CaptainHowdy.com The #1 Exorcist Fansite Since 1999
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Thanks for the insightful comments… yeah, the Casablanca quote is crucial and unfortunately is “missing”…
Thanks, guys for your comments. I must be way out of the loop – I was unaware that there was a novelization of Dominion. Is this a standard paperback that was widely distributed…? I never saw it at Borders…
Ghetto
I applaud your re-scoring, but if I may be so bold, I think the audience may experience it as intrusive. Since Regan has not done any of the singing in the movie that she did in the novel, folks might wonder “who” is singing and what it signifies. I recognized it as the “Tantum Ergo” from the Benediction service in the Catholic Church on Fridays during Lent. As such, for me and other ancient Catholics and ex-Catholics, it may seem not so much creepy as nostalgic. (It may have been creepy if it had been used in the film and Regan was singing it. Like Douriff’s singing in Legion. But if it had been used by the possessed Regan, it probably would not be suitable for the finale, since that might imply that she’s still possessed).
But I think your use of it points in the right direction, because it frames the film between two prayers, namely, the Moslem chant and the Tantum Ergo.
Granted, TVYNS does frame the film between two prayers, but the re-use of the Moslem chant at the end does not indicate any change in direction for the story and characters. I personally always experienced the Moslem chant at the beginning as part of the eeriness and alien-ness of the subject matter, which sets the mood for the entire film (Moslem audiences would probably experience this differently, of course). So repeating the Moslem chant – for me – does nothing but bring back the terrifying mood of the film’s opening – which is clearly not Friedkin’s intention.
If the finale’s Moslem chant could be “mixed” with some of the other used or unused scores – music that would perhaps contain an unobtrusive major chord that would modify the “tone” of the chant – then the ending Moslem chant might be “tilted” toward a positive interpretation.
I hope you don’t think I’m being overly critical – thanks for doing the new scoring and sharing it. I think TVYNS’s ending created musical and context problems anyway.
I liked Kinderman and Dyer getting together, and the continuance of Karras’ joke “I’ve seen it” – but I wish Kinderman’s dialogue about who’s starring in the play had been different. Anyway, thanks for your contributions.
Any word if Beginning paperback will be worth anything down the road as a collector’s item? I got mine at Borders, which I believe only took on three copies…
Changes:
THE ORIGINAL: Delete Karl’s “She is going to be well?” from the staircase “crucifix interrogation” scene – it doesn’t make much sense unless you’ve read the book, and it’s misplaced. Ditto Karl’s “It wants no straps” – most folks don’t put this line together with the soon-to-follow “You might loosen these straps, then”. The audience doesn’t know what on earth he’s talking about unless they catch on when Karras is asked to loosen the straps, but even then, the first line is obtrusive… If audio-technically possible, re-voice Karras’ dialogue in the tavern from, “I think I’ve lost my faith” to “I think I’m losing my faith”. This would permit an ember of faith to remain in Karras, and explain why he still says Mass, wears clerical garb, and has not dropped out of Church and priesthood altogether.
TVYNS: Delete Pazuzu on the bedroom wall when Chris finds the open window – it looks like a slide projection… The “lights-out” kitchen doesn’t need the Howdy faces… Delete the bloody-mouthed spider walk and replace it with the long-tongued spider walk – the latter is spookier, and very close to the scene in Blatty’s novel… If audio-technically possible, delete Sydow’s wheezy nasal exhaling on the “stairs conversation” scene – for me, it distracts from his dialogue… Delete the Moslem prayer chant from the final scene: leave it without music or put another track in.
Bad Locust,
Thanks for your comments. Lance Henriksen is so damned good I wish the movie itself had been better. I also agree that Sam Neill did a fantastic job with the adult Damien – it was quite a while before I could accept him in non-evil-type roles after I saw his Damien.
I also fantasize that the late great Jerry Goldsmith could have expanded the “Observatory/New Christmas Star” and “Second Coming” themes into an extended religious piece. In the late 60s, he had done something called “Christus Apollo”, underscoring Ray Bradbury’s poem of the same title. It would have been interesting to experience a Goldsmithian “spiritual” symphony since he did so well with such themes in
Poltergeist and The Omen…Jenny and Justin – Please accept my belated thanks for your explanation of Edit Post and what it means. You took the mystery and weirdness out of it for me!
I just now noticed that my posts have a line: “says: EDIT POST”. I’m dumb enough not to know what that means, why it is there, and how I can get rid of it (because I don’t see it on other people’s posts). Can anyone offer some advice?
Another studio might do it, say, Warner Brothers:
Regan to Karras: Nyeah, What’s up, Doc?
Merrin to Regan: Be SIGHwent, you wascahwy demon!
Regan (personality shift): Ah Say – Ah Say, Boy, whah dontcha stick that glorious peckeh up her ahrse!
Karras (preparing for window leap): Nuhbleegety nuhbleegety nuhbleegety – That’s all, folks!Okay, it’s not a true horror film, but the relationship between Nixon and his mother (played by Mary Steenburgen) is one of the most terrifying, morbidly sick things I’ve seen in the movies. A cringing Nixon tells his mother to “think of me as thy faithful dog” – a tragically fitting framework for the relationship – one which the viewer can believe after having seen Steenburgen’s monstrous portrait unfold.
