CaptainHowdy.com The #1 Exorcist Fansite Since 1999
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I think the second and the third idea definitely don’t belong in a fan-cut. And neither does the first, for “Captain Howdy” never had anything but DARK brown or black-colored eyes in the Friedkin film; fan-cut editors ought not break any of the rules Friedkin’s film set forth, thus following in Paul Schrader’s shoes of intent. The yellow, demonic (ie. demon-like) is useless on the demon. We already know the demon is the demon; he can’t possess himself. The yellow-eyes look is strictly a characteristic manifested in human beings who’ve become full-on possessed by the demon.
Note: The red-color look of possessed beings’ eyes in Dominion doesn’t bother me that much, for who’s to say red can’t imply Satan Himself possessed so-and-so whereas yellow-eyes represents possession by a mere demon or Pazuzu. Or maybe the red is just an African continent symptom of possession, whereas North Americans get yellow.
Anyway, I think the red or yellow in characters’ eyes are there so that the demon/devil can more easily frighten and worry the humanbeings in its vicinity.
M.I.K.E.
Sounds like you know what you’re doing and what works, Hatter. I admire how you’ve tried each of these and other things but saw that they just didn’t fit with everything else. Trial and error, in this case, is a very good thing. 🙂 By the way, I think the reason #3 really failss is: Pazuzu , a devil or demon, wearing formal attire and posing in a picture, he’s not in his supernatural, spiritual element. Plus, Friedkin and Blatty’s creation — “Captain Howdy” — to look as he does, but appearing in that wedding picture as you’d attempted, he’s neither handsome nor are his clothes or skin red in color, and his pitchfork is missing. In short, if you give Pazuzu aka. Captain Howdy a nice suit, its makes him appear the old, tired, cartooned cliche of the red-sporting, pitchforked “devil [who] made me do it.” Pazuzu, whether the Devil Himself or just a demon doing the devil’s bidding, if we are to accept him as REAL within the reality and confines of Blatty’s story — to which Dominion is a prelude to, and is accordinly set in the same universe/reality, years earlier — he doesn’t MAKE anybody do anything. He pokes and prods humanity into fear and despair to fall into temptations of seeking bad or good things independent of God’s will or opinion.
Thus, Pazuzu should be depicted as the real deal — Satan Himself, or “up there” (DOWN there?), and not a cartoon fantasy character. Certainly not in this realistic portrayal of good versus evil. In real life, that’s up for friendly debate, though, I suppose. 🙂
M.I.K.E.
Blizzi, that pic is actually Billy “Cheche” Crawford in the “Howdy” makeup, silly. It’s a pic taken from a Fangoria issue from the summer of ’04; not Dietz. 😛
But while I’m at it, let me further push my theory that the differences in facial features seem to implicate the “Howdy” in Dominion could in fact be a different demonic entity than the one in the Friedkin film, since each yields a different eye color for its possessed organisms (humanity and hyenas get red instead of yellow).
I just wonder why they got Crawford to wear the makeup for the dream sequence when Linda Blair didn’t do so in the Friedkin film’s Captain Howdy sequences; why him instead of a different actor, I wonder.
I think whether it was purposeful or done out of convenience, Crawford’s portrayal of Howdy, while brief, is quite effective.
I suppose this could be one of the great mysteries gone unsolved because nobody but the hopeless fans — speaking for myself, mind you — scratch their heads in wonderment.
Seriously, no NERD emoticons for me? 😛 I am sorry, as a writer myself, and as a fan, I’m trying to make sense of these apparent anomolae. 😛
M.I.K.E.
Er, right — LEFT — excuse me. Left… brain… is what I’d give! 😮
Sigh. Okay, cart me away to the asylum. 😐
“The right brain is the right brain.” – a noble, wise and ancient philospher in olden, archaic, possibly prehistoric times (If I knew who said it and when, I’d have done it, I can tell you that much! I just report what I know. My right brain hasn’t failed me yet!)
