Demon? There is a need of an Exorcist!

The movie The Exorcist is a great example of what Noel Carroll considers an art-horror film. The reason that it is considered a great example is through the idea of the monster, plot, details, and scenes that the movie portrays.

The first thing that should be mentioned is that the movie had a monster. The monster in this film was seen as both threatening and impure, the two classifications of monsters that are seen in horror films. The monster in this case is a demon named Pacuzu. The demon inside the little girl is threatening through her threats, comments, and through the death of one individual, who is thrown out the window and killed. The monster even threatened the life of the little girl by possessing her and causing harm to her (the bed scene where the demon is trying to take control of her). The monster is also seen as impure because of the way the demon used the girl to move-- the way she could spin her head all away around or even the scene of the girl walking down the stairs in a back bend. The demon in the girl is also seen as impure because of the language that it uses, its horrible/rude comments, the way the way they made the girl look. The demon transformed the girl from looking like a normal human being into a “horrifying” monster that people were afraid of and tempted to get away from.



If I were to classify the type of monster that the demon would be, I would say it would be a fusion monster. The reason I say this is for the fact that the demon was taking over the girl’s body. Since the monster fused with the girl’s body and took over it, the monster should be classified as a fusion type monster. Someone can tell that if the body was being taken over by the cuts on the face and the paleness of the girl’s skin.

The second thing that made the movie an art-horror movie was that it had a complex discovery plot. The onset of the movie was that there was a demon outside the world and would later cause problems for certain people. The next step after this is the idea of discovery. The mom (Chris) discovers that there is something wrong with her daughter and that it seems that it is more than a psychological problem. She demands that there is a problem and wants her daughter to be safe. The third part of the plot is the confirmation of the demon inside Regan, the little girl. Many people don’t believe the mother so she gets a priest to come see Regan to see if she is being possessed. The priest suspects that there will be a need for an exorcism and the church confirms that an exorcism can be used. The fourth and final stage of The Exorcist is the idea of confrontation. In the movie the confrontation begins when the exorcism begins. These scenes are very dramatic and it causes suspense (suspense at its greatest). The confrontation allows the audience to know how strong the monster is and how much it tempts the priest and their ways. In the end, the confrontation ends when Father Karrass asked the demon to come into him. The demon does and Father Karrass jumps out the window, killing himself and getting rid of the demon.

There are many scenes throughout the movie that also should be mentioned on why it is classified as art-horror. The first that should be talked about is the mise-en-scenes in the movie. In the movie there was an emphasis on the color red. There would be scenes where there would be red in the background, the beginning credits were red, blood scenes, and scenes where red was being worn. Red in this film is seen as a representation that there was evil in the film. Also, the film had an emphasis on lighting—causing dramatic scenery. In the film its always dark, representing eeriness and that something could happen at any time. For example it was always dark outside, the house was always dark, and the flickering lights in the subway caused suspense because the lights would come off and on. Another thing that caused suspense and horror was the eerie music being played in certain places in the film. The shaking of the bed and the flame rising in the attic also caused suspense because we as an audience can’t explain what is going on and the flame rising in the attic caused a certain shock and scare. Also, the scene where the room is really cold shows that there was some eeriness that there was a demon in the girl and that it wasn’t just some disorder.

There are also many scenes in the movie that can be considered as mise-en-shots. For example the close up to the girl’s face caused horror; there was an emphasis on the door as the priests were about to enter the Regan’s room as something horrible was in there. There was also a shot with the steps where Burke so-called fell to his death. This shot shows emphasis on how many steps Burke “apparently” fell down to cause his death . There was a long shot and deep focus photography in the kitchen to show that there was some sort of evil in the house and that the evil could be anywhere within the house. I also believe that this scene was dramatic and that the danger could come from anywhere in that room at anytime. Another thing that should be mentioned is the scenes where a monster’s face would just show up. For example, in the kitchen scene there was a face on the stove and there are places where this monster’s face would show up as well. I thought the monster’s face was not necessary for the film, but they were used in different shots to make it more horrifying. Finally, there is a scene that I believe was well done. In the shot the daughter is listening very closely to her mother’s conversation and she doing this by hiding behind a wall in her room. The scene shows the girl close up hiding, while the mother talks about her daughter in the other room. This scene is an example of deep focus photography, which causes the scene to be very dramatic.

Overall, the movie was sort of confusing when I watched it. But after reading what Carroll says throughout his book about The Exorcist, the movie becomes more understanding. In the movie there is no realization of why there is a demon or why it is attacking. Carroll says that the book written by Blatty says that Father Merrin, an exorcist, had a premonition that the demon Pazuzu, who is the demon of the realm of sickness and disease, is going to strike again. To me this should have been put in the film, because the scene with Father Merrin in the beginning wasn’t really understanding for some. All I thought was that he had found some relics and he looked at a statue that was scary to him. Another thing that Carroll mentions is that in the book many strange occurrences occur before Regan was possessed. For example, Carroll mentioned that things began to be missing (clothes and one of her favorite toys), foul smells in her room, and her bureau seemed to have been moved. The only thing the movie mentioned was the bed shaking, the strange noises in the attic, and the Ouija board incident from the book. I believe that Carroll gives great details by explaining the book and what the movie really didn’t say.

In the end, I believe that The Exorcist was a decent horror film. The ideas, details, monster, and scenes portrayed throughout the film caused more suspense, horror, and made used the idea of “thought” because some people think that this could or may occur. If someone was to ask me today what horror movie would I recommend them to watch, The Exorcist would be at the top of the list. I was horrified and Carroll even said that he was scared of it as well.