CaptainHowdy.com The #1 Exorcist Fansite Since 1999
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I doubt it was a protection, since Karras does not get randomly possessed, but consciously invites the demon to possess him, after which invitation the demon responds by possessing Karras. Also I doubt the medallion could be protective, since no other sacramental object in the story has a protective function. Quite the contrary, Regan rapes herself with a crucifix. Neither the novel nor the film attribute much effectiveness to “holy objects”.
I think there’s an insurmountable problem with a possessed Karras. Possession makes the victim so sick that there is not much physically-effective action that a possessed person can undertake. The possessed Regan was only capable of short bursts of effective physical action – e.g., when she kills Dennings or knocks people around. The rest of the time she’s in a trance state (even without being sedated) and she doesn’t even talk much.
Translate this sickness and its concommitant bodily inactivity to a possessed Karras and you have a very, very difficult dramatic scenario to be hammered out. I really don’t see how it could be done. If Karras is wandering loose, his odd behavior will shortly be noticed and action taken to curtail it. If, on the other hand, Karras is strapped to a bed in a mental institution (as in the Legion film), then you’ll just have a re-hash of Regan’s possession. I don’t see how this can be worked out…
On the old Howdy site, I had begun a story where Karras survives his fall down the steps. But in the story, he was victorious over the demon and was not possessed. This allowed for further character development and further “theological adventures” for Karras – i.e., more creative leeway than the scenario of having him remain living-and-possesed.
So, in answer to your question: if, in an alternate ending, Karras survives but is possessed – it will take someone far more creative than me to work it out dramatically. I hope others will offer their suggestions.
But then why would a medallion protect Karras when a crucifix and all the holy water, the rosary, the prayer book and all the prayers be ineffective? I.e., why does a medallion have a special power that all the other sacramental objects don’t? I’ll grant, however, that the removal of the medal at the Iraq dig might be seen to “free up” the evil in the hole where the Pazuzu amulet is discovered…
I agree that E2’s characterization of Sharon was botched. In E1 she was sweet, cute, witty, vulnerable – and even at the end her affection for Chris is obviously stated. In E2, she’s a bitchy/witchy (get the black witch-like raincoat)stranger. She is meant to be perceived not only as suffering, but also as weird. The script’s utter disrespect for her is exhibited when Lamont asks her if she’s tried prayer, and she reacts cynically. Lamont, who always has his head up his ass, could have offered her some real help – you know, like any of the clergy in the novel or the first film, would have done. Karras, Dyer, even the university president and the bishop, were all seriously interested and concerned people. Yet Lamont is so busy chasing his personal demons and subjective goals, that he isn’t interested in helping Sharon in her crisis (if only he had not survived the Ethiopian priests’ stoning attempt). Then, of course, the script turns Sharon into a burning cinder. What a lousy thing to do, but it’s totally consistent with the Boorish Boorman “take” on E2. After all, he was on record as having despised the original film, which makes it inconceivable why he was allowed to take the helm on the first sequel.
Good comments, Greg. Yes, Karras’ motivation in having Kinderman kill him may well have been to prevent re-possession. Given the premise of re-possession – this notion is the movies’, not Blatty’s, since in the Legion novel Karras has gone on to his just reward – then quite possibly Karras’s body needs to be killed (for the second time!) to prevent re-possession.
My personal reaction to this is one of extreme discomfort because it gives the demon inordinate power, but at the same time inordinate weakness.
First, it robs Karras of the fulness of his victory in The Exorcist: sure, his sacrifice saves Regan, but – again, contrary to the novel – the glint of triumph Dyer detects in the dying Karras’ eyes is somcehat mitigated, if not rendered meaningless.
Second, if the demon can repossess at will, why didn’t he simply repossess Regan? That would have been the perfect revenge.
Third, if the demon can jump from body to body – in The Exorcist, the demon jumps into Karras, in the Legion film, the demon/the Vennamun spirit jumps into the vacuous minds of “old friends” – then why couldn’t it jump into Kinderman the moment he kills Karras?
Morgan Creek’s insistence that there be an exorcism necessitated some kind of a real demon to be exorcised. This insertion of a Pazuzu-like demon in turn created the scenario of Karras himself – not simply Karras’ _body_ as in Blatty’s Legion – being the victim of a dyadic possession – by both “Pazuzu” and by the Gemini-Vennamun. This in turn created the insisted-upon exorcism scene. Fr. Morning’s exorcism, as in the original Exorcist film and novel, is ineffective, and when all seems lost, Morning’s crucifix-brandishing verbal encouragement (“fight, Damien!”) apparently gives Karras the strength to momentarily break the demon’s control. The demon’s grip, we are led to believe, is broken by Karras’ supreme act of will.
However, if that is the case, then why can’t other possession victims similarly cast out their own demons by a supreme act of will? The whole premise of Blatty’s original novel is that the human will is helpless against the demon’s power. The same is true of the execrable E2/The Heretic, wherein Kokumo’s will cannot cast out the demon. And it’s true of the awful Exorcist The Beginning, and the somewhat better Exorcist: Dominion. All through the “franchise”, from novel(s) to films, no one can remove his/her demon by will power. The one exception is Morgan Creek’s version of Damien Karras.
So: the demon seems inordinately powerful – able to possess and/or re-possess anyone at will. But at the same time, in the Legion film, the demon is inordinately weak because he can be cast out by an act of human will.
If that is the case, one wonders why Karras didn’t simply cast out Pazuzu-Gemini by merely willing it to happen. Neither Morning’s recitation of the Roman Ritual nor Kinderman’s friendship effected Karras’ filmic possesion. In the final analysis it is only the dying Morning’s cheerleading “Fight, Damien” that aids Karras to successfully throw out the demon. Seems a pretty weak premise to me.
