Series Link 10.31.2008: The Exorcist
Posted by Arnold Furious on 10.31.2008
Happy Halloween!
Series Link #8: The Exorcist
Happy Halloween!
SERIES LINK
Or Furious on Franchises…wish I'd thought of that 6 months ago.
Frequently when reviewing movies I notice I'm missing sequels here and there from classic series. In line with one of my key film watching beliefs I'll be making a point of tidying up some of my sequel history. The belief in question being that as long as I enjoyed the original I'll watch any sequel made of it. I don't know where this belief came from but it's one that seems to work out for me quite frequently and there are many film series where I have enjoyed multiple sequels based on my love and respect for the initial instalment (Alien, Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Rocky etc).
For this eighth column I'm taking on another horror franchise. Having already covered two types of horror so far (Jaws & Elm Street) I'm going for an entirely different one here. The Exorcist is often looked upon as a more adult horror series. The original came about during the second golden age of Hollywood: the early 1970's. Great directors were suddenly coming out of the woodwork and one of them, William Friedkin, was pitched as the adult version of Steven Spielberg. While Spielberg did films that appealed to a mass market Friedkin was making the more adult version of the same film. Two years prior to the Exorcist Friedkin shot the French Connection. Quite how a talent like Friedkin could disappear into the woodwork again is anyone's guess. But Exorcist is a career highlight from the same era that brought the world Jaws. I'm going to be real honest off the bat and say this will be my first time watching any of the sequels/prequels. I've only ever seen the original film before.
Series Link #8:
The Exorcist
How many films?
Five. Two sequels, two prequels.
Starring?
Linda Blair (2 times), Max von Sydow (2 times), Ellen Burstyn, Richard Burton, Louise Fletcher, George C. Scott, Brad Dourif, Jason Miller (2 times), Stellan Skarsgard (2 times).
Directed by?
William Friedkin, John Boorman, William Peter Blatty, Renny Harlin, Paul Schrader.
Series Span:
32 years. 1973 – 2005.
The Exorcist (1973)
From a book by William Peter Blatty based on a true story about an exorcism in Maryland. Blatty also wrote a number of other screenplays over the years including an already series linked film; Peter Sellers' a Shot in the Dark. Director William Friedkin was at the peak of his powers; just coming off the French Connection in 1971. The film was nominated for 10 Oscars and is quite a famous film in the UK because of it's banning in this country. It remained unreleased in its uncut form until 1999 when it was finally passed. I remember seeing a bootlegged version of the Exorcist in college. But then I saw bootlegged versions of just about everything in college. The Exorcist had quite a lot of notoriety because of its banning but it kind of made the legend too big for the film to live up to. At least at my first viewing. This will be first time sitting down with the digitally re-mastered version.
Love it or hate it, the Exorcist is one of those movies you'll never forget. Loaded with religious iconography it features several unforgettable scenes. Mainly involving the possessed Regan O'Neil (Linda Blair). Other major players in the horror set up are her actress mother Chris (Ellen Burstyn) and priests Father Merrin (Max von Sydow) and Father Karras (Jason Miller) who perform the exorcism. The demon, Pazuzu, starts out by haunting the family house and making irritating noises in the attic and as Captain Howdy sneaking into the family Ouija board. Then little Regan starts to misbehave. In a great scene she strolls into a party says "you're going to die up there" and pisses herself. This comes about 40 minutes into the movie. I think it's fair to say that the Exorcist is a slow moving film and that if you're not particularly patient then perhaps skipping over some the earlier scenes would be beneficial. After all you HAVE to see the Exorcist! You just have to.
The Exorcist was a sensation on release. A powerful film that announced the return of Hollywood (along with box office giant Jaws, another series linked film, and The Godfather) to the world. It helped to re-write moviegoers expectations. It removed taboos and brought them out into the open. It avoided the usual pitfalls of religious movies and horror films. It made the setting feel real. The majority of the film suggests that religion is hokum and superstition. That people who believe in it are deluded. And yet its Father Karras' returning faith that is the power behind the exorcism. The Exorcist was a phenomenon. Adjusted for inflation it's the most successful R rated film of all time. People fainted in the cinemas. People felt ill. And rightfully so. The Exorcist is deliberately unsettling. There are one frame shots inserted occasionally to keep the audience unbalanced and there is a feeling of nausea just from the way the film is shot. Friedkin wanted his audience to experience the film, not just watch it. It helps that Linda Blair is so utterly convincing as the demon and the little girl. Why is it that some of the most frightening horror characters are children? Perhaps it's the innocence in the eyes that scares people. The Exorcist is certainly considered to be one of the great scary movies. Maybe it's the green vomit.
