Have you seen "The Exorcist"?

[Arizona_Mike]

I read the original book, which was pretty scary all by itself, and based on an actual exorcism of a young boy. The only thing distracting about the plot is the character of the young priest. The older priest–Merrin–is a believable exorcist. The younger priest would never be allowed into an actual exorcism in any diocese!

There was just an article out about the original case - the boy, who converted to Catholicism from Lutheranism afterwards, went on to a career in the U.S. government. I’m not sure what to make of that.

I think the issue of the age of the exorcist was an issue in both the book and the movie - Fr. Karras expects that his bishop will designate him as the exorcist, and is told that they will require an older, more experienced priest, probably with experience in the third world, where exorcisms are more common, and Fr. Karras is a little put out to learn he hasn’t been chosen. It would make sense to include him as the exorcist’s assistant, though, as the girl’s health was compromised and Fr. Karras was a medical doctor and psychiatrist and is familiar with her case, so he would be able to tend to her temporal, medical needs during the exorcism (which he does, in fact - I think there’s a scene where he checks her pulse during the ceremony.)

Fr. Karras’s lack of knowledge about the ritual has some verisimilitude - the movie and book is set in the early 1970s (it came out in 1973), an era not long after Vatican II when actual exorcisms were not a big focus of the Church in America (to put it mildly), and Fr. Karras’s character (a highly educated, somewhat modernist young priest and psychiatrist) would be likely to view it with some reservations. (It was also before each diocese had its own dedicated exorcist.) Fr. Karras even appears flabbergasted when Regan’s mother asks him about having an exorcism done, and says the first thing they would have to do is get a time machine to take them back to the middle ages. Only upon later researching it (in the novel) does he become more knowledgeable about it, and learns that it has fallen into disuse but was still a rite of the Catholic Church.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

A bit of trivia, Max Von Sydow was only 44 when the film was made, and was made up to look much older.

Here’s a link of a picture of him from the film:

imdb.com/media/rm3024066560/tt0070047?ref_=ttmi_mi_all_sf_10

Here is what he looks like now:

imdb.com/name/nm0001884/

The two images are practically the same.

Yep, Dick Smith was the makeup artist and was probably one of America’s best in that trade. I thought that Von Sydow’s old age makeup was far more impressive than Linda Blair’s.

When I was a kid, Dick Smith wrote a “Monster Make-up Handbook” that was sold in the back pages of “Famous Monsters of Filmland,” a popular magazine with kids in the 1960s and 1970s. I bought a copy of his guide and spent a lot of time practicing making myself look like a decaying person, an alien, a werewolf with Smith’s instructions. My folks never knew what to expect when they came home. It helped me run a very popular spookhouse at our school’s Hallowe’en carnival that was a big money earner for us. (As a medic in the army, I later used those same skills to make some revoltingly realistic battle wounds on pretend-patients when we were training our people.)

I later found out that most of the top, Oscar-winning make-up artists in Hollywood started out with that guide, and they credit it for giving them the skills they needed to get started.

 

[Euwe]

There’s a lot going on in the film that lifts it above a standard “horror movie,” I think.

Fr. Damien Karras’s last name Blatty adapted from “Caritas” (Christian love of humanity, charity) and his first name came from Saint Damian, one of two twin priests who ministered as medical doctors (as Fr. Karras is in the movie - he’s a Jesuit psychiatrist), as well as St. Damien of Molokai, who ministered to lepers in Hawaii before contracting their disease himself (as Fr. Karras takes the demon into himself to free the suffering girl, before falling to his death.) I think Jason Miller (who was best known as a playwright before appearing in this movie - he wrote “That Championship Season”) gave an amazing performance.

Unlike most straight-up horror films, there’s a lot of nuance in character and relationships. There’s a good view of the Jesuit collegiality in how Karras’s friend and fellow priest (played by a real priest, incidentally) looks after him throughout the film and gives him the last rites. The sense of foreboding in the opening scenes in Iraq, and Fr. Merrin’s sense that his last battle with the forces of evil is coming. There are some really memorable characters, like Lee J. Cobb’s police detective or the insulting Irish director played by Jack MacGowan (who I remembered best as the toady for Squire Danaher in “The Quiet Man”). Ellen Burstyn did a great job showing the panic and confusion of a woman who doesn’t know what is going on or how to how to help her daughter. The relationship between her and Fr. Karras is well done - they are interested in each other, but not really sexually - they play off a mutual fascination with someone who is completely outside their usual scope of acquaintances (Hollywood film star and Jesuit priest).

Often overlooked is the place the Eucharist has in the film - after Fr. Karras goes to see his mother and deals with his own sorrows, and before a confrontation with the possessed girl, we see him celebrate the Eucharist - and there’s a sense that he is fully involved in the moment of the Sacrament, that it is a moment of peace and strength for him between his trials, even as he fears he is losing his faith (which Blatty has said was the intent of the scene.)

An excellent summary:thumbsup:

 

[JimG]

There was just an article out about the original case - the boy, who converted to Catholicism from Lutheranism afterwards, went on to a career in the U.S. government. I’m not sure what to make of that.

I think the issue of the age of the exorcist was an issue in both the book and the movie - Fr. Karras expects that his bishop will designate him as the exorcist, and is told that they will require an older, more experienced priest, probably with experience in the third world, where exorcisms are more common, and Fr. Karras is a little put out to learn he hasn’t been chosen. It would make sense to include him as the exorcist’s assistant, though, as the girl’s health was compromised and Fr. Karras was a medical doctor and psychiatrist and is familiar with her case, so he would be able to tend to her temporal, medical needs during the exorcism (which he does, in fact - I think there’s a scene where he checks her pulse during the ceremony.)

