Introduction of The Exorcist: Believer
The Exorcist: Believer This time you're going to lose the real terror is back George C Scott in William Peter bloodies the Exorcist three welcome to the 11th annual Halloween special this is my favorite time of year as you guys know and I am so excited to bring you tons of genre reviews all through the month of October and this year I decided to start with the Exorcist 3. not only is the Exorcist believer coming out very soon but I think the Exorcist 3 is a highly underrated movie and I am so excited to talk about it today the film was written and directed by William Peter blatty.
That inspired the first The Exorcist: Believer
who not only wrote The Exorcist novel that inspired the first film but he wrote the book Legion that inspired this film and the film faced considerable Studio interference when they wanted blady to title the film Exorcist 3 instead of Legion and they wanted him to include an exorcism in the end of the film to tie it into the franchise in some way but also make it more marketable and digestible for audiences who don't know what Legion is and would rather just watch another tired Exorcist movie but despite that interference.
I think Bloody pulled off a miracle because it's one of the very few times I've ever seen a movie that it has notable and very well known Studio interference be very very good and those notes that were taken from the studio while perhaps not exactly in good faith were applied to this film in a way that utilized the best nature of those notes and actually turned out to be a pretty damn great movie.
if you've never seen this movie I'm going to talk about some spoilers so that's your fair warning in The Exorcist 3 a police Lieutenant played by the legendary George C Scott uncovers more than he bargained for as his investigation of a series of murders which have all the Hallmarks of the deceased Gemini serial killer leads him to question the patience of a psychiatric ward it took me a long time to watch.
The Exorcist three in fact it took me a long time to watch the original film too because of the way I was raised it took me a while to detach from the belief that watching films like this was wrong but eventually.
I got around to watching the original of course as I've reviewed it in the past but when it came to the Exorcist 2 which I tried to watch next I couldn't get through it it took me multiple times I do not like that movie it is not a good film and I don't think anybody really likes The Exorcist too and three had a really bad reputation for a while critics reviews were not glowing and nobody really talked about the movie except in smaller circles but over the years it's really become a favorite for horror fans especially of William Peter blatties because his vision is actually quite remarkable his first film was the Ninth Configuration and The Exorcist 3 was his sophomore effort and that's it he made two movies he really does feel like a seasoned mature filmmaker.
The next chapter this film Exorcist
who is willing to take so many risks he really knows when to end a scene he ends scenes on either a very cryptic line or something that's very startling or dramatically effective that makes you want to continue to watch the movie and that is what a great author does with the end of a chapter isn't it they want you to keep turning to the next chapter this film has over the years done something for me every time I watch it that is very rare for me and that it actually scares me but what do I mean by that exactly because you could take that in one of many different ways so let me be a little more specific.
Feel suspense and Horror
Every horror film that opens in theaters is something I watch. I've made an effort to see every classic horror movie.
that I should see in addition to a ton of ones that aren't classics and ones that others even advise me not to see. I genuinely try to just jump in.
into the pool that is horror and enjoy swimming around in it and I have reactions of all different varying kinds when I watch a horror film when I watch a movie that makes me feel suspense like say rear window or M Night shyamalan's films that's sort of a feeling that I process in my gut it makes me feel tense like the hairs on my arms are standing up or something and also this filmmakers like James Wan who make me feel very startled it's a very visceral impact that I feel while I watch his movies in the moment and then there were filmmakers like Mike Flanagan who have these dread inducing scares that really make you process them in an emotional way and those usually stick with you longer at least they do for me.
different truly deeply scares
what The Exorcist 3 has done for me that is truly different from all of those and why I say it's one of the very few films that truly deeply scares me is that it has always stayed with me after I watch it I take it along with me I feel like it's inside of me when I turn it off a lot of horror films can be scary while you're watching them but very rarely do they stay with you after you leave the theater or after you turn it off when you're walking around your house or in your neighborhood The Exorcist 3 always stays with me I feel scared when I'm done for at least a few hours and it's really really remarkable which is so impressive considering one very interesting fact the movie is very funny there are a lot of great jokes in this movieGeorge C. Scott is amazing; he is such a fantastic actor. If you haven't seen The Changeling, it's also a really great horror film. He has a lot of great jokes with his fellow police officers, including an extended story about carp, and his outbursts in the movie should be taken seriously. In Legend, Patrick Ewing and Fabio make cameo appearances. There are no signs of blood or lacerations from the fire.
