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Have you ever wondered what the damned souls inside of Regan are saying in reversed English during the holy water scene? We only get partial playbacks in the university’s language lab as Karras reviews the tape.
Below is the full scene’s audio in two parts. Part 1 is the scene as it appears in the film; Part 2 is that same scene played in reverse. The backward audio, when played forward, often sounds like lines intentionally spoken in backward English. Lots of interesting finds in the masterpiece’s holy water scene.
Enjoy!
FB
Very interesting, fatherbowdern. Did you put this together or is it a find…? I’d like to post it on the main page but need permission from whomever created it.
Hey Cap,
Yep, twas me. I created it, so please feel free to use the material on the main page. Cap, I also have a link to my main page on Webshots in my name “fatherbowdern” for this and other The Exorcist film finds. They other ones are posted somewhere on your site as well.
Other:
Has anyone noticed at 00:57 that Karras seems to be saying, “The Omen,” when played in reverse? I was stuck on “The Old One” for a while, but both phrases make sense: “The Omen” of things to come; “The Old One” for the anticipation of the elderly Father Merrin.Other:
Can anyone else recall Mercedes McCambridge on The Mike Douglas Show when she did a “script reading” as the voice of the demon from The Exorcist? That particular reading included McCambridge speaking English in reverse, and this may may account for the fact that some of the reversed English, when reversed to forward, sounds backward.Also, at 00:30, when played the intended way, I can hear the word “padre” and the words, “I am no one.”
Yeah. It certainly is possible for gibberish to sound like words just like its possible to see a face in Cydonia Mesa, Mars, or even, if your imaginative enough, on the front of your car! Most people’s hearing is not as good as they think and rely heavily on context clues when listening to audio. Most of the time its best of we can see the mouth of the person talking. With neither its often impossible to make heads or tails of what’s said. It can even difficult when you do have those things!
From the video, The Exorcist: Speaking in Tongues:
01:02 – “I am no one.”
01:05 – “I am no one.”
01:07 – “Fear the priest.”
01:10 – “Merrin!”
01:12 – “Merrin …”
01:15 – “Give us time.”
01:17 – “Fear the priest.”
01:18 – “I see you!”
01:20 – “It is warm in the body.”
01:23 – “Let her die!”
01:25 – “Give us time.”Ohh, that gave me goosebumps! I’ve always wanted to hear the demon’s words in reverse, it’s chilling^^
Good work, Fatherbowdern!
Thanks, cappy. It is interesting to hear this scene played in reverse.
“Fear the priest” and “He is a priest” are very different indeed. Below are pages from my script. While “Fear the priest” is the typed, it doesn’t mean script changes can’t occur in real time. For instance, on Page 98A., REGAN-DEMON’s scripted words are: “Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! It burns me! It burns! Ah, cease, priest, bastard! Cease! Ahhhhhhh! Obviously that was changed to: “Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, it’s burns! Ahhhhhhh, It burns! Ahhhhhh, Ahhhhhh …
The point: it could really be “Fear the priest” or “He is a priest” or “He’s a priest.” I have seen this written two ways and I think it’s up for interpretation, although Page 98A (below) gives us a clue that it is more than likely, “Fear the priest,” as written backward in line three in the second REGAN-DEMON scripted words: “Tseerpet reef.”
Enjoy the script pages I scanned below. I intentionally left out Page 100 because it serves no purpose in this thread. Click to enlarge:
In the novel, you know what Regan is saying in reversed English:
“…danger. Not yet. [indecipherable] will die. Little time. Now the [indecipherable]. Let her die. No, no, sweet! it is sweet in the body! I feel! There is [indecipherable]. Better [indecipherable] than the void. I fear the priest. Give us time. Fear the priest! He is [indecipherable]. No, not this one: the [indecipherable], the one who [indecipherable]. He is ill. Ah, the blood, feel the blood, how it [sings?].
Here, Karras asked, “Who are you?” with the answer:
I am no me. I am no one.
Then Karras: “Is that your name?” and then:
I have no name. I am no one. Many. Let us be. Let us warm in the body. Do not [indecipherable] from the body into void, into [indecipherable]. Leave us. Leave us. Let us be. Karras. [Marin? Marin?]…”
By the same token one could surmise that “Dobetni tee siti” was actually intended to be “it is heat in the body“. As for “l’drehtellteeson” I’m not sure what it is? “no see [something] let her die“?
Hello Sofia … long time, no hear! Glad to see you back on here. 🙂
To answer your question, below are the first three pages of my script. You will see that the order in which the pages appear seems backward. This occurs when individuals need to be aware of certain changes, thus the top page will reflect this information. Also, it is difficult and not practical to replace every single script change to everyone on board.
As a side note, the first pages I posted above includes the 12/1/72 “edits/changes” that did not work out in terms of “verbatim scripting.” Of course, we know The Exorcist had to be released by 12/26/73 creating a very tight schedule for completion.
Naturally, there is much more to the process of revisions, updates, changes, etc.
Enjoy!
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