I'm not a fan of The Exorcist. I've tried to be,
over and over, but I just can't be. I do,
however, like and respect Exorcist: The
Beginning, not just because I think it's
entertaining, but because I think it's
smart--and it has elements which made me
appreciate the original more. I'm not one of
those people who say "leik omg teh exersist sux
cuz its dum," I have some legitimate gripes
about the movie that I don't like sharing,
because every time I do, I receive "
intelligent" criticism which basically boils
down to "leik omg teh exersist iz grate u suk n
ur not a horer fan."
So since you say
"The Beginning" is the equivalent to cinematic
feces, I'd like to ask you why you enjoy the
original so much and I'd also like to comment on
why I DON'T enjoy the original and why I DO
enjoy the prequel, and perhaps I should finally
just do this in review form. But I wanted to
ask, since I just read your review and reading
intelligent reviews (which are rare and hard to
find these days) always makes me want to share
my own views...
* Felix:
The Beginning (Harlin's version) is a flashy
movie for an audience more concerned with
gratuitous violence and gore than they are with
story and character emphases.
We had little to no extrapolation on anyone
including Father Merrin which is the biggest
faux pas you can make when approaching a story
that is set before his death at the hands of his
greatest supernatural enemy. Any director with half a brain would
have at least focused on Merrin from his
priesthood, to his life, to his disenchantment
with the church, to his battle with evil.
Instead he's a pale shadow of the precedent Max
Von Sydow set, which is sad considering Stellan
Skaarsgard is a strong actor.
Not to mention he was turned from the savior of
this little girl to this archetype of yet
another moody priest at conflict with the
church. We're never given a glimpse in to his
psyche and what caused him to gain such a sense
of cynicism towards his own religion.
Harlin and Morgan Creek were much more concerned
with throwing violence and special effects at us
that they botched a potentially brilliant
glimpse in to a deep character that could have
turned him in to this symbol of good. The climax
to Harlin's version is a series of really cheap
special effects that do not amount to this
"rough battle" with the devil that was described
in the first film.
Why I love the first film is ultimately an
immensely subjective topic as I've come to
discover. To some its a very scary movie, to
others its boring. For me it still is the most
intelligent horror film that I've ever seen
simply because it not only deals with battling
the devil.
But it also deals
with man battling his inner demons. Father
Merrin is a man who dealt with evil and now MUST
fight him to help this child whether he likes it
or not, and Father Karris is much too vulnerable
to fight the devil on his own.
In the film, we have four standpoints that
approached the situation with this innocent
child being raped and torn to shreds by this
demonic force.
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Relation: The mom who must witness
her child being ravaged but can not
help her, Authority i.e. logical:
Where the investigator sees this as
a potential murder case and doesn't
know nor will he ever know what has
happened in that home, Religion:
Father Karris whose experiencing his
own battle at home facing the death
of his mother and confronting his
own mortality, and The Old Nemesis:
Father Merrin who has fought his own
battle, is STILL recovering from
wounds from it but MUST come back
and fight this demon again to
protect this child caught in the
crossfire.
For me
the film has a great sense of
character emphases first setting the
stages for impending doom through
getting to know these characters,
and we're aware of their own
problems which gives the demon an
entrance in to their lives. |
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Then there's
science's attempts to discover the root of this
problem which is a grueling set of sequences,
and then the ultimate battle which boils down to
religion and the classic battle of good versus
evil.
The film has build-up, it has character
emphases, it has a very dramatic plot, and it
has a bold climax that is still considered by
many as edgy, and when religious fanatics
consider it evil, there must be something to it
(laughs).
* Lillian:
First of all, I used to blow it off when people
complained about the senseless violence that
happens in Exorcist: The Beginning. Now that I'm
taking a closer look, though, I understand what
they're talking about. Having a professor in
college who grew up in Africa and hearing
missionaries talk about voodoo and supernatural
occurrences in Africa and other countries while
I was in my teens helped me with information
that other people just don't have, and without
said information, it's harder to process some of
the things going on in the movie. And another
thing is that I'm not sure the filmmakers
themselves intended for these scenes to have
this meaning, they might have just thrown them
in to up the gore factor, but regardless, the
scenes work for me in the context of the movie
whether the artistic value is intentional or
not.
