[kj] OT - The Exorcist

[Jim Harper]

Sorry, my disbelief concerning Blatty and Friedkin's statements about their film is not so much 'ill-informed' as 'a reasoned judgement', and I'm not entirely alone either. I've read the novel more times than I've seen the movie (and it's an excellent book), and I can honestly say that in my opinion it doesn't actually have much to do with the mysteries of faith. With the exception of Karras' soul-searching, which never really gets beyond a basic level, both book and novel are far more interested in the mechanics of horror than any religious questions.
 
I didn't claim The Exorcist has no subtext; I said it has bugger all to do with the mysteries of faith. Like many horror films (including The Omen), The Exorcist has a wealth of subtext.
I just don't buy the idea that the film is a meditation on faith. It *is* an exploitation film- even today people are still lured in to see it on the basis that it's really scary/really gross/really unpleasant etc- but that doesn't mean it's a bad or stupid or irrelevant film. 
 
Jim.
 
--- On Mon, 8/9/08, Darren A. Peace <dpeace at bigfoot.com> wrote:

From: Darren A. Peace <dpeace at bigfoot.com>
Subject: Re: [kj] OT - The Exorcist
To: "'A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!)'" <gathering at misera.net>
Date: Monday, 8 September, 2008, 2:26 AM








 
The Omen and The Exorcist are two entirely different beasts. I enjoy the Omen more than the Exorcist, because it is pulpy and stupid, but the subtexts to the Exorcist are genuinely frightening to this parent. And to dismiss Blatty’s meditations on faith is just ill-informed; his earlier novel show a preoccupation, and “Exorcist III” (prior to studio manglings) was about pretty much nothing else. Sure, Freidkin (and Blatty, to a lesser extent) made the right noises when promoting the film once it was realised that it was a phenomenon, but to dismiss it as a cynical exercise in exploitation is wrong. Their commentary on the first DVD is great fun. Sure, they’re taking the piss some of the time, but they are both intelligent men with subtextual agendas worthy of attention.
 
Still remember the really crappy Omen posters before its release; the novelisation (David Seltzer, IIRC) is great fun and full of as much religious bollocks as the Da Vinci Code (written by a man who CAN’T FUCKING WRITE).
 
Darren
Hungerford, UK
 
 


      
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