Rewatching The Exorcist

The Exorcist is one of those quintessential horror movies through which you are introduced to the horror genre. Most people have a story about how they watched The Exorcist for the first time. Some of those stories have become urban legends like - how a person died of a heart attack in Mumbai when he saw The Exorcist alone in a theater as part of a challenge. Along with such urban legends, the iconic scenes in the film also have contributed to its classic status. I vaguely remember the first time I saw the film. Like most others, I saw it during my adolescence. What remained in my terrified mind was the spider walk down the stairs, Regan's 180 degree head turn and all the green vomit. At that age it registers as a straight horror flick, which offers nothing more than conventional scares. It all changed when I watched it again last week.

The Exorcist is a much more mature and deep film in the eyes of an adult viewer. It explores themes of faith and rationality, parenthood, guilt and grief. The script is set in a classic 3- act structure with a prologue and an epilogue. The prologue and epilogue, each serves a very specific purpose in the script. The prologue establishes the hidden theme and the epilogue offers a consolation or compromise to the conflicted audience.

The synopsis for the uninitiated (skip if you've seen the movie)

Fr. Merrin - an Archaeologist and catholic priest - is on a dig in Iraq, where he discovers an amulet and other artifacts of an ancient Mesopotamian deity - Pazuzu.

Chris McNeil, a successful actress and single mother, lives near the set of her current movie in a college town with her 12-year old daughter Regan. Regan plays with an Ouija board and apparently attracts a demonic possession. Dennings, Chris' director and with whom she is in an apparent relationship, is found dead outside Regan's window due to a fall. Her condition worsens when she starts talking in obscene language and inflicts self harm. Her psychiatrists and other physicians fail to successfully diagnose her condition.

Chris decides to perform an exorcism (although being a non-believer herself) and seeks the help of Fr. Karras for the ritual. Fr. Karras is going through a faith crisis following the death of his mother. He is also plagued by guilt of him not being able to look after his mother during her last days. Due to Fr. Karras's lack of experience, Fr. Merrin is brought to conduct the exorcism.

During the night of the ritual, both the priests initiate the exorcism. Regan goads and insults both of them with obscene language and tries to manipulate Fr. Karras' guilt. He soon finds it exhausting and difficult to continue with the ritual. Merrin asks him to take a break while he continues with the ritual. His advanced age and stress of the ritual causes Merrin to die of a heart attack. This enrages Karras and he attacks Regan. In a final act of self sacrifice, he asks the demon to posses him and leave the girl alone. Once he is possessed, he jumps out of the window and falls to his death. Right before his death, he offers his final confession to his friend Fr. Dyer.

Later a visibly shaken Chris and Regan leave the house. Regan has no recollection of the events and Chris tries to keep it all hushed up.

The Prologue

The movie starts off with a 10 minute prologue showing the life of Fr. Merrin in Iraq during his archaeological stint. The visuals start with the daily Islamic call for prayer in the background. He finds some artifacts of the demon Pazuzu and he is visibly disturbed. He decides to wind up his work and return back to the U.S. The final scene of the prologue is quite remarkable and leaves a disturbing impression on the viewer. Fr. Merrin is walking alone to the dig site. It is almost sunset. He walks up to a life size statue of Pazuzu and he is almost startled by its demonic majesty. The scene is inter cut with the visuals of two rabid dogs fighting in the desert. As he stares at the statue, the noise of the dog fight creates an intense experience for the viewer. The scene dissolves with Merrin and Pazuzu looking at each other in the eye with the sound of the dogs fighting in the background.

This symbolizes the whole theme of the movie. It can be interpreted as a fight between the Abraham religions, the conflict between the Pagans and the Catholic church, or even better - the conflict between faith and doubt. The sound of the feral dogs can be a metaphor for this conflict or even the internal conflict of Fr. Merrin. It shows the excellence in the craft of the screenplay and the film maker's ability to compose a meaningful frame. This also gives a foreshadowing of what is yet to come and provides a platform for the overall theme of the film.

Father Karras

The character of Fr. Karras carries the weigh of the film's theme. His grief over his mother's death is only made worse by his guilt. He was unable to take good care of his mother or devote some quality time with her during her last days. She also had to be put in an institution due to her mental illness. In times of such personal challenges it is understandable for one to question his/her belief system. Fr. Karras is also a psychiatrist, a profession which often contradicts his faith. It is in such trying times, Karras is faced with the daunting task of exorcising Regan.

During the exorcism, Karras struggles between the steadfast faith of Fr. Merrin and his self doubt induced by the possessed Regan. He even sees a vision of his mother on her deathbed. His lack of belief in this ritual and his scientific background as a psychiatrist adds to his crisis. It is interesting to note that both the priests' faith ultimately leads to their deaths. Fr. Merrin's staunch Catholic faith makes him go on with the stressful ritual and eventually leads to his heart attack. Merrin's death reinforces Karras' broken faith and makes him do an act of incredible self sacrifice. In the end, Karras finds solace in the death confession he gives to his friend Fr. Dyer. The film does not dictate a verdict on religious faith- which brings us to the Epilogue.

The Epilogue

After the McNeils have left their home, Kinderman - the detective who is investigating the death of Dennings and now Karras, is met with Fr. Dyers outside the McNeils house. They form a quick friendship over the loss their mutual friend Fr. Karras and walk away together for lunch.

Exorcist Movie Epilogue Scene

The character of Kinderman represents the irrelevance of reason and logic when it comes to matters of religious faith. He appears throughout the film trying to find an answer to the death of Dennings through his interviews of Chris and Karras. Fr. Dyers represents the resilience of the catholic faith in the face of doubt and apostasy which has enabled it to survive for centuries. Both Dyers and Kinderman (interestingly a Jewish name) do not discuss the tragedy that has passed, but discuss the possibility of watching a movie together and maybe having lunch. Kinderman might or might not pursue his investigation, while nothing can question Fr. Dyer's faith. Both of them walk away hand in hand for their lunch. The epilogue does not give a conclusion on who won - faith or reason. It merely suggests that this is an age old battle that will never be over, and nudges the audience in the direction of being mere viewers. Remarkably, the last background audio the audience hears is the same as the opening visuals in the prologue - an Islamic call to prayer.

I would strongly recommend the readers - especially the ones who have not seen this film in a long time - to watch The Exorcist again. It is a treat for the casual viewers as well as for the students of cinema, for all the inter-text contained in the script masterfully hidden under a gallon of green vomit.