BEST BIT – Perhaps the only film that could get away with a 12 year old girl stabbing herself in the crotch with a crucifix and screaming "let Jesus fuck you". Yeah, we're blaming that one on the devil. Naturally this video clip comes with a warning if you don't care much for the description I just typed…
Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
Like when any film, but especially horror film, is a hit there's always a clamouring from the studio to make a sequel. Now for me Exorcist II was a terrible idea because a) the original was shocking because it was original and b) the entire movie worked because of Jason Miller's character. And he clearly isn't around for part II. Linda Blair was available though, because she's done very little else, and signed on to again play Regan O'Neill. Hell, her three biggest career roles are playing Regan in two Exorcist movies and playing a spoof of Regan in Repossessed in 1990. Director John Boorman was hired to direct Exorcist II despite passing on the original film because of the content. Perhaps that huge box office changed his moral sensibilities. His most famous picture is 1972's Deliverance. The biggest issue for the studio was finding a new priest to perform the exorcism. Originally Jon Voight signed on to do it but the new script, from the inexperienced William Goldhart, didn't convince him and he dropped out. The studio's next option was Jack Nicholson but he was too expensive. By the time they got to shooting the script that Linda Blair had agreed to had been chopped and changed. She was contractually obliged to appear but was no longer happy with her role. Also Richard Burton, the man hired to play the priest, was drinking pretty heavily at the time. The supporting cast isn't half bad with James Earl Jones, Ned Beatty and especially Louise Fletcher contributing.
Unfortunately despite the contributing factors Exorcist II ended up being a right fucking mess. Richard Burton just sees the role as a paycheque and happily lays on thick layers of ham. Overprounoncing the word "evil" doesn't make it anymore evil. It doesn't help that Boorman clearly didn't like the first film, which means that he tries to strip it away and replace it with his own vision. Which wouldn't be a bad thing if he was dealing with an inferior franchise but he was dealing with a great film. There's a bunch of nonsense about hypnosis and locusts. And clearly no one believes in the film's vision (and rightfully so, it's awful). William Peter Blatty had no interest in being involved, which immediately hurt the film. Also William Friedkin wanted nothing to do with it. Also Ellen Burstyn rejected all offers and she's written out of the plot as being "on location" filming. The original film's cut was laughed out of cinemas and had to be re-cut by Boorman. The final cut is even less coherent than the original and features some truly daft scenes like Regan of now battling Regan of the past, possessed by Pazuzu, for the heartbeat of Louise Fletcher.
Beyond the religious overtones there's nothing of interest in Exorcist II. It suffers from a lack of interesting visuals. It also suffers from awful performances, Burton is SO bad it's almost untrue, and horrid dialogue. What annoys me is they had a straightforward and easy prequel just sat there waiting for them. After all; Father Merrin had performed an exorcism before that "almost killed him". Just do that movie. All this bollocks about locusts is just so bad. And the locust special effects are an embarrassment. Compare them to the superb effects in the Exorcist and it's no comparison. Max von Sydow sounds like an idiot talking about "the locusts are coming because of the boy". I imagine he suffered the same way as Linda Blair; signed on for the original script and then had to deal with this pile of shit that it eventually became.
BEST BIT – Evil Regan seducing Father Lamont. She sure is sexy for a possessed chick.
The Exorcist III (1990)
William Peter Blatty was so disgusted with the horrible piece of shit that was Exorcist II: The Heretic that he volunteered his own services for the third film. Basing it on his own book "Legion" Blatty wrote a screenplay that incorporated the San Francisco Zodiac killings into the Exorcist universe. Suggesting a connection between the two. The Zodiac killer here represented by the Gemini Killer (Brad Dourif). It's not the first time Zodiac has been the centre of attention as he was also the basis for Dirty Harry's first bad guy Scorpio. More recently the film Zodiac showed the real life horror of the Zodiac killings; the real killer was never caught. Originally Exorcist III had no exorcisms at all! It was completely unrelated. The name of the film was pretty much a cash-in and nothing more. Blatty re-wrote the script to bind the two visions together and then stepped behind the camera himself to direct. A bold move, I might say! But Blatty understood not only the appeal of the Exorcist but also the possibilities its universe presented. It really is best to ignore Exorcist II and just skip ahead to this instalment.