Well, I think Christ is probably mentioned in Morning’s recitation of the Roman Ritual. Unfortunately, however, the Ritual is ineffective. The effective factor is Morning’s “Fight, Damien” – which, as you say, doesn’t mention Christ. At least verbally. Visually and symbolically, however, Christ is “present” in Morning’s hand – in the form of a crucifix, which is spotlighted by a divine light (the light of Christ?) But I think you’re right, had Morning said, “Fight him in the name of Christ” it might have been more dramatically and theologically pleasing. Also, Morning holds the crucifix with the corpus facing him, not outward toward the possessed Damien Karras. I think it would have been more effective for the corpus to be facing Damien, not away from him.
Thanks, Jenny, for your comments. At least this version eliminates the insertion of the Gemini character and keeps the interaction ‘twixt characters we already know, namely the two Ks – Kinderman and Karras. And, of course, the demon.
But if I were to film this or try to write it, I really don’t know how to handle the “out of control” aspects of Karras’s possession. While “competent”, he could strike out and kill and mutilate and put a “Satanic cult” type of signature on his depredations – when he is “sane” and “healthy” enough to do it.
But then he would relapse – like Regan before him – into semi-comatose states, seizure-like states, diarrhea/vomiting, etc. His effectiveness as a real menace to society would be extremely constrained by his “disease”.
Another thought: Karras’ fingerprints would be all over Chris’s house and he’d be easily identified as the murderer. The court system would want to imprison him – if he’s healthy and sane enough – and capital punishment would likely be his fate. Kinderman, though, could come in at this point and argue for the authenticity of possession, trying to save the life of his possessed friend. Of course, if Kinderman is convinced of the possession’s genuiness, what would he do? Call in an exorcist? … You see how complicated this all would get.
Also, would an audience forgive any alternative ending in which the MacNeil household – whom they have come to know and probably love – are all murdered by the would-be hero, Karras?
Yeah, it looked to me like his arm, back, and the back of his head got demonically stuck to the ceiling and then slowly torn away again.
Peripheral comment: although Morning and his exorcism were MC tack-ons, having had this dumped on him, Blatty still did some fine work: He used the unecessary scenes to construct Morning as a surrogate Merrin character.
The scene in Morning’s room, which introduces Morning, is eloquent in its wordless silence. His sancity is established in a few seconds of cutting to various objects in his room, which are both simple and pious. Note how Blatty’s camera tracks Morning’s shadow moving across the wall similarly to the way that Friedkin’s camera tracked Merrin from the rear as he moves thru the Iraq streets. Or note how Blatty’s scene has the plaque on Morning’s wall: “What we give to the poor is what we take with us when we die”, which is also (if memory serves) printed on a card in Karras’ wallet in the Exorcist novel. Observe the implication of Morning’s compassion in his care of the little bird by the window sill, and how Darkness enters when he finds the bird dead. Note how a sudden wind blows thru Morning’s room – clearly resonating with the presence of Pazuzu in both the original novel and the original film. All told, not a bad job at all, this minor achievment of Blatty taking an intrusive, tack-on character and stocking it with truly Blattian-Exorcist elements.
Thanks, MIKE, for your comments. I know it’s a guilty pleasure, but the Morning character – for me, as a confession – actually gives E3 “that Exorcist feeling” because it reminds us of Merrin, that other saintly priest who had been traumatized, but also faith-strengthened, by a prior encounter with possession.
I feel – tho’ somewhat less so – the same about the exorcism scene. Though it, too, was a tack-on, there was still
“that Exorcist feeling” with the powerful Roman Ritual and its pro-human, anti-Satan admonitions. I just wish they’d held down the pyrotechnics. Friedkin’s film’s exorcism scenes didn’t need fireworks, and neither did Legion. Also I wish Karras could have died of shock-exhaustion, rather than having to be shot to death by his best friend Kinderman.Technically, Karras’ request to “Shoot now, kill me now, Bill!” violates RCC ethics, which views such an act as a morally forbidden “mercy killing”. It would have been better if Morning’s exortation to Karras was sufficient to strengthen Karras to permit him to throw out the demon. Then Karras could either get a new lease on life, or could, as I said before, just die of shock-exhaustion. (Of course, a living Karras would present huge dramatic problems…)
I think the novel has a clue – after emphasizing Karras’ athleticism and prodigious physical strength, we are invited to imagine just what that strength could do when supplemented by a demonic personality. Regan herself, though “just a wee lass”, exhibited preternatural strength. This would be highly increased in a man of Karras’ physique.
As far as the outcome of Karras NOT jumping from the window, Blatty supplies the dialogue. People in the rooms beneath Regan’s bedroom hear Karras arguing with the demon, “No! I won’t let you hurt them! You’re coming with me!” (or words to that effect). Clearly if Karras had not jumped, his first order of business – under the demon’s command – would have been to slaughter the entire household. After that, we might imagine him escaping into the night, a powerful man driven by a powerful demon.
One problem with that scenario is that, as was the case with Regan, one would expect that Karras’ possession would exhibit periods of wild, insane behavior – uncontrolled “spasticity”, seizures, vomiting – that would render him helpless at times, and would certainly bring him to the attention of the public and the police.
We might imagine the possessed Karras being arrested and institutionalized while Kinderman pieces together the evidence that Regan had been possessed, that Karras had “caught” the possession, and had then killed the household.
Kinderman would then confront the possessed Karras in the mental hospital – much as he does in “Legion”. Only in this case, there would be no Gemini Killer involved, but only the “imprisoned”/possessed Karras and Pazuzu… who knows…?
