This Horrific Life: In Here, With Us
They may be legion, but there is only one great exorcism movie
In 1973, The Exorcist created a new horror sub-genre only to leave it crippled when the credits rolled.
William Friedkin’s masterpiece finds two priests attempting to exorcize the demon Pazuzu, who has came to possess a teenage girl via a Ouija board. Father Merrin is self-assured and old, Father Karras is young and full of doubt. The movie tests their resolve and, though they succeed in releasing the girl, well, it ends badly for the priests.
The appeal of The Exorcist is impossible to ignore. It is one of the biggest grossing movies of all time and became an enduring pop culture touchstone. Countless exorcism movies have followed in the ensuing decades, with an increasing number appearing in recent years. They either ape The Exorcist and end tragically or, to differentiate from The Exorcist, they end well.
Who wants a horror movie that ends well?
Possession has always been a prominent theme in horror. The loss of self, the subversion of the will by outré forces, this is horror that strikes at the very heart of personal identity. I think, therefore I am, unless there is something else in here with me.
Many tales concern the notion of a personality subsumed by another - The Tenant, by Roland Topor and “The Thing on the Doorstep,” by H.P. Lovecraft, spring to mind - but these are tales of psychic possession. Before The Exorcist, I can think of no notable story that pits a priest against a demonic possession. The reason for this is simple: exorcism stories are boring and unfrightening.
It is a matter of construction. The core of the story is the struggle between the man of faith and the unclean spirit, with the innocent victim caught between. There are only two possible outcomes. Either the priest succeeds and the demon is driven out, or he fails and the demon remains. In the end, it isn’t even the priest who is doing the heavy lifting. God is ultimately responsible for the demon’s exit. “The power of Christ compels you.”
Compare this to the psycho-sexual alienation of The Tenant, in which the new tenant, Trelkovsky, finds himself becoming Simone Choule, the previous tenant who threw herself out the apartment window. There are no rules for this possession, no all powerful father figure to turn to when things get out of hand. His descent into madness is inexorable.
This past summer saw the release of James Wan’s The Conjuring, a surprisingly creepy haunted house story. The mood is thick from the very start and the supernatural events escalate at a rapid pace, simultaneously scaring the audience and establishing the house as a formidable character in the drama. Whenever the movie starts to stray into silly territory, the atmosphere and its powerful sense of place that keeps it on point.
That is, until the end, when it becomes apparent that this is less a haunted house story than it is an exorcism. God gets called on to sort out the Satanic ghost witch who has been causing all the problems. In five minutes, the oppressive haunting is cleansed, wounds are miraculously healed and the characters are all smiles. It is deus ex machina in the most literal sense.
Possession and exorcism work well as a device for horror, but not the focus. Evil Dead, the first two [REC] movies and Fallen all riff on the idea without allowing it to become central to the plot. A particular favorite is in Constantine, where the exorcism is brief, intense, clever and resolved through John’s ingenuity rather than divine intervention.
Movies like The Conjuring are mere echoes of The Exorcist. The man of faith squares off against a demon and is increasingly hard pressed in the battle until, digging deep within himself, he finds the will to victory. That’s not a horror movie. That’s Rocky.
The 40th Anniversary Blu-ray edition of The Exorcist hit stores this month. With both the original theatrical cut and the extended director’s cut included, along with a 40-page memoir from director William Friedkin about the making of the movie, it is well worth the price.
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