The Exorcist (1973)

Prepare to navigate the chilling world of The Exorcist, a horror classic that has terrified audiences for decades. Your host, Travis Dudding, promises to guide you through the layers of this eerie tale, from ancient demonic figures to the complexities of personal battles. Brace yourself for an exploration of faith, fear, and family relationships that will leave you on the edge of your seat. 

As we step into the shoes of Father Lancaster Merrin, we unearth the roots of the evil that torments the MacNeil family. We unravel the harrowing indicators of Regan's possession and the chilling evidence that leads to the doctors suggesting an exorcism. Not only do we dissect the horrifying scenes with precision, but we also shed light on the characters' struggles, raising thought-provoking questions about mental health and the human capacity to endure hardship. 

Our journey culminates with the unforgettable climactic exorcism scene, where we stand shoulder to shoulder with Father Merrin and Father Karras. Tensions rise and the air thickens as we experience the desperate plea that could alter Regan's fate forever. As we wrap this thrilling episode, we reflect on the profound impact of 'The Exorcist' on the horror genre. Join us on this unsettling deep-dive into the darkness, and let's confront the demons of this cinematic masterpiece together.

Own The Exorcist today!
If you'd like to own your own copy for when this film isn't streaming, look no further!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello and welcome to another episode of movies, colon. They're pretty good. I'm your host, travis Dudding, and today we got another one of the scariest movies ever made those, that's what it was considered to be for the longest time. We have 1973's the Exorcist, directed by William Friedkin. Uh, figured this would be. Not only is this one of my favorite movies, but somewhat topical, since the sequel just came out, like the new sequel that pretends that there were no other sequels before it. Uh, so let's get right into it.

Speaker 1: 0:45

We open, uh in northern Iraq or Iraq, um, we see some uh Archaeological digs. Um, we see uh max von Seidau, uh, who, will learn, is a priest named father Lancaster Marin, and during this dig he finds a? Uh, like a small little statue, like a figurine of, like a demonic face. Um and uh, well, later, well, you, they never say it outright, so I think this is something that came in like one of the um, one of the sequels that I haven't seen. Uh, but the demon's name is Pazuzu and um, so he sees the sculpture of that and then it it kind of seems like shaking about it too. Um, and we don't really know why. We see him in the, in an office, talking to somebody and talking about how he's gonna be uh Leaving soon and the they hate to see him go, but he has something he has to do. Uh. But what's interesting is, while he's in the uh office, um, the uh pendulum on the clock uh stops all of a sudden and uh, um, it's not really you know, nothing explained just like. It's just there to um. Give you the sense that like something's not right and that there's Uh evil afoot. I guess you know it sound like a mermaid man, um, um, but uh, uh, whatever he has to do, he um goes uh to uh back to the archaeological site um, and he goes and finds this uh like a full statue of the uh demon Pazuzu Um that matches the little figurine he found. It's up on a hill and like, as he's looking at it, there's like dogs fighting viciously in the background and stuff and the um there's like the music is causing like a lot of tension and everything. So um, but it's just uh like this shot of him like looking at it and uh, we see him and the statue in the same frame, and then it uh cuts away from uh iraq and uh father marin until much later in the film uh, and cuts to georgetown in uh dc.

Speaker 1: 3:11

Um, so, right next to washington dc, uh, you know it's weird. For the longest time, like, uh, I always thought that dc was just washington dc, but you know, it makes sense, like it is like a territory. It's smaller than all the states but it is. It makes sense that there would be more than one city in quotes there. But I have been there and I have actually been to the uh house where they filmed this. Um, not like inside or anything, but it's on the uh, it's on prospect street. Uh, in georgetown. Uh, right around the corner from georgetown.

Speaker 1: 3:51

Cupcakes, which I think have like a reality show on tlc for a while, um, really good cupcakes, uh, but every time I was over there tried to kill two birds with one stone. Get the cupcakes and go. Uh, look at the exorcist house. Um, we, uh, we see the? Um, this is how we get introduced to the mcneal family. Uh, the mother, chris mcneal, played by ellen burston. Uh, she is waking up. We see her like, well, not not waking up, but she's going over like scripts in the morning because she's an actress and she's uh, as she's moving through the house in the early morning, she hears some noises coming from the attic and she, like uh, tells the housekeeper slash cook, um, carl, uh, that uh there might be rats in the attic. And he's like, no, like the attic's clean, like there's no rats up there. And then she's like, well, just go check please. You know um that we uh meet the daughter reagan, played by linda blare. Um, the uh Father seems to be out of the picture somewhat.

Speaker 1: 5:07

They later say that he's in europe, um, but they're. I don't know if they're fully divorced or just separated, but there's uh some Tension there and it's a touchy subject and he kind of seems to be pretty hands-off, from what we could tell. Uh, she has a an assistant, that's there. Uh, her name's sharon. Um, like I said, carl, the housekeeper slash cook, and his wife, um, I forget her name. You know they don't say it too often, um, I don't even say carl too often, to be honest, but uh, like I said, german, uh immigrants, well, uh, swiss, he says later, but you know it's that region of europe. Like I said, uh tells, tells carl about the rats. Um Cut to her on set, uh filming at college campus, presumably georgetown.

