[ChristCompels]

I've often been mystified by the appearance of a grotesque life size statue of a Satanic priest in the film Exorcist 3, at 45:25 (I think). There's no explanation for it….it merely just appears for a quick moment inside a Catholic sanctuary in Georgetown. Anyone have any comments on this? Is it a suggestion about the Satanic infiltration of the Catholic clergy? I'm more than half-way through reading the Blatty book “Legion” and I'm not anticipating any mention of this hideous “Joker”-like statue holding a dagger. 

[granville1]

I doubt it symbolizes satanic infiltration of Catholic clergy, since this is never a theme in Blatty's material. It could, however, symbolize the hidden presence of evil lurking to destroy old friends of Damien Karras whose names begin with the letter “K”. But I doubt it.

I personally think it's a goof, as in bad filmmaking. It has nothing to do with the narrative, does not advance the story, and is a silly magic trick. There is no reason the statue (possibly St. Ignatius?) should spring to life – nothing so stupid happened in The Exorcist, novel or film. It remains a distracting wanabe jump scare with no purpose – so, okay, a statue gets animated by the demon, but then what? The statue does nothing at all, and does not figure again in the story. Just a wasted scene.

Also, the statue is not in a a sanctuary, but in the hallway of the Georgetown president's offices. It's supposed to be part of the Big Scare (not) of “Alice delivers the speech to the president” and (gasp) gives Kinderman a “nasty” shock. Imho, this scene should never have been filmed.

[ChristCompels]

Thanks again Granville for the insight. There's still the possibility of what I mentioned in the first post, only that Blatty had nothing directly to do with it. Of course, also, just because something isn't thematic within the content of a story, doesn't mean it necessarily can't be implied, or hinted at. Subliminal messages/images, etc. In addition, there *is* the theme of Satanism in the book, as well as in the original Exorcist novel. So the idea of a Dark priest holding a dagger to that effect isn't completely outside the realm of plausibility. As for an allusion to the infiltration of the church, I only suspected so because it followed right after Kinderman's meeting with an authoritative priest. Overall, it's quite an ominous story. Adding to the subtext in such a way could only heighten the suspense and dread, conspiratorial overtones notwithstanding. 

[drexul]

Yeah, this is one of the only scenes that really, really nags at me…mainly because it looks exactly like The Joker. If it had been a flash of the statue with Captain Howdys face, it would have been so much easier to swallow. That said, I had never read or even heard of your theory ChristCompels, and I find it fascinating. A very interesting wrinkle to a film already filled with dread. Nicely done.

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