M.I.K.E.
Good assertions and support for your case, Father Lamont. But I think this at IMDB sums up the opinion of non-fan’s best:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449086/board/thread/62567691?d=latest&t=20070617120207#latest
“Dominion is not a traditional Prequel, It’s better that it wasn’t, Does a Prequel to the Exorcist really need to be a Horror Film? If you Cut all the Demon scenes out of the origianal Exorcist, it wouldn’ be Considerd Horror.
The Truth is that The Exorcist is not a Traditional Horror Movie, Dominion’s Story is a very differn’t type of Story, Yes it should have been a little Creepier.Dominion is an unfinished Film, It didn’t have a Proper post Production, The Bad FX are unfinished, thats why they look Bad.
Eorcist:The Beginning actually had much more Money spent on it as Dominion, just not enough time.” -GentleGiant783Cheers!
M.I.K.E.
Ps.As often as I try to view E:TB — okay, not very often — it’s grueling; I gradually can’t stand it. Dominion is the opposite; its flaws pale in comparsion to its story and performances. E:TB, I just can’t honestly say the same about. E:TB is simply too technical and legal, and looks okay on the surface, I suppose. Anyhoo… to each their own. 🙂
But I appreciate your defense of E:TB; it’s better than most defenses I’ve read or heard. Good arguments and food for thought.
Well, sure, we can certainly discuss its fine points. There are some. My favorites are the cinematography of Storaro, Skarsgard as Indiana Merrin (no sarcasm!), selected passages of performances by each of the major, non-child characters. D’arcy even does some compelling acting when he confronts Merrin about “the answers”. But I can’t say much else about the film that hasn’t been said.
M.I.K.E.
Hatter, no worries. Justy will provide you with his clips, with any luck. Fingers crossed. 😉
Justy: A couple additional thoughts I had:
Could you do a Lt. Rolf Kessel (of the SS, silly!) version of the Cigarrete scene, substituting his face and/or footage of his face speaking (from first scene) for Paz’s? 🙂 As effective and brilliant as the “Howdy” version you’d made is, a Kessel version would not only fit with the novel, if you recall, but it emphasises the pain Merrin still goes through. The Howdy version — while frightening and giving us a glimpse of deleted Howdy footage from the final scene where Rachel does-in the possessed Fr. Francis with the knife from the stone sheath of the St. Michael Statue in front of the church — it seems to implicate that Paz is in fact not contained in the church from the get-go before Merrin and co. unwittingly unleash him by cracking open his front door, so to speak, setting him free to infest poor Cheche.
I get the idea that since he’s imprisoned under the church, Paz is in fact NOT the Devil Himself who is probably more intrepid and free and might be able to leave as he pleases, and if so could validate the presence of the Howdy face you added in the scene to marvelous effect (again.
Anyway so, since Paz would then be lesser in power than the Devil Himself (who could leave at will, presumably, in order to tempt and frighten humanity for millennia instead of being imprisoned in the bowels of a lost church since the 5th century AD), I’m not so sure he should be able to “get out” like that. Then again, maybe the face we see isn’t Howdy’s, but Satan’s (DH = Devil Himelf), as just comparing the “Captain Howdy” face of this film to that of the original film, there are distinct differences in facial features despite the obvious cosmetic similarites by virtue of there being two differenct actors in the makeup — Crawford and Dietz, respectively. Incidentally, it can then still be argued that the Howdy face glimpsed in the original Friedkin film could be either Pazuzu or Satan. I suppose, then, this is all open to interpretation. 🙂
Thoughts?
M.I.K.E.
Justy, can you superimpose some of the lost dialogue over the existing footage? Just a thought. 😛 No worries, the footage itself here is to dark and doesn’t fit with the final film we have on DVD; I’m not suggesting you add footage back in, just maybe seeing if any of the dialogue us salvageable. 😀
M.I.K.E
I think this is a remarkable piece of work here, Hatty, and not only gives us more insight into Rachel’s past, but also inherently lends the documentary aesthetic of Friedkin’s film, only as if it were shot back in the 40s, which this archival footage naturally was. 🙂 I do think, however, it should be used sparingly, and not for each of those characters pictured above. Just for Rachel would be best in your endeavor to tell the best story you can, with the footage you have.