Speaker 1: 6:05

Um, it's a big outdoor scene. Uh, there's like a protest for the vietnam war is part of the scene and everything. We see the director, berk dennings. Um, we see, as she's uh talking to the director, there's a big crowd of people just watching the movie being filmed. Uh, and then this is where we see uh father carus for the first time, another one of our leads. Uh, as she's uh walking home from the set. Uh, we see that there's uh trick-or-treaters out, so it's halloween day or halloween night.

Speaker 1: 6:45

Um, on this first day, uh, as she's walking past the church, she notices uh father carus in there and she uh, uh, she's never met him at this point. She didn't notice him at the set or anything, but for whatever reason, she's just like Visually drawn to him and just kind of like notices him and not like in a creepy way, like, oh, like she's checking him out, but she just, for whatever reason, you know, like fate intervened and she happened to look to the side and notice him and watch him for a little bit and just seemed kind of intrigued and then moved on. Um, she gets home and reagan's uh talking to her about her day, how she like rode horses and stuff. Um, then we cut to uh father carus at the subway station waiting to wait in the board. And here, as he's waiting for the the train to pull up, there's a uh homeless man, uh laying by, uh call him, and uh says hey, father, would you help an old altar boy? Out, like I'm a catholic, uh, and it's interesting because and now you assume like, oh, priest, he's gonna like help the needy and stuff, but he he seems like put off by it and not like Not in a way like oh, this gross bum, or anything like that, but just in a like Like he sensed something was off with the guy, like so it's just an interesting look and an interesting exchange, and then, like his eyes seem a little like glazy when the Light from the subway is hitting them. Uh, just an interesting scene.

Speaker 1: 8:31

Uh, we see him in uh new york city that's where he was taken the train to, um, and kind of like a rundown neighborhood. I don't want to say a bad neighborhood, but uh, you know you could tell there's a lot of uh vandalism, a lot of buildings boarded up and the car windows are broken and trash everywhere and stuff. And he's going to uh see, uh visit his mom and that's where his mom lives. Uh, we gather that uh from a later conversation that the? Uh, he's trying to convince her to go stay in like a retirement home, you know someplace nice that he can pay for, and uh, put her up and she won't be alone all the time. And she's like, no, like this is my home, like this is where I live. You know, I'm not going anywhere.

Speaker 1: 9:27

Um, cut back to the mcneill house, uh, or down in the basement and uh, reagan's finishing up like a clay sculpture that she made of a bird, and Chris finds a Ouija board and she's like, oh hey, where'd this come from? And Reagan says that she found it in the closet and she's like, oh well, do you know how to use it? She's like, yeah, here, I'll show you. And when they go to, when they put it down and go to play with it, the little thing I forget what it's called, the little triangle thing, but that moves like real quick over to the no, like flies out of Reagan's hand and hits the no, and so that's, that's interesting. And Reagan says that the, that the spirit that she's been talking to, is named Captain Howdy and she's trying to ask Captain Howdy some questions and like do you think my mother's pretty? And you know, typical like preteen girl questions and stuff like that, that of the time, and but then now the thing's not moving or anything.

Speaker 1: 10:51

Next day we just get a short scene of Chris on the phone. She's on the phone with the operator trying to get a call to Europe, to Reagan's dad, and she's super angry, she's frustrated and she's like, says out loud like that you can't even call his own daughter on her birthday. And we see that Reagan is Eve, is dropping on all this in the other room and you know she seems bothered but also not surprised. You know, next morning, like they don't say like what time it is, but very early in the morning, I'm assuming Chris gets a call saying like, oh, we're going to go, we're going to do the scene we need John set. And she's like oh, my gosh, like I feel like I just went to bed, like, but fine, like, okay, I'll be there. And then, as she's getting up out of bed, she realizes that Reagan's in the bed with her and she's like hey, like what are you doing here? And she says like I couldn't sleep, my bed was shaking, and that she's like, okay, like you know, it doesn't really put too much into it and just thinks that maybe she was just having a nightmare or something.

Speaker 1: 12:00

So gets up and goes to work and everything. But as or gets up like he's going to get ready to go to work. But as she's getting up she hears the noises in the attic again, and so she's like, okay, this time I'm going to go check it out. So she pulls the thing down and grabs a candle and goes up the ladder to go check things out. She's going through there. The attic's dark, the light won't turn on. That's why she had to get the candle and doesn't really see anything. No rats, obviously. She sees the rat trap and it still has the cheese on it. So no rats in there. But right as she's getting back towards the door, the flame on her candle like magnifies, like 10 times and just like the flame, just like, shoots up towards the ceiling. And then Carl's there at the top of the ladder saying like hey, like everything, okay, see, see, there's no rats, you know. And then she's like all right, you know, whatever. Like I got to get ready for work.

Speaker 1: 13:10

Now we cut to a priest, not one we've seen before and not like a named character in the movie, but is a priest like he's got some flower pots that he's going to put out in the church and kind of maybe just doing like a morning routine and everything. He puts one vase of flowers and one side of the church and as he's walking over to the other side of the front part not the stage, but you know what I mean the altar so he puts it on the one side of the altar and as he's walking over to the other he we see his face, that he's noticing something. And then cut to the Virgin Mary statue. That's been like completely desecrated, like there's like these like large bloody cones coming out of the breast and genitals and just like obviously he's stunned and shocked and everything.

