[granville1]

You’re welcome!

[granville1]

I can only agree with your expertise and assessments… Yeah, it’s a pity that the sound is overlooked, even by those who should be most interested in it…

[granville1]

Some cute pictures there… thanks!

[granville1]

I was chiefly impressed that the film used pre-existing music rather than hiring a specific composer (Lalo Schifrin’s score was rejected and some of it re-used, if memory serves, in The Amityville Horror).

This tended to give the film a timeless tone – much as did Kubrick’s use of classical music for 2001. Although Jerry Goldsmith, Alex North, Bernard Herrman and others could have done a competant job with The Exorcist, I believe that ultimately the film gained from the more abstracted music finally chosen than it would have from a standard soundtrack composition.

The interesting thing to me is that the editing-in of pre-existing music was done so well that none of it seems obtrusive. The music is widely variegated – yet, there remains a wholeness of tone, almost as if the music pre-selected itself.

Thanks for the Penderecki information. I’ve always been a film music fan and anything relating to it – including the use of outside sources – is usually quite interesting to me!

[granville1]

It’s always struck me that Bob Larson and other of his fundamentalist brethren wouldn’t know a real possession if it swam up and bit them in the brain. They don’t seem to be operating from the nuanced, responsible position laid out in the Roman Ritual. For them, just about anything negative – from drinking to cursing to bad habits – can be ascribed to “Satan”. If Larson wants to prove a case for possession, he’d better provide serious, scientifically verified paranormal events (the kind of things Karras was trying to find in the MacNeal case).

[granville1]

You’re very welcome, Blizzi.

[granville1]

Your contributions are very much appreciated!

[granville1]

Thanks for more great finds, Blizzi. It’s been years since I read the MAD spoof… the illustrator had a colossal talent for sketching our favorite Exorcist characters – and other celebrities.

[granville1]

Blizzi, thanks for more of your wonderful contributions to this site. I especially enjoyed the old illustrations and the Potomac bridge photo.

[granville1]

Yeah, it was spooflike tho’ probably intending the opposite. The first copy of Legion I bought had a “cut-away” cover but the underlying page illustration was of a crazy-looking priest in a confessional (if memory serves) – but without the other characters shown in your selection. I lost my first copy – now I have the movie tie-in edition with a photo from the movie (I think it’s the Hitchcock Steps and Kinderman at the top of the stairs).

[granville1]

You’re certainly giving everybody new stuff to get excited about and to look forward to. I have a small collection of paranormal, occult, and supernatural books but most aren’t heavily illustrated. Most of my books are on comparative religion, New Testament critical scholarship, Jungian psychology, Eastern religion, etc. I do have a few books on exorcism/possession scattered among the occult/paranormal books. Some day I’d like to have a scanner and be able to upload pictures like you’re doing…

[granville1]

Thanks, Cap’n… appreciate your overlooking my goof – I still don’t know how I did it..

[granville1]

The Beginning was total trash whereas Tarantino does have some artistic flair. However, with MIKE, I also feel the need to shower after watching Tarantino.

I got that same “dirty” feeling with The Beginning. It’s as if both filmmakers sprayed their glandular secretions all over the screen, and if audiences got splattered… so m

So I would agree with Captain Howdy that The Beginning was trash, but also with MIKE that both The Beginning and Tarantino’s films convey an almost palpable sense of filth and nastiness.

[granville1]

What the heck happened? I thought I was replying in another thread vis a vis Tarantino and The Beginning. Sorry – must have gotten off track somehow.

[granville1]

I inadvertantly replied to this in another thread – sorry. Anyway, my .02 cents –
I think Capt Howdy is right – The Beginning is trash, and Tarantino has an artistic flair that Harlin is not capable of.

Having said that, however, I agree with MIKE that The Beginning and Tarantino’s films both invoke a subjective feeling of dirtiness – they both make me want to take a shower. The original Exorcist, with its crucifix rape, foul language, projectile vomiting, etc., never made me feel dirty. Harlin’s mishandling of the material, as well as the putrid script turned the story from a supernatural thriller into a dungfest.

[Author]

Posts