When horrible supernatural happenings are going
on in villages, one of the worst things that
happens (a portent, if you will) is that babies
are born with horrid defects. Whether the
filmmakers intended the maggot-covered baby to
be just such an occurrence or not, that's how I
saw it, because I've heard stories of similar
happenings.
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When
the Hyenas attacked the little boy,
I saw a jolt out of nowhere and a
affirmation of Father Merrin's fear
that the universe didn't care about
humans, even little children.
*
Felix:
Really? Come on. It was a gauge at
gore hounds for fear of boring the
audience.
* Lillian:
Not
true! It
came out of nowhere and he was
unable to protect the kids again.
The animals look like bad CGI and I
won't argue that, but I have experience trying to
protect kids form evil and I felt
the Priest's pain when he failed.
AGAIN. I don't
understand how someone could think
the Nazi plot was cheesy. |
* Felix:
It was.
* Lillian:
No, no. When I was
growing up my mom forced us to read
about atrocious crimes against
humanity committed by Nazis, and
these have left an indelible
impression on me. I've heard stories
of Priests being forced to kill
children to show their "support" for
the doctrine, I've heard of
prisoners of war who weren't Jewish
being forced to rape Jewish
prisoners... I've heard a lot.
And I watched the
screen transfixed when the Nazi scene was
finally revealed, and the movie came together
for me: They told the Priest his God wasn't
there. He waited for God to intervene, God did
not. The Nazis tortured this woman he has met in
this village, and God did not protect a young
boy from being killed or another young boy from
a demonic attack...his faith, which has grown to
be almost nonexistent, is being attacked from
every side and everything is telling him he is
not worthy, he will not win, God is not here and
there is no hope.
And blood... without the shedding of blood,
there is no forgiveness of sin. When I saw
that movie and saw the woman bleeding even
though the Nazis removed her uterus, I saw the
evil draining her blood which is what carries
the life in our veins, in our bodies. And at
first it didn't make much sense, but when I saw
the end and saw that she was the one who was
possessed, it made sense. She was trapped and
the demon was corrupting her and making a
mockery of her, and the Priest wanted her to be
free...so during that ending battle, instead of
focusing on the special effects, I was focusing
on his struggle. Because he wanted to defeat the
demon and protect the child and set the woman
free, and that's what he's focused on. And his
faith is weak, but he's fighting anyway...so in
the end, the demon is defeated...but the woman
bleeds to death. She's free, but she's dead. And
this is hard for the Priest, because he wanted
her to be free and cleansed but he didn't want
her to die...he sees that this is the price she
has to pay to be
cleansed. He's seen death as the evil winning,
the evil taking lives and destroying
innocence...but now he sees death as setting her
free, as the way to WIN the battle, not lose,
and this revives his faith enough to prod him to
keep going.
There's a line in the exorcism ritual that
commands the Priest to rebuke the demon and say
something like, "Do not reject my words because
I am unworthy, for it is not I, but Christ, who
compels you." When I'm watching The Exorcist,
desperately trying not to fall asleep, this is
the only line that rivets me. I can see the fear
on the Priest's faces, I can see them watching
the exorcism fail but trying to fight the
hopelessness of the situation and retain their
faith even in the
face of great demonic opposition. It's the
moment that CLICKS... and then it's gone and the
movie pisses me off again, but it's a great
moment. And now that I've seen The Beginning, I
can appreciate some things more.
In the end, the original Exorcist pissed me off
from a narrative standpoint because the strong
Priest dies...and really, to die, to let the
demon kill you, is to give up and I didn't
understand why he gave up.
