RE-POSSESSED
Or, Why I Could Never Eat Pea Soup
a Review of The Exorcist (Novel & Film)

by Andy Morton

Blatty, William Peter.  The Exorcist.  New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1971.  340 p.
The Exorcist.  Dir. William Friedkin.  1973.

The Exorcist is the book that was this writer's first foray into horror fiction, and at the tender age of ten, I saw it as an induction into a world that forever changed me.  As a pre-pubescent, I found The Exorcist had been so frightful that it had to be read only during the daylight hours, with both the radio and television on.  And even then, it scared me into thinking that every creak was Satan coming for me, too, as I was at that time a pretty horrific pre-teen who was in definite of a exorcism myself! 

The film, however, was less of moving experience, since the book had been so powerful. 

Even now, it's that otherworldly fear that remains at the heart of The Exorcist story that scares this reviewer the most.  Birds, zombies, spiders---yeah that's scary.  But nothing compares to the all-encompassing evil of LUCIFER.

The novel (and film) both begin with Father Lankester Merrin (Max Von Sydow in the film), on an archaeological dig in Iraq.  What he and his team is looking for is never fully defined (perhaps Saddam's "Weapons of Mass Destruction").  What they do indeed discover is a charm to fend off evil.  This definitely foreshadows things to come.  The final Iraqi scene in the movie's is a brilliant cinematographic moment: Von Sydow and a recently uncovered stonecarved image are each perched atop a parapet, facing each other whilst the wind blows.  This is awe inspiring eye candy from Billy Williams III, the cinematographer for the Iraqi sequence.

Of course, there are subtle nuances in the film that are not in the book, and likewise.  Some details in the novel did not make the movie.  Friedkin's film stayed true to the novel, in its major themes and ideas.  Minor details like Chris MacNeil's detailed wardrobe are those which the costume designer, Joseph Fretwell III, decided to forego.  Then there are the details regarding Damien Karras S.J.'s (yes---he is a Jesuit) immigrant status, his poor upbringing, and the reasons his mother is hospitalized and subsequently dies that are greatly detailed by Blatty.  Such details are barely referenced by Friedkin.

The Exorcist is the story of Regan, a girl possessed--not like ordinary preteens who are demons in their own right.  This one IS actually a pea soup spewing, profanity uttering adolescent (otherwise, not unlike those child monsters we keep at home).   It also might be a story of first sexual experience, although masturbating with a crucifix and shoving your mother's head into the pubic region is not this writer's idea of what deflowering should be.

The Georgetown scenes open with the noises the mother, Chris MacNeil, played by Ellen Burstyn, hears at night.  She hears scratching that she believes to be rats.  When no rats are found, she assumes the sounds are made by squirrels.   When no squirrels are found....  Well, then the natural assumption is, who else but OLD SCRATCH.  Here the differences between the movie and novel are obvious as well: The movie barely scratches (pun intended) upon the Captain Howdy reference and the Ouija board use, which are of great importance in Blatty's novel.  Again, many tiny important details are lost in the movie, but viewers don't seem to miss them in the overall scheme of things.

Unless they are purists, like this reviewer.

But back to the story.  Regan's rapidly deteriorating behavior is initially blamed upon several things, such as the fact that the girl is a child of divorce or her absent playboy father is uninvolved and doesn't even call her on her birthday; all of these could add up to make even the most well-mannered child a SPAWN of SATAN.  Right?

Of course in typical 1970's pill-pushing fashion, Regan MacNeil's (who is played brilliantly in the film by a very young Linda Blair) declining sense of decorum is originally thought to be some sort of hyperactivity disorder, and they put her on Ritalin.  Yeah, that's always a good idea---to have an unstable personality high on amphetamines.  I always like my imps to be on speed, as it makes it for a much more interesting demonic experience.  When they rule out the hyperactivity possibility, then of course (light bulb goes off above doctor's head) it MUST be epileptic fits that cause the bed to shake so violently and make poor little Regan curse like a drunken sailor.  When epilepsy is ruled out, then of course it must be a brain tumor.   When finally the doctors run out of diagnoses to throw at this child, then they say "go see your priest, we can't help you," which is typical HMO behavior, even now....

But then again....

In this writer's humble opinion, the crux of this novel and subsequent film is cynicism.  It is about the mother's cynical view of religion; the priest's, Karras's, cynical view of his own profession; the police investigator's cynical view of the world, that everything that has gone wrong in the world is because of those hippie drug-user's who are strung-out on LSD and pot....

But no matter what viewers and readers see as the central thematic concerns of The Exorcist, most agree that it is a definite candidate for the title 'classic horror.'  Both as film and novel, it scares us even now---the thought of something so evil invading something so innocent as a 12 year old girl.  It makes us all realize that we are all vulnerable to all the forms of evil that walk the earth.  Nothing is sacred; nothing is safe.  Evil is indeed just around the corner, or in our attic, or basement, or sometimes in our upstairs bedroom.  Evil is everywhere, even within ourselves and those that we love.

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