Fr. Karras’s lack of knowledge about the ritual has some verisimilitude - the movie and book is set in the early 1970s (it came out in 1973), an era not long after Vatican II when actual exorcisms were not a big focus of the Church in America (to put it mildly), and Fr. Karras’s character (a highly educated, somewhat modernist young priest and psychiatrist) would be likely to view it with some reservations. (It was also before each diocese had its own dedicated exorcist.) Fr. Karras even appears flabbergasted when Regan’s mother asks him about having an exorcism done, and says the first thing they would have to do is get a time machine to take them back to the middle ages. Only upon later researching it (in the novel) does he become more knowledgeable about it, and learns that it has fallen into disuse but was still a rite of the Catholic Church.

Yes, the age of Fr. Karras might be a factor, but I was thinking more of spiritual maturity.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

Yes, the age of Fr. Karras might be a factor, but I was thinking more of spiritual maturity.

Probably so, but it makes a better story…

 

[Contra_Mundum_1]

The film is really good, and the book is fantastic. So Catholic I very much recommend it. It is a story about faith and sacrifice. (Except that some characters use the Lord’s name in vain a lot, and I found that seriously annoying.)

Fr. Karras takes the demon into himself to free the suffering girl, before falling to his death.)

I wonder if Fr. Karras jumped out the window, or if the demon pushed him. I mean, if he jumped, he did it in order to defeat the demon, but still that would have a suicidal notion to it. I prefer to think he was forced out the window by the demon.

 

[polishprincess]

I’m watching it now!

 

[Arizona_Mike]

An interview with the author in the Washington Post this morning:

washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/william-peter-blatty-writer-of-the-exorcist-slips-back-into-the-light-for-its-40th-anniversary/2013/10/30/e8c85900-3fda-11e3-a624-41d661b0bb78_print.html

I like his quote: “As I say, every Halloween I’m dragged out of my burrow like some demonic Punxsutawney Phil,” says Blatty, a hale and hearty 85. “And if I don’t see my shadow, the horror box office is gonna be great. Either that or I’m dead. Nobody has had the guts — or the kindness — to tell me which it is.”

 

[Monkey1976]

The film is really good, and the book is fantastic. So Catholic I very much recommend it. It is a story about faith and sacrifice. (Except that some characters use the Lord’s name in vain a lot, and I found that seriously annoying.)

Protip: Never agree to play a drinking game where the rule is a shot every time Ellen Burstyn takes His Name in vain.

I wonder if Fr. Karras jumped out the window, or if the demon pushed him. I mean, if he jumped, he did it in order to defeat the demon, but still that would have a suicidal notion to it. I prefer to think he was forced out the window by the demon.

I don’t see the jump from the window as suicidal per se- it’s more like the soldier who jumps on a grenade to save his buddies. He knew the demon was in him, he knew he only had a few moments of control left to him, so he took the one action that would vanquish the demon in the time he had - sacrificing himself for the sake of another.

 

[Michael_Mayo]

Exorcism of 1949 continues to fascinate St. Louis

news.yahoo.com/exorcism-1949-continues-fascinate-st-louis-055439179.html

 

[SurlyMermaid]

Protip: Never agree to play a drinking game where the rule is a shot every time Ellen Burstyn takes His Name in vain.

I don’t see the jump from the window as suicidal per se- it’s more like the soldier who jumps on a grenade to save his buddies. He knew the demon was in him, he knew he only had a few moments of control left to him, so he took the one action that would vanquish the demon in the time he had - sacrificing himself for the sake of another.

Absolutely.

 

[The_Reginator]

I’ve never watched the movie. (Although I once saw part of TV program talking about the making of the movie.)
In my early-mid teens I started reading the book. It began well and I could hardly put it down. Then it became too graphic for my taste and I quickly lost interest. I probably read the first quarter or so of the book, and have never picked it up again.

As of last night, however, I had a change of mind: I subscribe to an email newsletter featuring the piece , Horror, and FaithThe Exorcist by Scott P. Richert and learned about the ‘The Exorcist’s’ Secret Message. (That’s the link to William Peter Blatty’s opinion piece.)

From Mr. Richart’s post:

By denying their [demons] existence, and treating the world of spiritual warfare as a parlor game, we open ourselves to their influence and even, in extreme cases, to possession. That is why I find the most chilling scene in the film version of The Exorcist to be one of the briefest. It does not involve vomit or demonic voices or Regan spider-walking, but a simple Ouija board that Regan finds in the basement. While many viewers might well think that the scene would have been better left on the cutting-room floor, it is clearly the pivotal point of the movie, in which the demon finds his entrance. The spiritual horror of the moment is made all the greater by the fact that the scene is so understated, short, and lightly played.

 

[Layp3rs0n]

Yes, in fact I happened to be in Georgetown on Halloween. Here is a pic.

 

[Contra_Mundum_1]

I don’t see the jump from the window as suicidal per se- it’s more like the soldier who jumps on a grenade to save his buddies. He knew the demon was in him, he knew he only had a few moments of control left to him, so he took the one action that would vanquish the demon in the time he had - sacrificing himself for the sake of another.

OK, makes sense. I feel better now

Just watched this on EWTN. youtube.com/watch?v=IMM53uzCq9E

The author and the director talk about the film.