Now that I've seen
the prequel I can appreciate it more. He just
couldn't do it again, he couldn't watch the
corruption of the evil, he wasn't strong enough
to go through it again. And if his faith was
stronger and HE couldn't take it, Father Karris
didn't stand a chance. His faith was kaput as it
was. The only thing he could think of was to
sacrifice himself to save the girl. I always saw
that as a cop out (but just from a standpoint of
my faith) "You idiot! What the hell is this, the
only way to defeat evil is to let it win?!?" Now
I can see that it was the only way HE had left.
He didn't want the evil to get Regan, so he
sacrificed himself. It makes more sense from a
narrative standpoint now that I'm seeing more
than 20 minutes of action after two hours of
people pacing around, glaring, and looking
worried. I'm seeing an epic battle that would
have been lost were it not for the Priest who
sacrificed his weary life to save a young,
innocent life.
For me, that doesn't excuse the sheer boredom of
the movie. Even though I appreciate it more now,
I still can't tolerate the lengthy buildup to
NOTHING that ensues while I watch the movie. I
didn't see character development not because I
don't like a good, slow buildup but because I
don't like the WAY this one builds up.
Ok, mom is kinda
selfish, she's a movie star. Priest losing his
mother, his faith. Little girl...hey, how come
no one notices the demon hologram on the wall?
Ok...standing around glaring at each
other...daughter is sick...mom knows something's
wrong but no one takes her very
seriously...Priest losing more and more
faith...nothing happening...glaring, little girl
acting weird... zzzzzz... huh, wha...? walking
down the stairs like a spider (AWESOME!)...
nothing, nothing, nothing...stabbing vagina with
a crucifix. Hmm, that WOULD be shocking, guys,
but in a movie where a young girl is being
ravaged by a demon that's taking over her body
and corrupting her from the inside out, don't
you think a rape metaphor is a TAD unnecessary
at this point?...more nothing...well at least
they realize it's a demon now...wait, why in
hell is the Priest with NO FAITH LEFT being
allowed to participate in an
exorcism?!!??!?!?!...oh man, Satan's gonna kick
their asses...the mother is the only character I
have any sympathy for...why can't the damn demon
throw EVERYONE down the stairs and decapitate
them and end this thing...
And then the exorcism happens, and I just don't
feel it. I see a potboiler with some interesting
ideas that it never really develops because it's
too busy insulting our intelligence with scenes
like the crucifix masturbation scene and the
demon talking in the voice of the Priest's
mother (in fact, any time the little girl's lips
are moving and another voice is substituted for
hers, which is most of the movie, I wanted to
laugh because it looks like a badly dubbed
foreign flick). I appreciate what The Exorcist
did for the genre, I just don't get into it like
most people do.
As a side note, though, while I don't appreciate
the demonic voice while I'm WATCHING the movie,
the last time I tried to watch it with a friend
(who also fell asleep) I discovered that the
voice in and of itself is terribly creepy when
you hear it without viewing the images. I
actually turned it off because I didn't want
demons talking in my head while I was trying to
sleep.
* Felix:
"In the end, the original
Exorcist pissed me off from a
narrative standpoint because the
strong Priest dies...and really, to
die, to let the demon kill you, is
to give up and I didn't understand
why he gave up."
You're referring to Merrin or
Karris? If you're talking about
Merrin, Merrin didn't give up, he
was just too weak to fight the demon
once again, and when Karris left the
room, the demon had had his way with
him as only he knew how because with
Karris in the room he couldn't fight
him the way he'd wanted. And he was
showing sacrifice. I can understand
why it'd be slow to some people, but
for me I saw it as pure
unadulterated characterization that
not only brought us in deeper to
this situation, but to the
characters involved thus is made us
feel a sense of intimacy towards
them. |
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"With a
crucifix. Hmm, that WOULD be shocking, guys, but
in a movie where a young girl is being ravaged
by a demon that's taking over her body and
corrupting her from the inside out, don't you
think a rape metaphor is a TAD unnecessary at
this point?"