Speaker 1: 14:07

And then it cuts away from that, cut to Father Charis. He's back in New York and he's talking with his uncle and he's arguing with them and he's in like a hallway and we gather that he is upset with the uncle because the uncle put his mom and psych ward and it's like, not like the best, not the cleanest, not the best one and not the correct deal for her situation, because from what we've seen there's nothing like mentally wrong with her. She just like her leg was hurt and you know what to do with her. So he just put her in like the cheapest place and everything like that. So Charis was pretty upset with that, goes in there to see her and everything. And she's upset like oh, demi, like why am I in this place? Like why'd you put me here? And he's like don't worry, like we're going to get you out and everything. We see another conversation with the uncle and he's like what, like you know, you could have paid for, instead of being a priest, if you would have been a famous psychiatrist, then you could have put her up in a nice hospital and everything. And it's like who's got the money for that? You Like you don't have it, I don't have it. But either way he pulls her out of there.

Speaker 1: 15:32

We get like a quick shot of, or a quick scene of, him boxing. So he's like you could tell that he's getting his frustrations out in the gym and everything. He's boxing the bag and everything. Then we cut to a party at the McNeil's house. You see that the director, burke Dennings is already a little drunk and he's harassing Carl the housekeeper, asking him like oh, like, what is it you did? For the Gestapo was a public relations. And he's just Carl's like what are you talking about? I'm Swiss. And he's like, oh, did you ever go bowling with Goebbels? And calls him a Nazi bastard and just trying to like provoke him for whatever reason. Like either he's drunk or you know whatever.

Speaker 1: 16:28

We see Chris talking to a friend of hers that's a priest, father dire, and asks about father Karris. And he's like, hey, like I've seen this priest a couple times out and about, like what's the deal with him? And he's like, oh, like he's a, he works with the, he's like a psychiatrist but also a priest, and so he does a lot of mental health stuff at the church. And he's like actually had like a pretty sound, a pretty rough week. His mom just died. Apparently she had been Dead for a couple days by the time someone found her. So it's a little confusing.

Speaker 1: 17:08

In the movie I don't know if, like something was cut from it, but it's also confusing in the For this viewing I'm doing the theatrical cut, but even in the directors cut it's a little confusing cuz, you see, the last time you see his mom is she's still in the hospital and as far as I could tell you don't outwardly hear the hospital, none of that. So you're just like, oh, she's in the hospital. He leaves, he's upset and then she's dead. But she's was dead in her own home for five days before anyone found her. So it's a little confusing. It's like okay, like was the hospital in his head, was like a way that I went down in my head like a little rabbit hole, but then I just looked it up it was like, oh, okay, like he did take her from the hospital. So it's just more. It's just a few days later, not the next day, like. So a few of the guests are starting to leave.

Speaker 1: 18:14

We see Chris make sure Burke gets into a cab. You know cuz obviously he's too way too drunk to drive. Oh yeah, at one point he does attack Carl, like kind of like tackles him and stuff and like provokes one of the point where it's like a fight that gets broken up. He gets at home and everything. Then once the parties died down to where it's just there's having a good time, and then Reagan comes downstairs from bed in her pajamas and she just kind of stands there watching everybody and just like staring very intently and they're like Reagan, like honey, what's wrong? And then she just says You're gonna die up there and then starts peeing on the rug and everyone's just like, oh K, like what's going on, like that's really weird, that's very ominous, it's very uncomfortable and it's like Reagan like what's wrong, like, and then gets her upstairs and get, gives her a bath and everything Cut to Carous, having a dream and well, nightmare.

Speaker 1: 19:44

Bunch of different things. In the dream we see like a necklace falling and there's like very little sound. In the dream too we see His mom coming up from up the stairs from a subway station. Out from under the ground we see the dogs fighting. From the Iraq scene we see the white, demonic face of Pazuzu that will come back a couple times, a lot more in the director's cut. We see the clock from the office as it's stopped In the also back in the Iraq scenes, and then Karris is like across the street, like trying to call for his mother who seemingly can't hear him, and then she goes back down into the subway. So just a lot of eerie, ominous imagery that seems disconnected but like Disconnected in logic but connected in feeling, if that makes sense.

Speaker 1: 20:59

Now we cut to the hospital, where you know they're trying to figure out what's going on with Reagan. She's like fighting with the, the nurses and the doctors and she's screaming at them like you fucking bastards, and spits on the doctor and like all this stuff. And oh, and I skipped the scene because before the Father Karris's dream there's an African American Karris's dream there's an after Chris gave Reagan a bath and everything, she puts her back to bed, goes downstairs and then there's. Then she's here, is like screaming like mother, help me. As she runs up into Reagan's room and her bed's like shaking like a lot, and so she like climbs on onto the bed and everything and and it's still shaking with her on the bed and that's why she's like, okay, like let's go get some tests done. You know what's going on.

