CaptainHowdy.com The #1 Exorcist Fansite Since 1999
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The trailer certainly makes it clear that Karras is the titular exorcist. “The one hope….the only hope…the exorcist” is said as Chris opens the door to reveal the silhoutte of Karras. As for the film itself, I don’t think the film makes it clear who is the exorcist.
But surely he doesn’t present himself in that form to her…that white face scared the crap out of audiences, so its fair to assume it would scare the crap out of a 12-year old girl.
I don’t disagree with you,oki9Sedo… Maybe WPB was a little incautious. I posted the clip a while ago. It’s interesting aside from this conversation . I don’t think he meant that Karras was literally hoping for a net; He didn’t want to die… like you say, he wanted to save Regan (and the rest) and if he had to die in the process, so be it. Either way, he jumped and saved everyone. Yeah, I think he jumped for the same reason you do; “he’d only overcome the demon for long enough to make himself jumpâ€. Had he stayed in the room, things probably would have gone MUCH worse.
Yeah, if he hadn’t jumped Pazuzu would have used his body to kill Regan and do God knows what else.
After the argument – I always thought it was a friendly jab to help break the ice further.
Oh thats definitely true Captain Howdy. It was definitely a friendly jab, it wasn’t malicious. But what did it mean?
I’m not sure I understand the question…is it if Karras had overcome the demon, then why did he bother jumping? The answer is because he’d only overcome the demon for long enough to make himself jump.
I think the novel supports Howdy’s attractiveness – initially, that is. After all, he is a surrogate Dad for Regan. He wins her trust before he torments her. Regan is shocked when the attractive, friendly Howdy changes into her nemesis. If he had first appeared to her as ugly and evil, his initial “seduction†(or invasion, or infestation) would have failed. Blatty shows the demon as insidiously insinuating himself into Regan’s consciousness, the first stage of which is via his ouija board communications. Regan perceived these as interesting and friendly.
The movie could be seen to support Howdy’s demonic hideousness, but this is based on a huge “IFâ€: namely, is the white-faced figure really Howdy? Or is it just a manifestation of Pazuzu’s living character (as opposed to his humanly-interpreted statue as seen in Iraq)?
The film never tags Captain Howdy with any explicit visual identifiers. TVYNS does show Regan seeing the white-faced demon in the doctor’s office, but again, this is never explicitly identified with Howdy or any other specific character, demonic or otherwise. The audience is left to put Howdy together with the white-faced demon – or not.
I always thought it was obvious that the white-faced figure was what Pazuzu really looks like. Regan’s face morphs into his during the exorcism for a second.
Its way to scary a form to use when he was pretending to be her friend. If he’d appeared to her like that she would have been terrified, just like audience were in ’73!
Well.. yeah. He wanted to scare her. Makes sense.
No he didn’t, he wanted to make her like him. So he tells her he’s Captain Howdy and pretends to be her friend.
I wouldn’t say it was seducing her, but I believe, one the possession was in its defining stages, it is how Pazuzu presented himself to Regan in her mind.
No way. He’s far too scary looking. I mean he’s your avatar, just look at him! Even if he wasn’t grimacing like that he’d still be scary.
Someone said they thought that that white face is what Pazuzu presented himself as when he was seducing Regan. That can’t be true – that face would have scared the sh*t out of her. God knows it scared audiences.
More evidence that The Exorcist is starting to age, I’m afraid… I always thought it was a compliment in the film. Jason Miller turns with a smirk.
Kinderman and Karras had just had an argument, so I always took it as an insult (not a malicious insult, but a joking one, which is why Karras smiles).
Note: Karras is smiling as soon as the camera cuts to him…the work of Pazuzu or dodgy editing?
Thanks for the replies guys.
I suppose that if Captain Howdy is only a local manifestation of Pazuzu – one tailored to spiritually seduce a 12-year-old who is lonely for her Dad – then it doesn’t matter much whether it’s Pazuzu or Howdy who appears in Karras’s dream. So I’d grant your point that in a sense it _is_ Pazuzu
I seriously, seriously doubt Pazuzu was in the guise of that terrifying white-faced figure when he was doing his “Captain Howdy” business to seduce Regan.
Either its the real face of the demon itself, or its just some surreal of Karras’ mind during his dream. But then again the latter couldn’t be the case since we ALL see the white face during the exorcism at the end.
Also, come to think of it, Pazuzu does appear during the exorcism in the shared vision of Karras, Merrin, and Regan – when the Iraq Pazuzu statue momentarily appears in the bedroom after Karras and Merrin have been knocked to the floor.
I always thought Merrin was the only one who saw that, just as Karras was the only one who saw his mother on the bed.
Is Pazuzu in Karras’ dream? I recall the Howdy face, not Pazuzu.
Well presumably it is Pazuzu, since it appears again during the exorcism, this time directly from Regan’s face rather than as a subliminal image.
That’s right. Although, the dogs I interpreted diffrently; dogs are natrually friendly creatures. So when they fight near the statue, to me it symbolises how the demon’s spirit enters creatures and make them “animal and uglyâ€. It makes them turn against each other.
I always thought the same, although I don’t think his “spirit” has entered the dogs or anything, its just that the atmosphere around the statue drives them to become savage, vicious animals.
