CaptainHowdy.com The #1 Exorcist Fansite Since 1999
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Sof,
Very nice work!
Thanks for sharing the intro again:
“LIKE THE BRIEF DOOMED FLARE OF EXPLODING suns that registers dimly on blind men’s eyes, the beginning of the horror passed almost unnoticed; in the shriek of what followed, in fact, was forgotten and perhaps not connected to the horror at all. It was difficult to judge.”
Blatty writes sentences like I do when I wear my writer’s hat. We are both doomed to periphrastic sentence structures while worshiping the almighty semi-colon!
Father Bowdern 🙂
Cap,
You don’t think it’s so far out of sequence? As a kid in 1973, “Merry Christmas” never came until after the Thanksgiving Day holiday. (Of course for the last couple of decades, Americans have been overloaded with heavy marketing for the Christmas season right after Halloween.)
My real point is that the “Merry Christmas” lettering on the building creates an introductory statement, while setting the stage for a late November to late December timeframe in the winter. We really learn it’s Halloween when we see the trick-or-treaters and autumn leaves swirling around on the ground during Chris’ walk home.
Father Bowdern
“LIFETIME MEMBER” Bah, hum bug 🙂A most likely assumption … look at how ugly the The Exorcist house is today by comparison to what was built. It looks like a boxed-in mental home surround by a ghastly black fence.
Father Bowdern
It also leads us to think about the “why factor” regarding the demon Pazuzu targeting anyone here on Earth. Blatty would have a hefty novel if he answered all the questions for us, and it would not have been such a successful novel without these nuances, IMHO.
Father Bowdern
Good points. We would all love Blatty’s points of views on here!
And, yes, Simpson does ponder effective ideas on this topic.
Father Bowdern
Hmmm … interesting thought processes here.
You can buy American Exorcist: Critical Essays on William Peter Blatty by Benjamin Szumskyj on this website. Check out Philip L. Simpson’s essay in this book entitled, “Fear of the Assimilation of the Foreign Other in The Exorcist.”
Actually, all the essays are excellent and Ben is superior editor.
Father Bowdern
Iron Fist,
I didn’t even pay attention to what he said regarding NY or LA for interior shots. I’ve only known about NY. However, here’s the link to the film’s sites with additional information.
Like a lot of interior shots in this film, “Dahlgren Chapel on the Georgetown campus, … is the site of a ritual desecration; however, the chapel interior seen in the film is not that of Dahlgren. Since church officials did not give William Friedkin permission to shoot the scene depicting a desecrated statue of the Virgin Mary (it was considered too blasphemous), a church in New York was used as a stand-in.”
Gee, I wonder why one church was okay with this in NY, but Dahlgren officials were not?
Father Bowdern
Jagged,
Very nice work! The real reason I asked is because I may have a trip to D.C. coming up next week (although I may wiggle my out of going). These addresses/coordinates will help me out. I’ll use my GPS during my journey.
Also, I remember somewhere on here that a contributor published a “then-and-now” of the sites in D.C. Alas, I can’t find this more fleshed-out video. However, I did find this one that is perspectively more informed regarding the house and the steps here.
Father Bowdern
Damien Karras’ father was not a priest in the traditional secular sense. In other words, Damien wouldn’t exist without the union between his father and mother. I am not saying the word “couldn’t,” and there’s a big difference.
Alas, we can turn to Sofia and ask what Blatty wrote about Karras’ father.
Father Bowdern
Postscript: I realize how old this blog is, but I couldn’t resist commenting …
