[Psychiatrist]

I believe you can look at whats happening in the film and conclude there is a subtext of sexual abuse; or better yet, Freidkin used demonic possession as a metaphor for sexual abuse and put in clues throughout the film.

 

Look up Rob Ager's film review of The Exoricst, he makes some very compelling arguments for this theory. He also has some great reviews of Kubrick films.

[Psychiatrist]

the only saving grace about TVYNS is the addition of the spider walk scene – everything else they added was silly, especially the Pazuzu subliminal. I can see why Freidkin cut those doctors office scenes, they added nothing and needlessly extended the film.

The original cut was a true masterpiece…..I wonder if Freidkin really cut together that version for Blatty, or if it was a money grab.

[Psychiatrist]

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.

[Author]

Posts