Exorcism?!?!

The Exorcist is a modern United States horror film. In this movie, there is a monster portrayed as the devil in a little girl named Regan. The monster reveals itself through the bodily changes Regan goes through. Some of these body changes include skin color changes and cuts and bruises all over her body. The devil inside Regan makes her commit some of these things to herself. As a result, Regan is tied down in her bed and things are placed around her bedroom to keep her from hurting herself. Another way we witness the monster inside Regan is the change in her voice. The devil changes her voice, and it comes across as a deep man’s voice. Also, we see the monster in Regan when she can not control her bodily functions. In the first part of the movie, Regan urinates on the floor. Later in the movie, she vomits all over and seems to have no control with of her body. At first I could have been led to believe that the devil working through the little girl was the monster, however, with all of the changes the girl goes through, I knew there was something else involved.
The plot of The Exorcist is a complex discovery plot. It contains an order and the situations seem to flow in a sequence. We first sense something is not right when the little girl complains that her bed is shaking. Then the mother hears what she believes to be rats in the attic. When the mother witnesses the bed shaking, she knows something is wrong. The mother decides to takes Regan to see a doctor. The doctor performs many tests but can not find anything specifically wrong with Regan. She finally goes and speaks to a priest. The priest decides to perform an exorcism on Regan.
The Church agrees to allow two priests to perform the exorcism. Upon arriving at the girl’s home, one of the priests comes to a startling reality. The devil’s voice coming from the little girl confronts this priest and talks about his dead mother. He is confused by this talk because no one knew about his dead mother besides the other priest. As part of the exorcism, the priest sprinkles some holy water on Regan, which in turn burns Regan’s skin. During the exorcism, one of the priests is killed. He falls out of Regan’s bedroom window. The other priest continues the exorcism until it is complete. After the exorcism is over, Regan remembers nothing of what had happened to her. As a result of everything that had happened to Regan in her house, her mother decides they need to move.
Throughout the film, we do not actually see the actual monster; however, we see many characteristics of the monster through the character of Regan. Furthermore, the changes in the set affect the way we view the film. The bed shaking and the cold air we witness in the room by Regan’s breathe are two examples of how the set affects our perspective.
Likewise, I believe lighting plays a key role in The Exorcist. Like many other horror films we watched in class, suspense and fear come from darkness. I feel that The Exorcist contains a lot of dark shots. These dark shots result in added suspense. From the darkness outside of Regan’s house to the darkness in her bedroom, the suspense adds up throughout the film. Furthermore, uneasiness of the unknown in the darkness adds to the suspense.
All in all, I really enjoyed watching The Exorcist. While watching this horror film, I could relate to a lot of the topics that Carroll had written about and we had discussed in class.