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Yes. Pazuzu would definitely have pulled this kind of trigger to make Chris go screaming for religious help despite being agnostic.
Father Bowdern
Good thoughts, Steve. I think they are on target based on the book and the film from varying aspects.
Father Bowdern
Ttubretep said:
For what it's worth, I don't think that the similarities are coincidental. The bird certainly shares the posture and general shape of the Pazuzu statue, not to mention the aforementioned similarities between the tortoise scuplture and the piece that Merrin unearths in Iraq.
Oh, I agree with you. I thought the very same thing when I saw it at age 12. I actually thought that the Pazuzu head had somehow ended up at the bottom of the steps.
Father Bowdern
 Here's the Amazon customer review by Trevor on Traver and Reiff's The Story Behind The Exorcist.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Definitive Speculation, True Reporting, January 23, 2003 By Trevor Willsmer 
This review is from: The story behind The Exorcist (Hardcover)Written in the immediate aftermath of The Exorcist's phenomenally successful first release, Travers' and Reiff's book is a genuinely impressive example of film reporting as opposed to the kind of uninspired theorising and half-hearted press release cut-and-paste that passes for much of popular film history today. Wide-ranging and well-informed, what's so surprising is that the book was produced with no official help from Warner Bros. or any of the participants: the authors had to go out there, dig up the stories for themselves and separate fact from fiction. How successful they were was borne out when I was commissioned by the studio to write a book on the film (subsequently withdrawn and pulped at Friedkin's behest) with full access to all the documentation in the studio's archives as well as masses of deleted footage and audio and several of the surviving principals. Every other time I thought I had a scoop, it turned out to be in this volume: and where the authors were wrong, it wasn't by much. Yes, there are inaccuracies and errors, but it's still by far the best book on one of the seminal blockbusters, and more deserving of a reprint than many of the similar tomes currently available.
Father Bowdern
Justin,
That drags me all the way back to the fact that the spiderwalk information, or shall I say rumors, that were all too confusing well before the “Roizman Tapes.” That created debate over what Vercoutere claimed and what Friedkin claimed. The information never matched and it depended upon who you chose to believe. (Although we do know that Friedkin is really out there!).
In this instance, when scrutinizing Roizman's commentary about the “vomit ball” target, that indeed is the Regan and Father Merrin scene. I could never get a good freeze frame to see if that was Blair or Dietz (I think both could probably spit pretty good). However, I don't think that one slip-up should discredit Roizman all together … he was there … we were not.
As far as Blair only testing the vomit apparatus during make-up tests, I can't recall any reference where Blair said that. I do now wonder why she (along with Roizman) are making different claims after 37 years? For instance, we have the BTS with both Roizman and Blair making this claim as well as other resources like this one (starting at around 2:00) with Blair confirming that she wore the vomit apparatus: “Well, Dick Smith and Marcel Vercoutere worked on all this special tubing and it did come out of the back wall, through the tubes, around my face, into my mouth and then, you had to keep your mouth open because if you did not, once the pea soup started if it backfired it would have choked me, so you had to be very careful with all the equipment. The equipment took two hours to put on, it was very, very uncomfortable … we worked on that thing for over three months.” Hmmm. Oh, well, I wasn't there during filming.
This new information is so confusing because we know for a fact that Friedkin chose to have Blair imitate the vomit scene and the only piece of the vomit apparatus we see is that one small snippet of Dietz at the very end.
Your pictures are excellent and I see only Dietz when put in sequential order. If I turned the volume off, I would have seen that none of them are of those of Blair. I simply put what Roizman said together with what was on screen during the time in BTS footage.
You wrote in response, “I didn't get that from the footage either (which really tells us nothing new and instead creates more confusion). But Linda has only ever spoken about testing it, we only have footage of Linda testing it, and Linda doesn't appear in the film with it. If Linda was willing to shoot the scenes then there wouldn't have been any need for Dietz to do it.”
