CaptainHowdy.com The #1 Exorcist Fansite Since 1999
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Sofia said:
Granville, are you http://www.imdb.com/user/ur13899441/boards/profile/
Hi, Sofia – yes, that's me… and also I'm on the imdb Legion message board. I love discussing these two books and films. Also I feel an obligation to correct what I consider egregious misunderstandings, e.g., Kinderman found a Pazuzu amulet at the bottom of the Georgetown steps, the Iraq St. Joseph medal was somehow transferred to Karras' neck, Dennings was molesting Regan, the story is evil because it supports evil Catholicism … the most recent being the suggestion that Kinderman was gay because he's shown “hitting on” two sexually repressed, single males (Karras and Dyer) … I mean, it just gets nuts sometimes. I had for many years also been active on the Passion of the Christ board, but it's been overrun with Christian fundamentalists whose ideology is such that they are not permitted to listen to reasonable, historically-based arguments. Anyway, such boards do give me an occasional chance to do some writing – other than my blog, which I do not update very frequently.
Anyway, Sof, thanks for asking 🙂
Just a guess, of course. Regan may already have been capable of increased motor skills and did the desecrations in a trance-like, “speeded-up” state. She probably took the stuff to the church in a backpack, which would not look suspicious for a presumed twelve year old student. After a few weeks of “innocent” observation, Regan could have familiarized herself with comings and goings in the church – then she found an opportunity and did a rush-job desecration. She was just very lucky not to have been discovered.
Yeah, and I think you will find that in the Legion novel, Blatty stretches that dichotomy between natural and supernatural explanations almost to the last page. In that, Legion does resemble The Exorcist by keeping the question open and the suspense sharp 🙂
Nice to see you again, ghetto 🙂
No, I am not familiar with this book – maybe some of our other posters are, though – thanks for posting.
fraroc said:
I gotta get this book now….
You may enjoy it – but be prepared – it's very different from the movie 😉
I like your ideas for extra scenes 🙂
As a Blatty fan, I'm always wanting more, more, more 😉
I'm with you on good sequels that keep faith with the original in terms of atmosphere and characterization. It was a quite nostalgic moment, for example, when Dyer/Flanders went to the exact spot at the top of the steps where the first film ended with Dyer/O'Malley..
If K hits Sunshine in the novel, I forgot about it. But even so, my original point still stands, namely, that the Legion K does things that the original Exorcist K would not… Agreed that K's internal ramblings can't translate well to film – a fact for which I am grateful, as his theology is a rather lame defense of Intelligent Design, if not outright Creationism. Blatty should have stuck with his “evidence for God in acts of human altruism”, rather than appealing to the God of the Gaps…
Rye said:
snip
I found Kinderman to be “mean” on the surface but not if you knew him well in the book. Also, didn't Kinderman punch Patient X in the face in the novel?=======I don't recall Kinderman punching him in the novel.Agreed, K is nicer in the novel, but I was addressing the cinematic K, who I thought was written far too sarcastically.Would have been nice if Kinderman had actually had a chance to meet Morning… iirc, Kinderman makes a phone call to Morning, but can't get through. Had Williamson been available for extensive shooting, some of his background could have been brought out in a conversation with Kinderman…
Putting Amfortas in the movie would have changed it considerably – he would be the film's Karras-like figure, and his EVP work would have added some extra weirdness to the story. I don't know why Blatty thought Amfortas was expendable for the film version. Maybe the character was too internal – he doesn't do much and we only know about him from text, not from his own words and actions – so his story would not be easy to film…?
I don't think the novel's “the Gemini's body was never found” ever really created room for doubt that the Gemini had survived. Such a scenario would cast too much doubt on the story's central motif that the Gemini was physically dead but spritually alive. If the Gemini was alive, then who was possessing Karras's body? Karras had no knowledge of Vennamun, and even if he had, how to explain his imitating Vennamun, and to explain his false belief that he has become Vennamun, and how to explain his miraculous resuscitation? No, the story requires a dead Gemini in order to keep the supernatural elements viable.
Thanks for your reply 🙂
My only thought as to why the Gemini's death was changed to the electric chair is that, in retrospect, Blatty may have have thought the image of Vennamun climbing a bridge only to be shot down by cops was way over the top (I thought so when I read Legion), and “The Chair” would be a less dramatic image for audiences…
