Runtime:
118 minutes
Directed
by: John Boorman
Starring:
Linda Blair, Richard Burton, Louise Fletcher, Kitty Winn
From:
Warner Brothers
Yep,
I watched this movie for a second time and for the first time in what
had to be 10-15 years. A messageboard reference brought this on. I
was going to watch it on an Encore channel but when the time came,
the cable box was on the fritz so no viewing of that channel could
take place. I found another way to watch it and that's what I did
tonight. Of course, I'll mention right away that the first is pretty
awesome and still frightening even today, although I hadn't seen that
in too long either. The third is flawed and there were obvious
problems production-wise but it's still a rather creepy film and
there are some awesome jump-scares. I've seen neither of the prequel
movies, the two being the same story with the same actors but done
differently by two drastically different directors.
As
for this film, I'll just quote Father Lamont (a usually sweaty and
usually in a trance Burton) by saying, “Utterly horrible... and
fascinating”. There is no other way to describe this film. The plot
sounds rather simple: Regan (Blair, who now is in her teenage years
and in real life she was like 17 when the film was made, so the
decision to have her never wear a bra throughout... kind of creepy)
is still possessed by the demon Pazuzu. This is discovered as the
sweaty priest as he's investigating what happened with Father Merrin
(Max Von Sydow, who you see in the film in flashback scenes). From
that you get a whole lot of what looks like drug-fueled insanity;
maybe that's the proper way to digest this film. There is locusts, a
church built in the side of a mountain in Ethiopia, a made-up device
where two people can experience one person's hypnosis, there's odd
music, strangely faux-futuristic sets, James Earl Jones wearing some
goofy clothing, Ned Beatty in a few minute cameo as a pilot who
collects religious artifacts... see what I mean about the drugs?
The
movie is pretty terrible, especially compared to the classic first.
But, it sure as hell isn't boring. It's a great film to laugh at and
wonder how things ended up at this point and how this movie got
released. What a fascinating failure. I mean, the last act has Lamont wearing a loud red patterned shirt which made his outfit pretty much a leisure suit. Only in the 70's...
I'll
be back either really late tomorrow night (I mean, more than 24 hours
from now) or I'll wait until Friday afternoon to talk about The Dark
Knight Rises.
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