Scene Anatomy 101 10.31.07 The Exorcist
Posted by George H. Sirois on 10.31.2007
There’s more than one reason why this one was chosen…
Happy Halloween, people! If you've been looking around 411Mania this month, you've seen plenty of different horror movies getting covered. ‘Tis the season, ya know? And you've also seen me covering the Hellraiser films, going through each of the four films in the franchise that were released in theaters. However, as much as I enjoy Hellraiser, there has always been one specific horror film that I put at the very top of the genre.
By the time you read this, I will be on the plane to St. Louis to get everything ready for my upcoming wedding this November 2. Cheryl's already there doing her part to get things ready, but before she left, she inspired me to write this particular column. Back when we first met in 2004, there was one horror movie that she wouldn't watch under any circumstances. I promised her that I wouldn't push her to watch it, and everything seemed to be fine. She would watch any other horror movie, except THAT one.
Then, in January of 2006, after I had gotten back from seeing my poor Giants getting the crap kicked out of them 23-0 in the NFC playoffs, Cheryl decided out of nowhere that she was ready to watch that movie. I was shocked, and I made sure to immediately start up the film. In case you don't realize it yet, the film in question is the 1973 William Friedkin classic based on the novel by William Peter Blatty, and – in my opinion – the greatest horror film of them all…
The premise is a very simple – and incredibly frightening – one. Just like what Pinhead said in Hellraiser: Bloodline, "the greatest suffering a parent can know is the loss of a child," and that's exactly what we see happening with actress Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) when she slowly sees her daughter Regan (Linda Blair) being possessed by a demon. At first, Chris doesn't even believe that it could be a demon ravaging her daughter since she is an atheist, but the more tests she authorizes, the more she starts to see the truth.
Meanwhile, as one woman struggles with the possibility of otherworldly forces invading her home, one man struggles with his faith in a higher power. Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller) has spent so much time watching the world around him crumble that he's starting to believe that God is no longer paying attention. So it's ironic that this is the one man of the cloth that Chris MacNeil confides in to get some spiritual answers about her daughter.
When Damien spends some alone time with the demon, he is taunted by the demon telling him about how his recently deceased mother is in Regan with it. And when Damien demands that it answer his question about what his mother's name was, the answer comes in the form of green pea soup that shoots from Regan's mouth and hits Damien flush in the face and his sweater.
When this week's scene begins, Father Karras is downstairs with Chris, who is washing his sweater. She makes sure it is perfectly clean and dry when she hands it back to him.
DAMIEN: Thank you.
Damien takes the sweater, but the presence of the demon is still in the room even though the muck is no longer there.
DAMIEN: Look, I'm only against the possibility of doing your daughter more harm than good.
This is not the answer that Chris was looking for. Being an atheist, she was expecting someone to just walk in, speak a few verses and force the demon away from her daughter. But that's not the tactic that Damien had in mind. He simply wanted to talk to the demon, as if he was afraid to go all the way with this.
CHRIS: Nothing you can do could make it any worse.
But even after seeing what Regan has become, Damien still can't commit to what Chris is now starting to believe.
DAMIEN: I can't do it. I need evidence that the church would accept as a sign of possession.
CHRIS: Like what?
Chris almost spits the words out. She's angry that the vomiting of pea soup, the complete and total change in voice and the ability to turn her head 180 degrees isn't enough evidence.
DAMIEN: Like her speaking a language that she's never known or studied.
That's it? Hell, after everything that Chris has seen, something like that should be a snap.
CHRIS: What else?
But that's all that Damien can provide. He turns his head away from Chris. He's almost embarrassed that he can't give the answers she needs.
DAMIEN: I don't know. I have to look it up.
So much for men of the cloth. Damien's officially become just as useless to her as all the doctors she had seen before.
CHRIS: I thought you were supposed to be an expert.
Damien turns back towards Chris.
DAMIEN: There are no experts. You probably know as much about possession as most priests. Look, your daughter isn't saying she's a demon. She's saying she's the Devil himself. Now, if you've seen as many psychotics as I have, you'll realize that's the same as saying you're Napoleon Bonaparte.
Right here, we can see just how crafty that demon is. Rather than show off every single power it can manifest, instead it chooses to go outside what a priest would expect to be a surefire sign of possession. By simply calling itself "the Devil," he's striking right at the heart of Damien's doubts.
And to make matters worse, Damien's psychiatrist side starts to come out, which is the last thing that Chris needs to hear.
DAMIEN: You asked me what I think is best for your daughter. Six months under observation in the best hospital you can find.
No, no, no. That's not what's going to fix this. Chris can plainly see what's going on, and it's destroying her that nobody else is going to admit the truth about what has been happening. She walks right up to Damien and lays down the law the only way she can, as a mother who knows her daughter.
CHRIS: You show me Regan's double: same face, same voice, same everything. I'd know it wasn't Regan. I'd know in my gut, and I'm telling you that that thing upstairs isn't my daughter.
She leans closer to him. It's more than just his inability to see the truth that's tearing her up. It's the doubt, it's the indecisiveness. So she calls him on it. If he really believes that Regan just needs some therapy and psychiatric observation, then he better be 100 percent positive about it.
CHRIS: Now I want you to tell me that you know for a fact that there's nothing wrong with my daughter except in her mind! You tell me you know for a fact that an exorcism wouldn't do any good! YOU TELL ME THAT!
But Damien can't say that, and the fact that he can't is the ray of hope that Chris has been looking for. He's going to come back, and hopefully for Regan's sake, he will see the evidence that he needs to state their case to the church.
When I re-visited this film, there were obviously many different scenes to choose from, and more than a few of them involved the demon lashing out against Chris, against Damien and against Father Merrin, the exorcist that has been assigned to Regan.
But then there was this scene, the battle that takes place during the first half of the story. People look at the movie as a representation of the battle between good and evil, but that's only half true. The second half is definitely good vs. evil, but the first half is faith vs. science. As an atheist, Chris had sought out as many tests as possible to see the root cause for Regan's early behavioral changes. But as the evil begins to manifest itself, we can see her becoming a believer in a higher power through her struggles with a force of evil.
And then there's Karras, a man who has been beaten down by the struggles of everyday life. He has lost his mother, he lives in the slums of Georgetown, and there's no sign of God anywhere. After living this life for so long, he's just now confronted with the possibility of a demonic possession, and if there is a force of evil that lives in this innocent little girl, then there must be a force of higher good that can counteract it.
What makes this scene so powerful is that we have a representation of the never-ending battle between faith and science. But what makes this scene a classic is that we have an atheist fighting on the side of faith and a man of the cloth fighting on the side of science. And thanks to William Friedkin and William Peter Blatty, and Ellen Burstyn and Jason Miller, we have a truly unforgettable moment in a horror film that, to me, still has yet to find an equal.
You guys have a week off. I'll be back on November 14th with a whole new scene.
