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Is there anywhere that translates Mother Karras' Greek speech into English?  When Dimmy is done bandaging her leg, when she's in the mental ward ranting away, and when Regan is speaking in her voice during a break in the exorcism.

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The novel also describes Karras walking into Regan's bedroom for the first time, the stench in the room was so awful, it was like a blast of foul odor that hit him as he walked through the door.  Karras' eyes watered, and he had to hold his breath, the smell was so bad.

There was no indication of this in the movie, though.  Karras just walked in. The part in the book where possessed Regan takes a dump in her diapers wasn't in the movie either, but that's probably for the best.  It may have been unintentionally funny, seeing Regan screwing up her face and you hear a muffled “fffuh” defecating sound!

 

(Oh dear lord, I can't believe what I'm typing here! ^^)

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If anything, I was surprised by the general light-heartedness in the BTS footage.  There was me previously thinking everyone involved had to be on tippy-toes, walking on eggshells, all serious and not making any kind of jokes, for the entire shoot.

Then for the most part, it's Blair all smiles, waving to the camera, Friedkin being comforting, and the crew “showing the magician's tricks”, as it were.  Definitely a contrast from the moody Fear Of God doc. (well, it *is* called “The Fear Of God”, what would you expect??)

That one shot of Linda looking at the Regan dummy, then looking at the camera and grinning… still cracks me up!

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I see the spider-walk sequence we have now…

Regan's off-camera footsteps, Chris' reaction, the sped-up side-view footage, the bloody mouth, Chris' second reaction shot (which, while it's terrific acting by Burstyn, doesn't really match with what we're seeing, shouldn't Chris be shrieking “Oh my god” instead of gasping it?)

… as Shock Value.  Shock Value that modern audiences need for a quick, sudden jolt.

The original version of Chris being comforted by Chuck while she's sobbing uncontrollably, then a fade-out, is quite sad.  Then we see Regan under hypnosis, looking very zonked out.  All very subtle, very unsettling.  No bloody mouth, no sharp soundtrack sting.

 

I understand what Blatty was getting at, as a double-climax, finding out Burke is dead, then Regan doing her thing, and I get why the footage of Regan's snakey-tongue and her crawling around on all fours wasn't used.

But I do vaguely recall the novel's version, Sharon feeling something on her ankle, then looking down seeing Regan licking Sharon's ankle like a serpent.  Reading and then visualizing that, chilled the hell out of me.

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Well, I used to have an old British magazine issue – can't exactly recall the name of it – Film Review, I think.  It had Robert Redford and Mia Farrow in a scene from The Great Gatsby on the red cover, but the Exorcist feature inside was a real treat.  Possessed Regan's description was something like “Her face is a horrific sight to behold, and she screams the foulest of obscenities.”

Hopefully that magazine is still tucked away with the rest of my belongings at the family house.

After that, my black t-shirt with the same image of Regan as seen on the 2010 DVD cover would make passersby on the street/in the mall do a double-take.  I even strolled into a book and bible store in an Orlando outlet mall while wearing the shirt!

It eventually had to go bye-bye, but at least I got some photos taken of me while I was wearing it.

So for now, I prize the poster on my wall.  It's not signed or anything, but I dig it.

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Just noticed… the Original Theatrical disc has an “evil-to-good-Karras CGI morph” right before he jumps out the window.  All releases before the 25th Anniversary had just a simple cut between the two faces.

 

One thing (out of many) I do really enjoy about this BR release is the color of the opening/end titles, they're actually red.  A bright red.  TVYNS's titles are pinkish-red in comparison!

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One entertaining feature on DVDs/Blu-Ray is the language feature.

Watching key scenes of The Exorcist while cycling through the surprisingly long list of spoken languages with the remote's audio button, can be hilarious!  Especially the voice actors used for the demon.

For instance, the German version has Regan speaking backwards in both male and female voices.

The Polish version just has a male voice translating everyone's lines over the original soundtrack.

Have fun!

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I started watching The Fear Of God doc on the 2nd disc, expecting Ellen Burstyn to start talking, and Mark Kermode appears on screen!

