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LinchD.
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February 13, 2013 at 12:31 AM #14128
ReganMacNeilfan
ParticipantIf you have any post em.
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I wish they kept the part of the book where Chris is saying Regan was spinning like a top. Used flashback type modes. 😀 <3Â Â Though do not remember reading that part in the book the first time I read it. >.< Also the different book version of the spiderwalk scene.
February 13, 2013 at 1:25 AM #26933jguthrie
ParticipantThe subplot about Karl the housekeeper and his drug addict daughter. I always thought that would have been interesting to see in the film.
February 13, 2013 at 2:44 PM #26935Sofia
ParticipantI wish all the earlier parts from Chapter 1 were in the movie: Chris and Regan’s dinner outing to the Hot Shoppe, the trip to Washington, Regan’s birthday party on the set of Chris’ movie, etc.
Mary Jo Perrin’s witchcraft book that Regan snuck out of the kitchen and brought it to her room to read,… Well, I wish everything from the book was in the movie.
February 13, 2013 at 9:23 PM #26937ReganMacNeilfan
ParticipantSofia said:
I wish all the earlier parts from Chapter 1 were in the movie: Chris and Regan's dinner outing to the Hot Shoppe, the trip to Washington, Regan's birthday party on the set of Chris' movie, etc.
Mary Jo Perrin's witchcraft book that Regan snuck out of the kitchen and brought it to her room to read,… Well, I wish everything from the book was in the movie.
I could not agree more. 😀
April 12, 2013 at 12:52 AM #27245granville1
ParticipantA little more hint of the depth of friendship between Chris and Burke.
Dinner party: Mary Jo Perrin warning Chris about the Ouija board and Perrin's brief handshake with Regan, who is already weird enough to recoil from Perrin's touch – and presumably her knowledge.
Karras nostalgically watching the sun set over the river while he hears a harmonica play Red River Valley.
An explicit touch of kindness of some kind when Merrin pays the tea house manager in Iraq to establish Merrin's compassion as well as his already well-established scholarly expertise.
Chris placing a toy mouse in one of Karl's traps.
A disturbing scene of Chris finding Regan's furniture and clothing disarranged.
Regan's panic at “it smells burny” and Howdy's first attack.
A few lines of dialogue about the pornographic Latin sheet slipped into the altar card, later revisited when Kinderman covertly confiscates a sheet of paper typed on the MacNeil typewriter. A scene affirming that the paint from Regan's sculpture matches the paint on the desecrated Mary statue would without doubt confirm Regan's complicity in the church vandalism.
Having Jason Miller do a voice-over as Karras is reading demonology books that describe the vile practices of such cults. Hearing about such obscenties that occur off-screen, in our imagination, would have a nasty, subtle impact.
Instead of the Kinderman-Dyer new friendship scene which so many people object to, have the Dyer-Chris scene where she says of Karras, “I've never seen such faith”, and where Dyer suggests, “If all the evil in the world makes you believe there's a Devil, how do you account for all the goodness in the world?” Dramatically and theologically satisfying, in addition to resonating with Karras' and Merrin's prior exploration of evil on the stairway.
April 12, 2013 at 1:27 AM #27247ReganMacNeilfan
ParticipantGreat choices Granville. 🙂
April 12, 2013 at 5:17 AM #27250granville1
ParticipantThanks, Regan 🙂
June 20, 2013 at 7:15 PM #27543Psychiatrist
ParticipantGreat topic here…..for me personally, the book took much greater lengths to set up a scenario where the possibility of Regan actually being possessed (vs mental illness) was debatable…or doubtful. The book on Witchcraft, the in-depth personal debate the Father Karras had with himself throughout the story, and most genius, was Regan speaking languages she had not known; when you read the translations, you realize she is just speaking fragments – things she could have picked up in passing which casts doubt on the authenticity of her possession. In the movie (and especially in the silly “version you've never seen”), there was absolutely no doubt that there were supernatural forces at work.
This whole aspect of the book was fascinating to me, since I had seen the movie dozens of times before reading the book.
November 9, 2013 at 3:45 AM #27901ReganMacNeilfan
ParticipantGlad you like the topic, 🙂
November 9, 2013 at 5:06 AM #27902granville1
ParticipantPsychiatrist said:
Great topic here…..for me personally, the book took much greater lengths to set up a scenario where the possibility of Regan actually being possessed (vs mental illness) was debatable…or doubtful. The book on Witchcraft, the in-depth personal debate the Father Karras had with himself throughout the story, and most genius, was Regan speaking languages she had not known; when you read the translations, you realize she is just speaking fragments – things she could have picked up in passing which casts doubt on the authenticity of her possession. In the movie (and especially in the silly “version you've never seen”), there was absolutely no doubt that there were supernatural forces at work.
This whole aspect of the book was fascinating to me, since I had seen the movie dozens of times before reading the book.
===
Actually, in the end, the novel supports possession. Blatty himself has said so, including his crucial statements that “the devil did not win” and that Karras was genuinely redeemed and genuinely “took the demon inside”. Moreover, Blatty depicts Merrin as a real expert on the real exorcism of real demons. There is no winking at Merrin's authentic expertise or his integrity.