M.I.K.E.
Greg, you’re doing an essay for the Blatty essays book, too?? 😀 AWESOME! Your intellect will be valued there. 🙂 Honored you’re on board, man.
ROCK!
M.I.K.E.
But, Justy — it COULD be scary, if you were to juxtapose (“juxtapose” © 1973-infinity William Friedkin — don’t you get a kick out his commentaries when he drops that word?) Kessel’s face over a different human voice, is what I’m thinking. Whatchoo say? 😀
Oh, and your speculation about the roaming spirit/essence of the demon seems plausible. Good ideas, man.
M.I.K.E.
Ps. Other scenes…You might be able to gut the solo Fr. Morning “bird” scene from Exorcist III, sort of as an epilogue. An enigmatic one that could mean a lot of things. And, as I recall, it doesn’t look all that modern/1990. It might, therefore, be seen as a “Meanwhile, elsewhere on this fragile planet…” scene. I know, it sounds crazy, but who knows?
Anyway, by re-viewing the scene while seeing Legion after first seeing such a new version of Dominion, things would come full circle, theoretically, if that makes any sense. 🙂
Oh, and that deleted “St. Michael’s Church scene”, plus E:TB’s ending (oh, you know the one! 😉 )
Haha. 😀 Awesome.
Awesome work, Justy. Nearly perfect.
And I ADORE the inclusion of the CUT Captain Howdy face in “Cigarrete”. Brilliant. 😐 Also fantastic is the editing-in of that E:TB shot where he just kissed the crucifix. Nice timing in your editing, on both these scenes. One criticism, however: All that added E:TB footage in the “waiting on steps” scene; it borders on ugly (for all the wrong reasons, that is!) and distracting. The flames are “much too vulgar display of power”, you see. But for everything else you’re providing here for those of us without the editing programs, I forgive thee. 🙂
Gosh, I like this film better already, even before you put these back into the film itself, one day. 😉
I greatly appreciate what Hatter is doing with his fan-cut, but putting these scenes back in — perhaps even using Justy’s handiwork here — that is a fantasy I cannot shake.
Yeah, so what happened to our NERD emoticons…? My message sorely lacks one. No, I have no shame; Dominion is an excellent film, on its own, independent of the original film. Who knew, all those years post-the original, such a film could be made? Cheesy as it might sound, I think it’s divine provision — or intervention, if you like. Theologically — if not my own personal non-Catholic theology — it delivers. And it entertains. And despite its minor flaws many of us have managed to not get hung up on, instead appreciating the bigger picture, the good and evil it thoughtfully portrays. This is a hallmark for Paul Schrader, and he should be proud of his film, and his cast and crew. Marvelous work, even if it isn’t the carbon-copy-attempted, cartoon misfire that temporarily replaced it. Wait… PERMANENTLY? I mean, Renny Harlin’s fiasco lacks “Prequel to the Exorcist”… just one of the two prequel-films bears that distinction and honor.
To think, it’s already technically 5 years old. I trust it will endure for many more, through all the nitpicking. Easily.
The perfect prequel story to THE EXORCIST, if not the perfectly cratfted final result. I’ll live.
Anyway, thanks again, Justy. It’s work like yours and Hatter’s that will help keep this sole Blatty-blessed Exoricst prequel/sequel alive and admired and revealed to current and future audiences, directing them (back) to the crowning jewel of the series: THE EXORCIST (TVYNS, of course! Okay, half the time…! 😛 ), and hopefully THE EXORCIST III, as well.
M.I.K.E.
Ps.Keep at the ‘Church of St. Michael’ scene. You can do it. 😛