Speaker 1: 22:01

So after the whole, like when she's like Cussing and screaming at the doctors and spitting on them, chris is talking to a doctor in the hallway or in the office, I forget which one and and she's telling the doctor like well, like the bed was shaking, like even with me on it, and he's like, well, sometimes there could be like seizures and stuff like that, and just kind of like blowing off and not really listening to what she's saying, and he's like the problem is not with your bed, it's with her bed, it's with her brain. You know, yes, cuz her, the lesions in her brain made the whole fucking bed Move up and down, you know. But it's also one of those things it's like if you don't see it it's hard to believe it, you know. But yeah, I think it's a lesion in the brain and the Temporal lobe or frontal lobe, I forget, but either way that and sometimes that causes seizures. So let's do some more medical deaths. So you're getting like different Pet scan, ct scan and all that, like they're doing everything. All the x-rays Takes her back home, ends up calling the doctors to the house and as they get there they go up into the room and they see her like flailing on the bed, like violently, and so this is the first time they're like, oh, okay, it's more than just a seizure, but they're also still not fully convinced.

Speaker 1: 23:49

And Reagan's just screaming like, as she's flailing, like it's burning, it's burning, it hurts, it hurts. Then she stops flailing and her head goes back and her eyes turn white and like her throat starts getting big as she's letting out this like primal growl, like you know, and Like her throat like swells, like super big and everything, like there's a, like a bubble moving through it, you know. Then she hops up on her on her feet and Slaps the doctor and says, keep away, the sour is mine. And then she's like Chant, like screaming, like fuck me, fuck me, hits the doctor. Then it cuts away from that scene and they're out the hallway and the doctors are like trying to say like well, they compare it to, like these feats of strength that she's doing to win a mother has like an adrenaline rush that allows her to lift a car off of her child or something like that. So they're still not like Really getting what's going on. They're still pretty skeptical, even though, basically, seeing some stuff that would convince anybody, you know. So they take her in for more tests. The x-rays come back negative. There's nothing Medically that they can see wrong with her. No, no, lesion on the temporal lobe, nothing. So it's just a doctor's asking Chris if there's any drugs in the house and she's like no, like I Won't even smoke weed out of the house, you know. So I don't do any of that stuff.

Speaker 1: 25:47

Then we see her driving home and while she's driving home at night, we see like a large crowd gathered and there's the ambulances and stuff and these are at a bot at the bottom of a set of stairs that leads from the lower I Think third street up to Prospect Street, which is where their house is, and it goes like right next to the house and Like it's all there, like they didn't add these stairs or anything like those are all there if you go there in person. And still Super steep, super high stairs and there's some kind of commotion, a bunch of people, ambulances and everything at the bottom of the stairs, but she doesn't seem to notice. Gets home, she's like calling for Sharon and like, and she doesn't seem to be home either. She's like, okay, like I, you know I left Reagan with Sharon. Like where the hell is she? She's looking around the house. I can't find her anywhere. She goes up to Reagan's room, oh, and as she's like moving through the house, the lights are flickering a bunch, like a weird amount Gets up to Reagan's room. It's all like freezing in there, the windows wide open, but Reagan's asleep. So she goes and closes the window, goes back downstairs.

Speaker 1: 27:15

Sharon comes home and and Chris is like where the hell were you? And she's like well, like didn't he tell you? Like didn't who told me? And so she Called Burke Dennings to watch Reagan while she went to the pharmacy to get the Thorazine for Reagan, and but Burke's nowhere to be found, you know. And so like, okay, like where the like? Where the hell is he? Then there's Someone at the door, goes and answers the door and it's one of Chris's friends and she's in. He says low, I suppose you've heard and heard what. And he's like, oh, burke's dead. And then so, okay, like, wait what? And the guy's like, yeah, like he must have been drunk and Fell down the stairs and like, by the time me, the outside stairs that go down the 3rd Street, and that by the time he hit the bottom his neck was broken and he was dead. And so Chris breaks down like, oh, my god, like what's happening? She's freaking out, her friend, her director, is dead.

Speaker 1: 28:32

So now we cut to a hypnotism. So the psychiatrist have exhausted all medical possibilities and scientific possibilities, so they're trying to Broaden it a little bit, you know. So they bring in a hypnotist and they're hypnotizing Reagan and Asking her questions, like is there someone inside of you? And she says sometimes, and Hypnotist has asked like can I speak to them? And she says no, I'm afraid. And and but then the hypnotist says like all right, I'm speaking to the person inside of Reagan and then her like demeanor changes and she starts to like kind of growl a little bit and the demon that like starts to emerge. Then the goes to ask some questions and Reagan like grabs him, like in the I don't know if, like she grabs his crotch but grabs something between the legs and like squeezes really hard and like tackles the doctor to the ground and everything and they pull her off Screaming and everything Cut away from that to see father Karris jogging on like a track and there's someone watching him from the bleachers and we find out this is detective Lieutenant kinderman, played by Lee J Cobb, starts asking him questions and like hey, like, what do you know about witchcraft?

Speaker 1: 30:11

And he's like, oh, I, you know, wrote paper on it from the site. Yet psychiatric standpoint, and basically the lieutenant thinks that the desecration of the church and Burke Denning's death may be connected and also have something to do with witchcraft, something like that, like a black mass, something. This is where we find out that Burke Denning's head was Completely turned around like a complete 180, like his head was facing backwards when they found his body at the bottom of the stairs. And and Karris is like cheese, like could that happen in the fall? And the lieutenant kinder runs like it's possible but very unlikely. So his hypothesis is that he might have that something happened to him before he fell, like his head was already turned around or he was killed before he went down the stairs.

