CaptainHowdy.com The #1 Exorcist Fansite Since 1999
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If Dennings was the real bad guy, the film would have spelled it out in undeniable terms. So would have Blatty in the novel.
Blatty says of Dennings something like, “he was a kind and considerate man when sober”. He was a close friend of Chris and showed his thoughtfulness to Regan, e.g., on her birthday he lighted her on-scene and filmed her blowing out her birthday cake candles.
Flakes such as those at imdb might insist, “Yeah, okay, he was nice when sober, but when drunk – which was frequently – he could have turned into a molester.”
Unfortunately for that view, Blatty (and Friedkin) _do_ show us what Dennings is like when he is drunk. In fact the uncut version of the film shows that Regan and Dennings are both present together at the party at Chris’s house, the same party where the plastered Dennings makes his “alien pubic hair” remark, trashes Karl’s dignity, and smashes a glass.
At no point does the drunk Dennings exhibit anything like off-color sexual behavior, much less ephebophilia. There is no hint of this in the book or the film.
Still, some imdb pinheads will further insist, “Yeah, okay, but Dennings was up in Regan’s room and she broke his neck and pushed him out her window, so maybe she was provoked by his unwanted intentions.”
This is really too ludicrous to be entertained, but for the sake of truthfulness, let’s entertain _and_ refute it:
Dennings may in fact have had some quite legitimate reason to have gone upstairs to Regan’s room. Blatty, though it takes some time for him to arrive here, lets us know that Regan is no longer her normal self.
We know this because 1) she twisted Dennings’ head completely around facing backward, a demonic method of murder; and 2) supernormal strength is required for this, strength far beyond that of little Regan. It is thus established that the “thing” in the upstairs room is no longer the normal Regan.
This “Regan replacement” – which we later observe to be incredibly strong and violent – could easily have lured Dennings upstairs. Perhaps she manifested some of her weird poltergeist noises; perhaps she just screamed in her normal voice and/or cried out for help. Either way, as a decent human being and a family friend, Dennings probably would have probably bounded up the stairs in aid of Chris’s daughter. That, or something like it, is the most likely scenario for Dennings being in Regan’s room.
Finally, although in the novel and film Regan is said not to remember the actual possession, nothing is mentioned about the “overture” or “infestation” phase. We are free to imagine that Regan’s memory was unimpaired about the things leading up to the possession.
Therefore, it is probable that if Dennings had been molesting Regan in the weeks leading up the possession, she certainly would have mentioned it – then or later – to Chris. Granted, some molestation victims are unable to talk about their abuse, but it defies _literary_ logic that Regan would be one of them. Here we return to the point that if Dennings was really the bad guy, Blatty and/or Friedkin would have pointed it out, and the best way to do so would have been from Regan’s own testimony post-possession. Or somehow establish it from some other source. But, in fact, nothing of the kind takes place.
Pre-possession, Regan does exhibit anxiety about Dennings, but it is nothing that resembles a personal conflict. She is only worried that her mother will decide to marry Dennings. Her concern is thus not really about Dennings, but about her mother’s good judgment. Moreover, it is not really Regan who initiates this mistrust – in this early scene in the film, it is insinuated that Regan’s doubts are already being suggested by Captain Howdy’s influence.
I suppose we really can’t expect exacting and nuanced judgments from people like those on imbd. That’s why I for one am grateful for the forum that our own Captain Howdy gives us here, where we can delineate the fine points of the Exorcist saga.
Thanks for the nice words, lunuso. Yep, I think those who look to Burke Dennings as a villain or even the cause of the possession are superficial readers who substitute insinuation for evidence.
You may be right re: Regan needing intravenous feeding until she was able to eat normally. However, I doubt that Chris was only starting to lean more to agnostic.
If memory serves, Chris tells Dyer something like, “I’m still not sure about God, but I believe in the devil – he keeps doing commercials”. Then Dyer scores a point by saying something like, “But if all the evil in the world convinces you that there is a devil, how do you account for all the good?” Chris says something like, “Yeah, that’s a point.”
So it looks like Chris is keeping God on the horizon as a possibility, but is definitely inclined to accept the devil’s nearby existence.
The question of course remains whether or not her first glimmerings of belief would have impacted the length of time she (and perhaps Regan) continued to live in the house.
Actually, just to follow up sarcastically, perhaps Blatty should have burned the house to the ground, thus making it difficult for E2 Heretic to film its climactic scenes with Blair and Burton in the studio lot’s reconstructed house.
I would presume Regan would have spent a fair period of time in the hospital. After all, she was at death’s door when Karras saved her. She was dehydrated, starving, probably had infections – she had been sick for a long time. I can imagine Chris staying in the house just out of convenience until Regan made a full recovery. The house had been a happy home for Chris and Regan. The possession was not the house’s “fault”, although it’s true that the demonic forces manipulated the house environment (the poltergeist effects, etc.). But the house itself was not “evil”.
So it’s possible, if not plausible, that Chris may have stayed in the house until Regan had recovered. She may have used that time staying with Regan at the hospital, striking up a friendship with Dyer (and maybe even Kinderman), and overseeing the repair of Regan’s bedroom before the house, which she was renting, reverted to its owners.
Maybe Blatty could have kept them in Georgetown… have Chris move into an apartment while Regan recuperates. I do acknowledge that six weeks does seem a long time to be hanging around the house “where it all happened” – especially after the emphasis Blatty put on the house description in the novel’s first pages. Seems like he should have resolved the house issue.
Anybody know if this classic identifying shot was actually taken in front of the real house, or is it a studio lot reconstruction?
