CaptainHowdy.com The #1 Exorcist Fansite Since 1999
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Over the years what was convincing and shocking in the 40s and 50s became less convincing in the 70s and far less so at the end of the century. Consequently I suspect having realised they had been duped and wanting desperately to save face over what became so public an incident, those involved needed to exaggerate events somewhat. After a while lies however small lead to confusion and different versions of events.
All cheap as chips on Amazon.co.uk. HMV.co.uk do a fine Hammer box set for £40 which has 21 films in it. It’s a good starting point. They do plenty of other Hammer films at around £5 each. We’ve never had definitive releases in the UK which is a shame but with a bit of hunting around most of the catalogue is available.
Well, I won’t be paying out again for that particular piece o shite.
Shame I was rather looking forward to a new release.Well, here’s the actual text of the relevant question from the interview. Make of it what you will. Seems to suggest there was blood involved. but not necessarily the way we see it in TVYNS. No mention of Linda Hager either.
The previously linked to website does seem to have slightly edited the quote to suit their article.Fang: There was a scene in the book where Regan walks down the stairs like a crab. Rumor has it that this was filmed.
Vercoutere: It was all filmed, yeah. But they never put it in. Maybe because Friedkin felt it was too heavy. Because you see the scene like this: she gets out of bed and gets to the top of the stairs and turns upside down. And then runs down the stairs on her hands and legs – upside down! All the way down the stairs. Then tuns into an alcove and then bites somebody in the leg.
Fang: How did you do that?
Vercoutere: I built a gag that was on the same level as the staircase, coming down. Then I rigged her up with a belt and two fine piano wires, so she could turn over. When she started at the top I could go down at the same level as she was. So actually the only thing she had to do was move her arms and legs; I could make her move at any speed I wanted to. As soon as I got her down at the bottom, I released her. She ran around the room and she bit somebody.
Fang: Too bad that didn’t make it into the film.
Vercoutere: Well like I said I think it was too much. Friedkin didn’t know how far to take it. He didn’t want a film people would laugh at. Besides that scene was kinda bloody, when she bites somebody. Blood was running down all over her face, because she was upside down at the time. Besides I think that would have clinched it for the audience that she was possessed. It was planned to be in the film before any of the other really bad stuff is used, so you see, Friedkin wanted to keep the audience guessing whether she was possessed or not at that point.
You must feel like you are bashing your head against the wall sometimes! I admire your tenacity.
Seems to me we have survived losing the forum before, we’ll survive it again. It won’t be nearly as much a loss as when the original went.
It needs a better layout anyway, this one is to narrow (especially on widescreen) and can we have an easy to find login button?“I really wish they did film this version so we could see it the way Vercoutere explains it. However, I was a member of the 2000 Official WB TVYNS Beta Member. Here are Vercoutere’s lengthy comments and he doesn’t mention blood at all. I believe Fangoria would a great place to “stretch the truth” and make it more exciting:”
Yes but that Fangoria article was from 1983 so that would make memories fresher and in no way be influenced by the release of TVYNS.
Having said that, until I find the original article it’s just conjecture.
Once I get up in the loft and dig it out I will report here in full.After a bit of looking around it seems there may be a snippet of documentary evidence to support this genuinely being shot at the time:
http://www.mania.com/exorcist-making-restored-version-part-two_article_24355.html
I’m pretty sure the Fangoria issue the article refers to is No 31 which I should have lurking about somewhere. I shall have a dig in the archives to see if I can find it.
That head on shot with the blood has never seemed right to me. I have always assumed it was shot especially for TVYNS.
The lighting hitting the banister posts is from the opposite direction to that of the other takes and that grimace looks painted on, especially the lines around the mouth and the vein on the throat. I think the blood may possibly be live on set but the face and neck have been retouched in much the same way as has been done in the psychiatrist sequence.
At the time of shooting the original, Friedkin was incredibly fussy in his setups and Owen Roizman was a lighting genius I would be surprised if they let the direction of light change error pass or even why they would have moved just one lamp. And the shot itself is exactly the kind of cheap shot that Friedkin would not have allowed in his movie. I’d put money on that one shot either being retouched or filmed in 2000.The Haunting & The Innocents are the only 2 films I would consider mentioning in the same breath as The Exorcist.
There are quite a lot of other genuinely good horror films but only those 2 are on a par.I’m of the opinion that it was a “get off of school” prank that was fed by the zealotry of his parents and then the assortment of ministers he was taken to. Consequently it went to far. I wouldn’t want to talk about it either if I made fools of my family and the incident had then been the basis for one of the most notorious movies ever made.
The diary can be found here:
I’m of the opinion that it was a “get off of school” prank that was fed by the zealotry of his parents and then the assortment of ministers he was taken to. Consequently it went to far. I wouldn’t want to talk about it either if I made fools of my family and the incident had then been the basis for one of the most notorious movies ever made.
The diary can be found here:
I was finally tall enough to get in to see the film in 79, plenty of time for the monster magazines of the day to have primed me to be aware of the wires. I guess I saw them because I was looking for them. Didn’t stop me walking out of the theatre feeling like the whole damn thing was real though.