Speaker 1: 31:23

Now we cut to a team of doctors like all around the table talking to Chris and just like, and she even like says like 88 fucking doctors and no one can find out what's wrong with my daughter. And someone finally says like hey, like do you have any religious beliefs? And she says no. And someone else asks like what about your daughter? And Chris is like what? Like where's this going? Like what are you talking about? And someone speaks up and asks like have you heard of exorcism? And talks about how like many cultures and religions have exorcisms. No one really does it any war, but the Catholics still do it like in secret, but they're like kind of ashamed of it too.

Speaker 1: 32:12

So after that old conversation we cut back to the house. She's in Reagan's room checking on her and she finds a cross under her pillow. And as she's finding this cross, we see Lieutenant Kinerman. He's out at the bottom of the stairs just kind of surveying the crime scene and in like a pile of leaves and dead grass and stuff, he finds the same Pazuzu head figurine thing that Father Marin found in Iraq. So but you know, obviously he didn't see the beginning of the movie so he could have. He has no connection to that, but it's still something suspicious. He goes up the stairs, he knocks on the door and wants to talk to Chris. You know a questioner ask her about Burke Dennings, ask if it was possible that someone else could have been in the room with them. You know a third person to, like you know, kill him, turn his head around and throw him out the window, basically, you know.

Speaker 1: 33:30

So then, pretty much right as the Lieutenant is leaving, chris kind of like takes a second, like there's a little silence for like a few moments and then there's commotion upstairs and Reagan's screaming. There's a lot of like noise going on. She runs up there there's, opens the door, like all the things from the wall and everything are flying around the room, all the furniture's moving. She then, reagan, grabs the. She just grabs the crucifix that was under her pillow. She starts like violently masturbating with it, like not that you could see anything graphic, but there is like blood cause, it is like a rigid metal cross and she's like saying, like let Jesus fuck you. And she's like saying that over and over again. And she grabs Chris's face and like shoves it into the blood and says like look me, look me. And like her voice is like super deep, because they took this like older woman who was a smoker and had this like raspy, deeper voice and she did like most of the demon dialogue instead of Linda Blair, and Linda Blair would just have to like she would have to say it too, but they overdubbed her in the final product.

Speaker 1: 35:03

Throws Chris to the floor, the dresser starts moving towards Chris and like it's about to crush her, sharon and the housekeepers are running up to the room to like see what's going on and help. And then the chair goes and blocks the door and slams it shut and then Reagan's head does a complete 180 to look at Chris and then, in Burke Denning's voice and his English accent, says do you know what she did, your cunting daughter? And then you know. Chris screams and then cut to a new scene. Oh, we see Chris meeting Father Charis on a bridge. This is the first time they're actually like meeting each other.

Speaker 1: 36:03

Starts to ask him questions like what do you know about exorcism? And like or how would I go about getting an exorcism? And he says like well, first thing you'd have to do is get it, find a time machine and go back to the 1800s. Like we don't do that anymore now that we know about psychology and psychiatry. So he's very skeptical of the whole idea of an exorcism. So, but basically so Chris is like okay, like well, let me show you what we're talking about here.

Speaker 1: 36:39

Takes him to see Reagan. He's talking to her. It says like oh yeah, it's like, what can I do for you? She says to loosen the straps. And he's like well, if you're the devil, then why couldn't you just loosen them yourself? And the demon says like that would be too vulgar a display of power.

Speaker 1: 37:08

And then, as Charis is like moving through the room and has his back turned, she says in the voice of the homeless man from earlier this is the exact same thing like won't you help an old altar boy out, father? So he turns around and it's like like, what are you doing? Like, and then Reagan says your mother is here with us and like and then we want you to join her and stuff like that, and then Vomit's the famous like pea soup green slime all over him and then cut to him in the basement with Chris and she's cleaning his clothes for him, like after the Vomit and everything, but they're like still talking about everything. He asks if, as he's leaving, he asks if Reagan knew that a priest was coming that day, and Chris said no. And then he asks like did you know that my, that my mother passed away, and she said yes and that. Then he's like wait, like did Reagan know that, though? And she's like no, like she didn't even know about you. So he's a little more convinced now that since Reagan who had no idea that he was coming, that he had a mother that just passed away, was like talking about his mother being dead and in hell with them. So he comes back, presumably the next day. He's in there.

Speaker 1: 38:58

Reagan says what an excellent day for an exorcism. And he's like oh, like you would like that. Like that would mean you'd get like banished away from Reagan. And she says like no, like it would bring us closer together. Like what, like you and Reagan closer together? And he says no, you with us. So obviously this demon wants Father Charis to be part of their legion of demons that are inside Reagan he starts to.

Speaker 1: 39:31

He starts up a tape recorder to record this session and his conversation with Reagan, because one of the deciding factors for the church to grant an exorcism is for there to be some sort of evidence like her speaking in a language that she's never studied or learned before, or having like multiple voices, like all this stuff, like this is all evidence that would help the case to get an exorcism going. So he's starting to record her. She speaks a little Latin to him, but nothing too, nothing too crazy, nothing too that you might pick up from common knowledge, from media, from books, whatever Pulls out some holy water, he says, and she's like what's that? He says holy water and then starts to like sprinkle it on her and she's like it burns. It burns, then like the voices start to get a little crazy but you can't really understand like what she's saying, but she's like writhing and like in pain and everything, and he's recording everything she's saying.