Some of that is true; other parts I'm not so sure are certain. I've provided a link to that and the BTS footage does not indicate the Blair said she only wore the vomit apparatus for make-up tests. Perhaps I missed something, but I'm not going to draw any “definitive conclusions.” Â
Father Bowdern
Justin,
I would not be so definitive on that picture being Dietz. There are a few shots of Blair intertwined in that BTS footage as you can see in the “Roizman Tapes.” I didn't catch anything on the BTS that implied that Blair only wore the vomit apparatus during the demon-makeup tests (the material mostly from the FOG). Both Roizman and Blair say much more than that in the documentary.
For me, both the BTS and what is said is rather odd to see and hear after 37 years. Justin, didn't you think it appeared odd to see and hear what was going on in the “Roizman Tapes” on the vomiting scene? Some of the BTS material is questionable; i.e., was it Blair or Dietz trying to the hit the target during the vile spitting scene? We don't know because a face can't be associated with it. Perhaps taking a screen cap from the film would be more helpful. I just don't know.
Father Bowdern
Hammer, I think this is the scene you're talking about. I removed it because it created too much controversy because I had already seen the documentary before it's release on BR. I could only follow the scene that Roizman and Blair was talking about where we clearly see Blair in the same kind of vomit apparatus “tormented face.” It really doesn't matter if it is Blair or not in the above pic. I think it's interesting to know that both Roizman and Blair said that she (Linda) did the vomit scene …Â 37 years. Mysterious!
I do see the quick splash scene of Dietz as an oddball addition spliced in between the three shots. Like I said, I think Friedkin perhaps put a little bit of the blurry action of Dietz in there to pay homage to Dick Smith's unique work.
Father Bowdern
Hi Hammer,
No, on the upset part.Â
 This is a website to talk about all the issues and incredible stuff about the film.I think you're talking about the quick view of Blair on the bed with the vomit apparatus in her mouth. I see your point of it being a quick insert. It potentially could all be Dietz because Roizman said they filmed mostly Dietz for the BTS stuff, not Blair, doing the vomiting scene. Logistics probably played a lot in getting the BTS stuff they needed or wanted.
However, I can't deny Roizman and Blair confirming that Linda wore the vomit apparatus (which has been an unknown factoid for 37 years). I can't deny the fact that Friedkin was unhappy with what he saw because he didn't use it except that quick flash of Dietz at the end of the vomit scene. I've always felt that Friedkin left a little splash scene in there to appease Dick Smith to some degree.
Father Bowdern
Justin,
Sorry about that. I did do some research and I couldn't find anything about WB producing a two-disc DVDÂ as suggested by the author on DVD bits. In fact, his information was the thing I pointed out that says it's one Dual-layer/Single-sided/Non-flipper DVD which didn't jive with the article he wrote. It seems he was writing about the BR versus a DVD.
I just thought perhaps WB was producing the two-disc version for Australia, but I couldn't imagine why WB wouldn't cash in on that here in the US as well. This movie has been a cow cash for them on every level. But to get the old TVYNS and a poorly produced bonus disc is really lazy and cheap like you said, plus it's a rip off.
Father Bowdern
Don't forget the initial meeting between Karras and the demon. While Karras's back is turned, the demon throws out the one-liner from the homeless man in the subway, “Can you help an old altar boy Fa-dah.†Additionally the demon knows that Karras's mother died. At the end of that scene, Karras asks Chris if Regan knew that his mother died. She said, “Not at all.â€
Karras isn't intrigued, he's knows what he is facing and not by coincidence.
Father Bowdern
Actually, they are both ridiculous. Here's the link to the one you are talking about.
Father Bowdern
Old post I made:
At times during the film, it can be confusing about who is inside of Regan due to the various voices used. For instance, differing singular or multiple vocal entities emanate from Regan at various times. These are merely a part of the intentional mental illusions that Pazuzu exploits onto his victims in order to reach his ultimate goal of the grand showdown with Father Merrin in the film’s final exorcism scenes.
Father Bowdern