It's not unnecessary more than the maggot
infested baby was, to me. The whole being raped
with a crucifix was in a sense to me very
symbolic of the demon ravaging her, and his
besmirching of the religion et al. Mercedes
McCambridge really did a great job of portraying
this demonic voice. For me the film is almost
perfect, but I can see why some people would
find it boring in an era (present company
excluded) of people who want action, action,
action and no character emphasis. But, again,
it's more of perspective than taste for many
movies. Sort of like Pollack where one person
sees dabs of paint, and another sees something
deeper, you know? It's all relative, and for me
if something like Exorcist can inspire this type
of debate, it can't be that bad of a movie.
* Lillian:
Like I said, to die is to let the demon kill you
and he CHOSE not to be strong enough to fight,
which I see as giving up. But after the prequel,
I can understand it more...all these tests of
faith pile up over time and it can get
exhausting.
* Felix:
Well, Merrin didn't die purposely, he had a very
bad heart, and the demon knew this, which is why
he drew Merrin out from the beginning just to
get him alone and kill him. He was sustaining
his power throughout the film and when he and
Merrin were finally alone in the room, he
unleashed his own form of execution which Merrin
was too old to fight. We see it in the beginning
where the demon moves a drawer and Karris asks
"Do that again" and the demon replies "In time",
and he insists "No, do that again", and the
demon insists "In time." It's clear the demon
was just hamming it up and saving his strength
for Merrin.
As for Karris, he presented the ultimate
sacrifice. I didn't see it as giving up, I saw
it more as heroism. Rather than this demon
ravaging this girl forever, he let the demon
inhabit him and killed himself in the process.
The demon doesn't even die, he came for Merrin,
he achieved his goal, and there was no need to
stick around, but his sacrifice was a noble
effort to save this child.
For me the film is a constantly changing form
from drama, to mystery, to logic versus
religion, and then the battle of good versus
evil.
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* Lillian:
Maybe instead of watching the movie, I should
just listen to you talk about it. Or maybe YOU
should make a movie, and then I could watch THAT
instead. That would be much better than
re-watching The Exorcist.
* Felix:
Thanks...?
* Lillian:
But as for self-sacrifice... I keep
getting stuck on being frustrated
because letting the Demon kill you
is giving up, but I suppose that's
because in a way, self-sacrifice IS
"giving up," but not in a bad sense.
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I could say Jesus was a wuss because He gave up and died instead of
fighting, but then saying that makes me realize
how asinine it is of me to be mad at the Priest
for sacrificing himself to save the girl.
* Felix:
Well now you're just rambling.
* Lillian:
I am not, that was uncalled for. I'm making a
literary allusion, which is a valid one even if
you think the bible is just a story--my point is
that saying the Priest is giving up and thus
being mad at him is just like saying Jesus was
giving up and being mad at him for that. They're
both cases in which characters sacrificed
themselves for others. I'm coming around to the
same point you're making, so don't insult me for
it.
* Felix:
Oh so now I'm supposed to stop insulting you? I
don't even know you anymore.
* Lillian:
Me neither, you brain dead cocksucker.
* Felix:
That's MR. Brain dead Cocksucker,
madam.
* Lillian's Closing
Statement:
I just personally as a fan don't like seeing a
movie where good battles evil, only to discover
at the end that the only way to stop the evil is
to let it kill you, but I suppose it's powerful
to say that. It's one of the things that makes
me respect this movie more than part three, even
though I like part three more as a movie,
because it's just not as... deep. Not to sound
like a snob, but I don't know how else to say
it. The prequel has some good ideas and I like
the story better and it doesn't bore me as much,
but watching it makes me feel like a sellout
because it's just not as weighty with ideas as
the original Exorcist.
* Felix's Closing
Statement:
You don't have to enjoy "The Exorcist" but in
spite of what points you've made, I'm still firm
in my belief that the prequels hold no value to
the original movies, especially with the obvious
lack of real reconciliation the mood and
atmosphere from both films possess. And the fact
that they had two chances to tell Merrin's story
and both sucked? It just makes me love "The
Exorcist" so much more and hate the prequels
with a passion. I'm sorry, but watching them
only makes me realize how unstoppable the
original Friedkin film is.
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