Speaker 1: 40:51

Then we get another conversation between Charis and Chris and he's saying like well, like I sprinkled this on Reagan and she like reacted violently and he's like I told her it was holy water, but it's just tap water. And then Chris is like well, what does that mean? Like I mean like well, it doesn't help our case for an exorcism, but either way, he has that recording everything that he's gonna have analyzed later. But I think, in like a last Hail, mary Chris tells father Karras her suspicion that it was Reagan that killed Burke Dennings and just that like threw him out the window and everything. So he's a little more like okay, like that makes sense. I didn't want to think that, but you're probably right.

Speaker 1: 41:50

He goes to analyze the tape. He has like a professional, like analyzing everything, and he's like, yeah, that's a language, all right, english. And he's like what, what do you mean? Like well, it's English played backwards or like spoken backwards. And he plays the tape in reverse and this is where we can actually hear, understand what she's saying. And then we hear like it's there's like multiple voices and there's like saying like letter die.

Speaker 1: 42:24

And then starts calling Marin and talking about a priest and stuff. And then Then we see him in back at his apartment listening to it in reverse and he's just listening and analyzing himself. And he gets a phone call and he's like, oh, like I'll be right over, and we see him like rushing to the, to the house and Sharon lets him in and they go upstairs and he's like like hey, like she says, like I didn't know to call and I don't want Chris to see, but I think you need to see it and takes her up to Reagan's room and first they put on like these heavy jackets and stuff because they get in there and like the room is like freezing cold and even with the window closed it's like you could see your breath in there, because like this evil is like making the room cold and sucking all the warmth out. And so she goes and like unbuttons her pajamas a little bit to show Reagan's stomach and there is like almost like scars or like coming from the inside of her skin. The words helped me. So like now Father Harris is like fully convinced.

Speaker 1: 43:48

At this point we see him presenting the case to the higher ups and just kind of giving the background and everything. They tell him like well, it makes sense, like it hits all the markers for an exorcism and everything. But I think we'll need someone with a little more experience. And Karris is like, yeah, like I understand. Then we see that higher up talking to another priest and they're like, well, like I think that Karris should be a part of it, since he knows the background, just as an assistant, but we do still need someone with experience, obviously. And they're kind of brainstorming ideas and they say, well, what about Father Lancaster Marin? And they're like, oh, I thought he was in Iraq. And they're like, well, like he's back now and he's over in Woodstock, new York, writing a book. They're like well, like, yeah, okay, get word out to him, we'll have him do it. Because he's done an exorcism before and like this whole, like a couple of decades prior he did an exorcism that took a full month to complete and like it almost killed him, like just how intense it was and everything.

Speaker 1: 45:10

We see him out on his walk. We see like a young priest like run up to him and give him like the telegram or the message or whatever, and he reads it and cut to him arriving by cab to the McNeil House at night. And this is where we get the iconic shot from the poster and that everyone is familiar with, of the silhouette of the priest standing at the front gate as the light from the window shines through the fog at him. Awesome, awesome shot as soon as he gets in the house and is introducing himself, we hear Reagan from upstairs in the deep voice scream his name, maroon, and everyone like looks up and I go okay, what's going on? Maron introduces himself to Father Charis, sends him over to the church to get some supplies that they're going to need for the exorcism. Then, as they're getting ready, after once he gets back, he's giving them like basically like the pep talk for like okay, here's how it's going to go.

Speaker 1: 46:20

A void conversation with the demon. The demon is a liar. It's going to mix some truths in there to make you believe what he's saying, but like don't listen to him. Like he's a liar, don't listen. Father Charis asks Father Maron if you'd like to know some background on the case, and Father Maron's like, no, like I don't need to know that. Like it doesn't, that doesn't matter, because it's just all stuff coming from this demon who's lying, so it's not going to help me at all. So then both, both, both priests, both priests enter the room. We see like again, like how cold it is in there. We can see their breath and everything.

Speaker 1: 47:06

Father Maron's taken out his little case with all his little supplies and everything. He takes the cross out, takes the holy water out and everything, and then he just like starts getting right to it, starts trying to search, you know, doing the chance, and stuff the rituals, starts sprinkling the holy water and right off the bat, reagan or the demon, I guess Like right out the gate. Just stick your cock up her ass, you motherfucking worthless cocksucker. And Maron's just like ignoring everything she's saying. She vomits on him, but not like nearly as much as she did on Charis. Just like goes like right on his glasses and he just doesn't even miss a beat. He's just still doing the prayer, still going through it, just hands his glasses off to Father Charis to clean him. No, it doesn't even do that, he just cleans it himself. Like Charis goes to like help him, but realizes like, oh no, he's got it. Just keeps going through the Lord's prayer, just reciting it over and over again.