Much weird and scariest
I just feel like blatty was like I'm gonna just make the movie I want to make and he did his best against the studio he really pushed you can tell and it worked because there's so much weird [ __ ] in this film I can't even begin to explain all of it but that off-kilter Vibe and the humor are balanced very well with the scares he doesn't let it get in the way of that an early confession sequence being one of the scariest in the film blatty was also very in tune with the suspense and tension of whispered conversations between people the idea that a couple people might go away in a quiet space and talk about something really really dark and when they talk about it they get quiet and it feels weighty it feels important and the pauses that these actors take as well as the edit takes really just heighten the tension and of course.
if we're talking about scares and The Exorcist three we have to discuss what is now known as one of the best jump scares of all time jump scares are huge now not so much in 19 90. what blady did with this sequence that eventually culminates in the much discussed jump scare is create so much misdirection he might as well be a magician we rest on this shot for so long of an orderly and a guard walking around these Halls eventually we break away from this shot and we think that this is the moment he's kept you on edge this whole time and we think for a moment that he just let us go and so we sit back for a second we're a little bit more relaxed and that's when he gets us the first time I saw that it wasn't the musical sting that got me.
Largely involved scenes
it was actually the zoom because we're in this locked down static shot for so long that when bloody rips us out of that so quickly it genuinely feels shocking also what the [ __ ] is that that's part of the fun of it there are so many scares in the movie where you sit back and you're like what was that actually and why did you do that to me the latter half of the film is largely involved with scenes where George C Scott interviews someone he believes could potentially be father Charis who is also claiming to be the Gemini killer now in the theatrical cut these sequences feature not only Jason Miller the original actor who played father Charis but Brad dorif who claims to be the Gemini killer this is apparently the result of considerable Studio.
tampering in which a lot of different people had a lot of different ideas about how these scenes should play out regardless of the how and why of these scenes they work very well as this character literally switches actors and we cut back to George C Scott and he's looking very confused and he doesn't know exactly who he's looking at we're sort of putting his mindset as a result because as a character a lot of the film explores whether or not he believes he's having a bit of a crisis of Faith which leads to an insane mainly great monologue in which George C Scott says all of the things that he really does believe in and they're all negative he doesn't say he believes in God or Jesus or the Lord or anything like that he says I believe in death pain and murder and anguish and all this really dark [ __ ] and it's so so powerful but I do want to go back to Brad Dorff because he is incredible in this movie and it is very clear that.
Those Behind The X-Files saw this performance and thought that should be the guy for the Beyond the Sea episode and that episode he plays a prisoner who's locked up who seems to have psychic abilities huh never seen that before but that is a great X-Files episode one of the best and the film does end with an exorcism scene and whether or not blatty was forced to add this exorcism at the last minute and didn't really want to I think is beside the point because it works it really works in the movie and there is a very gnarly sequence where a priest's skin sticks to the ceiling and he tries to get off the ceiling the skin stays up there if you know what.
I mean it's it's some real [ __ ] there but the idea that father Charis is able to at the last second sort of fight off this thing and ask kinderman to kill him is a way of bringing some Humanity to Karis and I think that's a fantastic ending if you do want to watch the famed Legion cut it is available on this Blu-ray the theatrical cut is quite good and what they've done with the legion restoration is impressive but honestly the theatrical cut is great if you've never seen this.
Must Watch This Movies
I mean man first off I spoiled a lot so that sucks but it's a really good movie and it's taken a while for it to gain some traction and I'm glad that more people are talking about it because it feels so unique it feels even with the studio notes it feels like it's just trying to knock down the system and make something that is so against the mainstream and so weird you guys need to see this movie if you haven't please look forward to a lot more articles.
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