Starring George C. Scott as detective Bill Kinderman (originally played by Lee J. Cobb in the Exorcist) and featuring a returning Jason Miller, Exorcist III really didn't have the same quality casting of Exorcist II and yet the minimising of the star power helped the film immensely. Instead of focusing on the overblown performances of stars clueless about the content of their own movie we instead get an exercise in atmosphere. It's a towering performance from George C. Scott too. Keeping it simple and not overacting. Whether he's talking about crucifixion or carp he's intense and fascinating. Brad Dourif's psychotic serial killer is one of his nuttier roles, which is saying something, and equally intense with a shade of Ledger's Joker about it. So how does Jason Miller fit into all this? Well, a certain "Patient X" is on the psycho ward at the local hospital. He's in isolation and hasn't been out of his cell in 15 years. He was brought in on the exact same date as the original exorcism with no memory. Bill Kinderman knew Damien Karras. And this man resembles Damien Karras. Only he claims to be a different man; the Gemini Killer. And has memories of the Gemini Killings that are accurate. But if it is Damien Karras, why isn't he dead? And if he IS alive is he still possessed by Pazuzu? The fact that Blatty can bring all of this together and draw great performances from all three of his leads is fascinating.
Yes, the ending gets a little silly but it's a challenging and interesting pathway to reach said conclusion. As far as third sequels go this is up there with Elm Street's Dream Warriors in terms of enjoyment. Although it's perhaps not as good as that film because of the lack of satisfaction in its final third where the plot wavers a little. The concluding exorcism feels a little tacked on, which I guess makes sense thanks to it being added after the original script. And I much prefer the mystery before it and the serial killer links. The film has its moments. There's a great scene where a nurse keeps following around suspicious noises in a tension loaded five minutes. And just then you think it's over…whammy. Blatty is pretty good at jumps and scares and throws them in sporadically for his own amusement. He has a few pacing issues but that's to be expected from this sophomore effort (he first directed on 1980's Ninth Configuration, also starring Jason Miller – hey, another link!) And I don't hold that against him. After all, this is a million times (or perhaps just three) better than the Heretic.
BEST BIT – This is only the final minute of it but this is the culmination of the nurse stalking scene.
Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)
Originally the master of paranoid cinema John Frankenheimer was hired to direct this Exorcist prequel. His last major production had been 2000's Reindeer Games though and he wasn't in the best of health and capable of completing production on this film. He stepped down and a month later passed away. The studio contemplated a possible replacement before hiring Taxi Driver scribe Paul Schrader. However Schrader's vision drastically differed from what the studio wanted. Schrader even went on record as saying that he'd provided "footage without any of the bloody violence the backers had wanted." Before he could even get into the process of finishing the film he was fired. The studio, already THIRTY MILLION DOLLARS DOWN, saw the cut and were totally dissatisfied. They'd need to hire a new director to finish the film. Nay, re-shoot the entire fucking thing. Usually this means hiring someone who works cheap and quick and just get a print out there so they could try and recoup some of the money. However some bright spark over at Morgan Creek decided to hire Renny Harlin. This being the same Renny Harlin who bankrupted Carolco Pictures with his $92M dollar pirate movie Cutthroat Island. That guy. Instead of rushing through production and using as much of Schrader's footage as possible Harlin opted to spend FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS more on re-shooting the entire film. Harlin, ever the hack, did deliver exactly what he was asked to and then shuffled off home to count his paycheque. This is Renny Harlin's second appearance in Series Link after completing a brainless sequel to a Nightmare on Elm Street. This is his brainless prequel to the Exorcist. And yet neither film is even remotely close to the worst he's ever done. So, if you see the name "Renny Harlin" on the movie you just started watching then stop immediately. Unless it's Die Hard 2 or at a push the Long Kiss Goodnight.
The plot plays out like the "Young Father Merrin Chronicles" with a younger Father Merrin (Stellan Skarsgard) investigating an old buried Byzantine church. He drinks and has lost his faith and Skarsgard plays the role like a cross between Max von Sydow in the Exorcist and Indiana Jones. He's by far the most interesting thing about the movie although Skarsgard looks somewhat burnt out (presumably after shooting the movie once before). The support is routinely weak including former Bond girl Izabella Scorupco and James D'Arcy (taking over the Gabriel Mann role after Mann was unable to meet the new Harlin shooting schedule). Alan Ford, with his unmistakable Bricktop from Snatch accent, livens things up a bit but his role is quite small. Basically not a lot of thought went into shooting the prequels. They came about because of the re-release of the Exorcist by William Friedkin. It took $40M despite being over 30 years old. People wanted the cinematic experience of the Exorcist. So the movie industry naturally wanted to cash in on that and make another movie. And the plot was always there. It's mentioned during the Exorcist that Father Merrin once performed an exorcism in Africa.