Speaker 1: 48:12

We see Reagan on the bed. She's all tied up at this point too, because she's dangerous. We see like her tongue like all wiggling, like you know, she just keeps doing the prayer. Then she's trying to yell at him and like starts yelling at Charis too, because he realizes that you know Maron's not as vulnerable and starts yelling stuff like your mother sucks cocks and hell, charis. And the bed starts to rise and shake and stuff. Charis is like completely stunned once the bed just completely lifts off the ground, like three, four feet off the ground, and there's a part that he's supposed to do like the response in the prayer or the ritual, and but he's just like too stunned to speak and like Maron's like Father Charis the response, and then he finally like snaps back into it and keeps going. The bed starts to come back down.

Speaker 1: 49:24

Then we see Reagan's face changed to that same demon face that we saw in the in Father Charis's dream, the like white face, and she's just continuing to yell at them like bastards and she's growling and then like laying, laying back into the pillow and like with her head to the side, and then the green slime just starts like spewing out of her mouth like a kind of like a constant stream and Father Maron's just kind of wiping it up and then that they kind of take a short break from the, the chanting and everything, and then, as he's like trying to gather himself, she just starts like laughing and just like, and Marin like snaps a little bit like this, like kind of gets to him. I Don't know if it is getting to him or if it's just like okay, like time to take it up a notch, and just like Yells like I cast you out, and it's just like jumps up, like from laying down and sits up real quick and like shove it up your ass. And then the walls and the ceilings start cracking. And Then, like going back to the prayer, like you know, keep chanting and chanting, and chanting. And then, just like screaming, fuck him, cares, fuck him. And then we see her head spin a full 360. This time we saw it go backwards before, but this time we see it go all the way around and then starts yelling at Keras you killed your mother, you left her to die. Then the, the straps that are on her arms and ankles rip and she starts, like, with her arms like spread out in a t-pose, she starts floating upward like level and, and her eyes are all blank and white and she's just like floating up slowly. And then this is where we get the famous the the power of Christ compels you like over and over and over again. I think I read that they chanted it 14 times together.

Speaker 1: 51:50

Then they start Dashing her with the holy water and, and. But as the water is hitting, like her ankles, we see the skin like rip, like almost like it's cutting her. But Then she said, but it's starting to work and she floats back down. And Father Keras goes to like tie her back up to the bed. But as he's trying to get her ankles, she whacks him over the head and knocks him to the floor and then the whole room Room starts to shake like an earthquake, but who knows if it's affecting anything outside of that room, you know. And this knocks both priests to the floor and While they're down on the floor we look up at Reagan, who is like up on her knees on the bed and kind of like Stretching outward, but we only see her silhouette. And then next to her silhouette is the silhouette of the Pazuzu demon statue from Iraq. And Father Marin clocks this and it's like oh, oh, my, you know. But so that kind of like freaks them out a little bit. They get her back tied back to the bed. Then father Marin says okay, like let's rest and we'll, you know, start again soon, you know. So they're in the hallway, I just kind of sitting on the stairs taking a break and silence.

Speaker 1: 53:21

Father Marin gets up to go to the bathroom and he's got to take some pills. We saw him take pills in the first scenes. It's not said like what they are, it's probably like some kind of heart medicine. Then Keras goes into the room alone While father Marin's in the bathroom. We see that he is seeing not Reagan on the bed but his mom, like sitting in the middle of the bed looking at him and she's like, damn you, why you do this to me, why did you leave me? Why did you, you know? And then he's like you're not my mother, I'm not falling for it, and but she just keeps going and going and going.

Speaker 1: 54:02

Father Marin comes back in and you know she's still speaking in his mother's voice and he finally it's like too much for him. He just screams like you're not my mother. And Father Marin's like okay, like get out. Like you know it's affecting you too much right now. You need to break, you need more of a break, so get out. So then it's Marin in there alone with Reagan and he's getting his supplies back out and he's gonna start on his own for now.

Speaker 1: 54:35

We see Father Keras downstairs sitting on the bench and Chris comes out to and asks like is it over and he just shakes his head, no. And then she asks is she gonna die? And this kind of like Gives father Keras this determination because he like looks at her, like real fast, and just like no, she's not, and gets up and goes back upstairs. Once as he's going upstairs to join back in, we hear the doorbell ring and this is like late at night, by the way, that this is all happening and it's Lieutenant kinderman. We just see him through the crack in the door. Father Keras gets up there. Father Marin is dead. He is hunched over the bed, just lay in there. Reagan's like in the corner, like leaned up against the bed post, just like looking at him and just like staring.

Speaker 1: 55:36

And as Father Keras gets Father Marin off the bed and he's trying to like revive him, trying to like pounding on his chest, trying to do CPR and stuff, and then Reagan just starts giggling. And this is where the Keras just snaps, grabs her, throws her on the floor and just starts like you know, I think he does like puncher Well, punch the demon, but it's still Reagan's body and just like Like get out of her, take me, take me instead. And then we see like his face change and like become more demonic and everything. And Then we hear Reagan's actual voice back and she's like freaked out. She's like crying and like calling for her mother. Keras like gets up off of her like it's thrown back, and then we see the demon face like in him and like he's about to attack Reagan. And then he just like is himself again for like a split second and just like fights it and just says no and that jumps out the window. He jumps through the window, the windows closed, jumps through the glass, hits the stairs, rolls down to the bottom and then we see him all bloody at the bottom of the stairs.