This is the first I've seen of Kermode in The Fear Of God.  The 25th Anniversary DVD U.S. edition completely omitted him.

And *still* no Mercedes McCambridge?!  I have to go on YouTube to see her interview segment.

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So today I picked up my copy at Best Buy.  Oh, they had a zillion Blu-Ray copies of Disney's Beauty & the Beast, Karate Kid, Iron Man 2, Splice, and tucked away were about six Blu-Ray Exorcist copies.  Didn't see the DVD version, but I didn't go looking for it in the Horror section.  Now I have to wait to get home and watch all the bonus features, but…

 

***U.S. PACKAGING SPOILER***

 

There's a disc on the inside of either one of the “book's” covers.  The book itself is 38 quality printed pages of biographies, history, trivia (all emphasized with red font), and rare photos.  The first photo is of the Pazuzu statue.  The last photo is of the medallion, as seen in Karras' dream.

A detachable paper backing with all the usual info found on the back of a DVD case (blurbs, MPAA ratings, etc.) is held on with magazine glue.  Pry it off and reveal a silvery photo of Merrin and Karras ascending the MacNeil residence staircase.

Also included is a special thanks from William Friedkin, printed on a separate sheet of off-white translucent matte-finished plastic-paper… that started to gradually curl up, after I'd set it down(!)

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'The Version You've Never Seen' is now the version everyone's seen!

Hopefully TVYNS will phase out of print over time and be replaced with this new Blu-Ray/DVD release as the definitive retail version.

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‘YoureGonnaDieUpThere’ saw what I saw at my Fathom Event screening at AMC. After showing Exorcist trivia, and other Fathom Event ads, ten minutes of the BTS documentary (mostly Blair, Friedkin and Blatty talking) was shown before The Exorcist, then the rest of the doc (with all the good stuff) was shown after the film’s end credits.
So even though my original movie start time was scheduled for 7pm as printed on my ticket, it got rescheduled to 7:30pm, then with that bit of documentary added, the Warner Bros shield finally appeared onscreen at precisely 7:40pm!

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Well, there were maybe 20 people at my screening, not too shabby. A packed audience would’ve been great, of course.
I thought maybe I’d blinked and missed the subliminal face on Regan’s door, and the statue on the wall was too dark to see. Turns out they weren’t even there!

Best use of enhanced color: The vibrant blue skies of Iraq.
NO MORE PURPLE!! Everything look so much more natural.

Laugh out loud line: A tie between “I lied, it’s for me” and “What an excellent day for an exorcism”. Yes, audiences love when the demon says that.

Audience jumped the highest at: The telephone ringing in the backwards tape scene.

Audience cringed loudly at: Regan turning her head 180 degrees.
The shot of the wrist strap ripping before Regan levitates.

Best use of surround sound: The “rats in the attic”.
The weeping women when Karras sees ghostly Mother Karras sitting up in bed.
The crowd noise just before Dyer gives Karras the last rites, there were random voices EVERYwhere.

Best use of sub-woofer bass: The thunderous “and I’m The Devil” line.
The demon’s seat-rattling “Aaaaahhh!!” after talking backwards.

The BTS footage was fascinating. They sure had every aspect of the crucifix scene covered.
I predict that shot of Linda posing alongside the dummy will appear as a screencap on this site very quickly.

I think it’s a bit of a stretch to call The Exorcist “a beautiful love story” as Ray Bradbury did, but Blatty does point out the fact that Karras never did meet Regan herself, just the demon.
And Linda getting emotional while recalling the New York premiere was very touching.

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I shall return with an account of my screening’s audience size, reactions, etc. 😀

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*blink*

…

BAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Ohh mercy, that was good.

I do commend you for paying tribute to Ms. Dietz in your animated gif profile pic.

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Okay, this thread is just hilarious!
But I’m a bit out of the loop here, what has Eileen Dietz done to deserve such mockery? What, did she write a book saying “pop in The Exorcist into your DVD player. Press play. Okay, that’s me. That’s me right there. See that? That’s me. Yep, there I am again…” etc.

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