The book magnificently carries out this salvation plan, for which a real demon is the necessary component. Otherwise, The Exorcist becomes a meaningless tale of sound and fury, wherein all the major characters are simply insane, starting with Regan herself:
Regan falsely imagines she's possessed; Merrin falsely imagines that Regan is possessed; Karras sacrifices his life for the same delusion; Merrin dies of stress induced in fighting an imaginary foe; Chris, Sharon, Karl and Willie are horrified by a non-existent entity. All the novel's angst and metaphysical issues are negated by its attempt to interest the reader in a cluster-f-ck of a gaggle of crazy, useless characters. None of this is sensible, or even tolerable, because it all defeats Blatty's express purpose in penning the book, i.e., “if there can be demons, there can be God, angels, saints, and a benevolent supernatural”; and: “I don't want people to think that the devil won”.
Before Karras dies, he has come to believe in the demon's reality, and even addresses it, telling it that “You're good with children, little girls – how about trying me?”
Then, when possessed, Karras is heard to tell the demon, “NO – I won't let you hurt them (all the people in the house)”.
And when Karras dies, he dies with a radiance in his eyes and “a glint of triumph”.
When told that Karras had been having problems with his faith, Chris replies, “I've never seen such faith in my life”.
When Karras leaps from the window, Regan is immediately returned to herself. And post-possession, when she sees Fr. Dyer's Roman collar, Regan kisses him because she associates priesthood with liberation from a real captivity. Clearly, then Blatty considers the demonto be just as real as he does Karras' self-sacrifice and redemption. In fact, Karras' self-sacrifice depend on the demon's reality, otherwise his act becomes the meaningless, wasteful action of a moronic psychopath. The exact opposite of Blatty's oft-repeated intention.
Mere mental illness is a flimsy structure on which to build a psychoanalytic word castle relative to Blatty's novel. It won't bear the weight of Blatty's central, supernatural message. To attempt to foist a materialist/reductionist-rationalistic “explanation” on Blatty's text is to misrepresent both his intention and his narrative.
** Sorry, everything came out italicized, I tried to correct it, to no avail. **
February 25, 2023 at 7:50 AM #43623jackmoon
ParticipantHello
October 24, 2023 at 10:17 PM #44124Paul0126
ParticipantI don’t think I truly want to see this, as the hinting of it is freaky/scary enough. But I do wonder if they ever tried to film the Regan/Burke encounter?
If I’m correct, this would’ve taken place before she was full-on white-faced, yellow-eyed “possessed”. She just looked like a sicker version of her normal self.
So if he’d gone up to check on her while Sharon was out getting the medicine, he wouldn’t have seen this ghastly, terrifying “thing” in the bed, as we do from Karras’ first meeting with Regan, onward. He would’ve just seen Regan, the girl he knew. So, nothing for him to suspect or be scared/freaked-out over (“what in the devil(!) is going on with your cunting eyes, child?” and so forth.
I’m assuming he was just jabbering along, being Burke. But, at some point, Regan hops up and attacks him (or, more scary, does she play sick/injured and lures him to her bedside?). I don’t know, but just the idea of drunk Burke being in that room, and this little girl he’s known forever grabbing him by the head and twisting it around, killing him, just haunts me. What might she have said, if anything. And what were Burke’s final thoughts (besides the vulgar obvious, wondering what was happening, etc. as only he could put it). And then, strong as she is, manages to both hold his lifeless, deformed (head facing backwards now) body while she opens the window and flings him out?
I’m sure such stuff is best left to the imagination, but that would have to be a horrifying, chilling, night-ruining scene to see, if it was staged and shot as well as the rest of the movie.
Other than my lifelong curiosity about that, Karras had another 1-2 exchanges with Regan which, from the book, come across a bit funny. “Hullo, hullo…are we recording?” and the whole mention of playing Puck in the junior class play and other things. The demon was a bit of a smart-ass, but it makes the book, and those scenes, so memorable/enjoyable. I would’ve like to have seen the “Herod” exchange as well.
Oh, one more: Frank from the language lab listening to those recordings for the first time, and the look on his face. And then realizing the gibberish was English in reverse. How does that NOT freak him out for months? LOL. I love this movie so much, and I love the book even more. This time of year, October, both get revisited heavily. I’ve already read the book twice, and I’ve watched the movie once on AMC. I’ve got the DVD, but, like some people, I enjoy a movie more when it randomly shows up on TV and I carve out an evening for it, even though I could watch the DVD anytime I wanted. Weird.
Anyway, my first post here (I think; I could’ve sworn I joined this site ages ago, but none of my searches or log-ins turned up an existing account). Be gentle. 😀
October 26, 2023 at 2:32 AM #44140Paul0126
ParticipantI could’ve stood a few more Mary Jo Perrin scenes, like from the book. She knew something was up in that house, and with that rug-pissing kid. It would’ve been neat to explore that a little. There’s no telling what sort of unsettling, outlandish glimpses and visions she was getting in her mind. I assume she sensed/saw Captain Howdy, which is horrifying to imagine!
I thought she looked great, almost like if Fairuza Balk’s character from “The Craft” had an on-screen mother. Not as full-on witched/gothed-out as Fairuza, but a more sedate, refined and mature version, with the black short hair, pale skin, black dress and that serious, pensive pout. My kinda woman, frankly.
She was so interesting in the book (and had some insights/info that might’ve helped Chris (OR scared her half to death). I would’ve liked to have seen more of her in the movie, for sure.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by
Paul0126.
July 13, 2024 at 8:00 AM #47886LinchD
ParticipantI totally agree! More scenes with Mary Jo Perrin would have added an extra layer of intrigue, just like in the book. Her awareness of the house’s eerie happenings and the mysterious kid would have been fascinating to delve into. Imagining what she sensed or saw, especially with Captain Howdy, is truly chilling! Exploring her unsettling visions would have been a great addition.
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