbation
scene, but I have
confirmation from the BBFC that all versions of The Exorcist, both theatricle
and video, were
released UNCUT with
an 'X' certificate.
Q. How does the catholic church view the movie?
A. There were mixed views toward it... for
one factor it was a superb advert for Catholicism. The film is still
used
as a training aid
in Jesuit camps. On the other hand the film was picketed by hoards
of religious groups
spouting that the
mark of the devil was embedded within the film's celluloid.
Q. What are all the of the scenes that were in the first cut but not the final film?
A. The first of the scenes cut was a sightseeing
trip of Washington with Chris and Regan. Where Chris and Regan
are watching a soldier
march at the tomb of an unknown soldier and Regan curiously asks Chris
why people
have to die.
The next scene cut is Regan’s first medical examination, which entailed
a montage of shots of
Regan undergoing
various physical examinations and some rather humorous shots of Regan fidgeting
constantly.
Following the physical came Chris MacNeil’s conversation with Dr. Klein,
where he writes her a
prescription and
tells Chris that Regan has a nervous disorder which is common during adolescence.
Also
present in Friedkin’s
first cut was nothing more than a few lines exchanged between Father Merrin
and Father
Karras in the break
in the exorcism. The scene which Blatty was sorry to see cut
was the original
‘Casablanca’ style
ending between Father Dyer and Detective Kinderman. Blatty intended
this scene to
suggest that good
had defeated evil and everything is okay. Also missing from both
the first cut and the final
version was the creepy
spider-walk sequence in which Regan crawls down the steps on all fours
backward. The
spider-walk scene
was one of the first scenes cut from the movie because it was thought of
as being incomplete,
but the footage that
Mark Kermode recovered suggests that it was more complete than suggested.
Q. Did you know that the white face in Karras' dream is Jason Miller?
A. Did you know that it's not?... That face
was in fact a make-up test with Linda Blair's double Eileen Dietz.
This
face was to be Regan's
demon make-up but Friedkin rejected it as it wasn't organic enough.
Though he thought
it would be powerful
if used once in the movie as Captain Howdy invading Karras' dream of his
dead mother.
Scary huh?
Mark Kermode found the test reel footage at Warner studios in Burbank,
in which Dietz was
violently shaking
her head and snapping her mouth like a rabid animal. Six stills of
this 45 second long
footage were shown
in Mark Kermode's second BFI book and a one second glimpse in the
opening credits of
the Fear Of God documentary.
Q. Was The Exorcist based on a true story?
A. William Peter Blatty came across an article
on August 20th 1949 at Georgetown University about a so-called
case of
demonic possession, that was taking place in Mount
Rainer, Maryland. The suggested that a
14-year-old boy went
under some kind of illness
in which his personality would turn sinister and lettering and
depiction's would
appear in welts on his skin. What actually
happened though? The only evidence
is that of the
word of the priests
who supposedly witnessed the boy's manifestations and a diary of one of
the priests who
performed the exorcism.
Q. Was The Exorcist really released on Christmas Day 1973?
A. No. It was released on Boxing Day.
Q. What has the St. Joseph's medal got to do with the story?
A. It's down to interpretation really. My personal opinion is that
the St. Joseph's medal is Karras' savior. Until it is
ripped from his neck and the demon enters
his body. I think of it as a protector.
Keep Your Questions Coming...