Speaker 1: 56:57

We see Chris run into the room with the lieutenant kinderman and they see Reagan on the floor. They hear her crying and then they she goes to console but she's hesitant. She's like okay, like is this, is this my daughter? Is she back and realizes like okay, like this is her and Starts the comforter and everything. The lieutenants like looking at the windows. He's all the broken glass and broken everything and Is looking out the window. We see father dire Just happens to be nearby, I guess he finds sees that it's father Karris at the bottom of the stairs who all bloody and everything and he's very emotional because this is his friend and colleague and is like doing his last rites with him, like Do you acknowledge that you're a sinner, and everything. And then Father Karris can't even talk, so he's your buddy, is like squeezing his hand to like indicate, like yes, you know, and just Father Dire's like very tearful in this and everything very shaken.

Speaker 1: 58:08

Then we cut to Daytime, like it's, I'm guessing, a few days later at least, if not weeks, we see that the house is all packed up and that they're moving out. Carl's pack in the car, everything, all the furniture's in boxes and everything. Chris asks Sharon, like are you sure you don't want to come? You know? And then, but Without too much detail, one can assume that it's just too like. She's too traumatized from what happened and just needs like a break in time for herself probably, so she's not going with them wherever they're moving to.

Speaker 1: 58:54

We see a father, dire, waiting outside watching them get all packed up. Chris sees him and goes to talk to him and he just says like how she? How's she doing, how are you doing? Then Chris says that Reagan doesn't remember anything from it. Reagan comes out of the house, goes up and says like oh, this is, this is father dire. And she says, oh, hello, father. But then she, she notices his, his priest collar and like. So a part of her does remember, because she has kind of like a Like, oh, I need to give this guy a hug, you know. Like that she found comfort in that collar because I think a part of her knows that what father Keras did for her and father Marin, as she's leaving, she gives father dire well, chris gives father dire the necklace that Sharon found up in the room and I think it was father Keras's and she's like I think he'd want you to have this. Then they drive off away to their new life and then Father dire takes one last look at the at the stairs and the window that's all boarded up and he walks off in the distance and that's it for the movie.

Speaker 1: 1:00:15

So that is the exorcist, like I said, just one of my all-time favorite movies in general, not just Horror movie. It was a movie that I was afraid to watch for the longest time Just because I had heard so many stories about like when it came out and people passing out in theaters and people having to be Hospitalized from the trauma that it caused them and stuff. But you go like back further and like that happened to people that saw Frankenstein, so in the 30s, and it's just everything's the. You're just affected by the time in which you see something and what the norm is and everything. And I'm sure in many decades people look back at hereditary and be like, oh, like, there's some Cheesy stuff in there, you know, compared to what we have now and who knows what that's gonna be and how terrifying movies will Be in the future. You know if they are. Maybe maybe we did hit the peak, but I doubt it that there's always a way to up the ante without Jumping the shark. But yeah, love this movie so much.

Speaker 1: 1:01:34

Actually, like a funny story about like one one of the first times I watched it not the very first time, but I think the second time I watched it. I rented it Right around when I think it was the day I graduated high school and I had some friends staying over at my house and One was Fully down to watch the movie and the other one was not. He's like no, I don't want to watch that, but it was. We waited late enough. And he's like okay, like you guys watch the movie, I'm just gonna go to sleep. I got my iPod because this was back when it was iPod, pre iPhone, and so I'm just gonna put my headphones in, turn the other way and go to sleep while you guys watch the movie. So we do, we watch it, we enjoy it, movies over.

Speaker 1: 1:02:27

And we decided like, okay, like you know, as we wind down, let's put on like Comedy Central, and I'll put the Sleep timer on so that way we just fall asleep to this and then the TV's not on all night. So we do that. We fall asleep, me and the friend who watched the movie, and then my other friend who didn't watch the movie. He wakes up, realizes okay, the movies over, it's safe for me takes his headphones out and is watching whatever stand-up special was on Comedy Central at the time. And as he's watching it, he has no idea that I've turned the sleep timer on. And he just watching TV and it all of a sudden turns off.

Speaker 1: 1:03:15

And Right as the TV turns off, a an old grandfather clock that only worked sometimes, that we had in the house, chimed three times at 3 am and he was just freaked out at this. Like he's like, oh, my god, they watched this Evil movie and then all this, the devil's here in the house like coming for me and, Like he told us in the morning, I'm like, oh, and I just explained everything and we just laughed and laughed and laughed. And I always think about that and probably any time I watch a scary movie, but especially when I watch the Exorcist, and, yeah, that story just always makes me happy to think about. That memory always makes me happy. So, yeah, thanks for bearing with me through this episode.

Speaker 1: 1:04:09

I hope you guys enjoyed it. I hope you enjoyed my little story at the end and I hope you guys are enjoying the podcast in general. Please follow at on Instagram at movies. They're pretty good with no punctuation in there, it's just the words spelled out as is. But yeah, hope you guys keep listening. I got one more scary movie for you Coming out on Halloween day wonder what movie that's gonna be. And then back to some normal ones and then the Christmas ones and or holiday in general in the month of December December holidays only. You're not gonna do like a Halloween one in December. So, yeah, thanks for listening and hope you stick around and hope you keep listening next week. Thanks, bye.