But even with the plot basically written already it's still a struggle for Harlin to get anywhere. He has a bizarre reliance on computer generated special effects and his CG hyena's are on a par with the Day After Tomorrow's wolves. And I mean that in a bad way. If anything these are even worse. They'd look poor in a video game. It doesn't help that Harlin's "scary" scenes are not even lit properly. The Indy links don't stop with the archaeology either as flashbacks reveal Nazi's to be the source of Merrin's lack of faith. If you're in search of originality the fourth instalment in a horror series probably won't provide it but regardless the choices made by Harlin, and the writer, seem a little predictable. Harlin even throws out clichés like they're going out of fashion. The dream sequence. The creepy kid. The girl in the shower. The surprise attack out of the darkness. Lights going out. Doors closing on their own. This might be good stuff if I hadn't seen it a millions times before AND were it not so poorly executed. The movie has no heart, no soul and no life to it. It's the difference between fucking a prostitute and a woman you love. From her point of view. There's no love to this movie because it's just going through the motions complete with standard music cues, mediocre cinematography and a boring script. Oh, and no scares. Which is a key missing ingredient in a horror movie.
After about an hour of the film I just wanted it to end. Mainly because Renny Harlin can't tell the difference between loud noises and actual scares. He just throws random crap and clichés at the screen in the hope that something will eventually work. If you've seen any of Harlin's other films it perhaps comes as no surprise when nothing does. The ludicrous and stupid ending is a suitable way to conclude an unpleasant film. This should have been the final nail in Renny Harlin's career. And yet he keeps getting hired! That's the real miracle at play here. The lord works in mysterious ways.
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005)
When Exorcist: The Beginning was slated by critics and performed below expectations at the box office the studio figured they might as well do something with the other movie they shot with the $80 million. Paul Schrader shot Dominion with no intent of making a horror film, which is a refreshing approach to shooting a sequel to one of the biggest horror films of all time. Of course that means it had no market at all. No wonder the studio didn't want to release it! On a limited release Dominion pulled down all of $227, 316. No, that's not a typo. That might just about have covered the catering bill on Schrader's shoot. It only ran on 110 screens for 2 weeks but even so it's still an epic failure. It's already gone down in Hollywood folklore as a modern disaster.
Dominion is basically the same film as Exorcist: The Beginning. Except the footage appears in a slightly more welcome and sensible order and one of the worst characters, Izabella Scorupco's nurse, is gone completely. Unfortunately there's no Alan Ford either. Also Gabriel Mann, the original choice for Father Francis, appears in place of the much worse James D'Arcy. The female lead is Clara Bella playing Rachel Lesno. It's a far more even character than Scorupco's femme fatale. Schrader has an interesting and old school approach to film making. No quick cuts or flashy editing or predictably irritating clichés. Unfortunately it's a weak script and the finished article is quite dull. At least Harlin's film was so bad it made for some entertainment. There are other issues with Dominion. The most obvious being the cheap appearance of the film. The sets aren't well dressed or lit. The special effects are perhaps even more fake in appearance than the woeful ones in Exorcist: the Beginning. At least there are no CG hyenas here.
Stellan Skarsgard is still the best part of the film carrying much of the storyline and dialogue. But at least here he has able support from Gabriel Mann in some of the more intense scenes about sin and religion. As a result some of the dialogue isn't bad. Some of the scenes are actually quite gripping with Mann's Father Francis playing the faith card against Merrin's world wisdom. The major in the British army played by Ralph Brown kills himself in both films and his suicide in Dominion is handled much better than in The Beginning. No goofy hallucinations and butterflies driving him over the edge. Just his own guilt over the killing of an innocent girl. It's one of several successful scenes around the hour mark where the film hits a higher gear and even brushes with becoming *gasp* enjoyable. In all the film is nowhere near as bad as Harlin's version but I can see why the studio would be alarmed. I much preferred this film though as it understood that evil needed to be taken seriously. It's still a failure but at least it hits a few high notes before turning into hokum.
RATINGS
The Exorcist ****1/2
Exorcist II: The Heretic *
The Exorcist III ***
Exorcist: The Beginning BOO!
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist **
Box Office
The Exorcist $204M (it was re-issued in the early 2000's)
Exorcist II: The Heretic $30M
The Exorcist III $26M
Exorcist: The Beginning $42M
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist $227, 316
The 411 –
The Exorcist is one of the all time great horror movies. Containing some memorable set pieces it's the defining possession movie. It's also a very strong character study and was an enormous box office success. The sequels/prequels have been mainly disappointing but Exorcist III was quite good courtesy of some taut direction from William Peter Blatty, the Exorcist scribe. The rest of the saga is best avoided although I personally quite enjoyed a chunk of Dominion more than I thought I would.
