You're gonna die up there?
I didn't really get the whole thing? What were they talking about? Why did regan say this at the dinner party?
shareIt's the astronaut, which we know from him telling Fr. Dyer about the different NASA missions. Regan either knows that he's an astronaut, or "Captain Howdy" has told her.
The demon, who wants to torment everyone in sight, either says, or causes Regan to say, to the astronaut, "You're gonna die up there" - i.e., she's saying that he will die on a space mission.
It has the "feel" of a dark prophecy, maybe even a curse, but the main point is to shock the astronaut, the other guests, and Chris. This is emphasized by Regan/the demon putting a "punchline" on the "curse" by urinating on the carpet.
That reminds me, I need to give The Ninth Configuration a watch (which correct me if I'm wrong is the movie about the astronaut?) - I've still never actually seen it.
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"Make the instant eternal! TIME STOP!"
Yes, it's the one about astronaut Cutshaw (Scott Wilson) and his encounters with a mysterious psychiatrist played by Stacy Keach, in the context of a castle in the Pacific Northwest that services mentally ill veterans. It's a quirky little movie - I hope you enjoy it.
shareStacy Keach
Lol I'd better like it as he's one of my father's favorite actors (which is even more surprising, given how much my dad likes his work that I didn't know that already).
Plus Psychiatry generally interests me.
Cheers.
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"Make the instant eternal! TIME STOP!" share
I'd better like it as he's one of my father's favorite actors
Yeah, he's very accomplished.
Please excuse me for my ignorance as I never read the novel and may be considered a simpleton when it comes to dissecting this movie, especially when it comes to the imdb member Bastach's bravado and detailed confidence when it comes to every & anything involving this movie. This is the one & only film that makes me feel uncomfortable, keeping in mind that I first watched this @ 11 years old and in this moment I have managed to make it to 42.
Anyways, my thought watching the movie throughout my life was that it was directed to everyone considering that before Reagan came
downstairs Father Dyer was entertaining the guests and stopped and explained his vision of
heaven, and I perceived the tune to have that religious vibe of heaven and the afterlife, watching the guests singing the chorus of "Our Home Sweet Home"
to which almost immediately Reagan appears and speaks the line we all know. I always took her words to mean that "Everyone" would be dying up there. It never even crossed my mind that she was talking to the Astronaut alone.
Basically my question is, do you guys think that for the audience and viewers who never read the novel at all that Friedkin was going for that, or is it just my perception watching the film. I would
think threatening the whole group rather than just the Astronaut who knows the risks of space travel would be more menacing and disturbing to the guests.
threatening the whole group rather than just the Astronaut who knows the risks of space travel would be more menacing and disturbing to the guests
Yes, a mass threat to everyone at the party would be menacing and disturbing to the guests, but Regan's gaze and voice is directed solely to the astronaut, who realizes it and reacts accordingly - just as Chris and the guests also react.
Telling the entire crowd that they are all going to die "up there" would not resonate with them because it would make no sense directed to anyone but the astronaut. Unless the demon was imagining that somehow all the guests would end up on a single airplane that would explode and/or crash, killing them all...not a very plausible scenario. If the demon wanted to lay a curse on the whole group, it would have had to say something all-inclusive, rather than something directed to only one guest, maybe something like, "Not one of you will survive the next year".
I understand what you're saying, but I always thought that. Watching it all these years throughout my life I though that it would have been more powerful, but now that I think about it putting myself in that group around the piano I would have just thought Reagan said something inappropriate and nothing else, as nobody that night had any idea at all what was about to happen to Reagan. I've got to be honest though once word got out about what was going on in the McNeil house, I would have been scared to death and thinking all day about what Reagan had said that night to us! Lol... I read these comments all the time to get different views and opinions about this movie, as all my friends and acquaintances have heard about it or seen it, and it is mostly about the graphic scenes, like the head spinning, the crucifixion, the pea soup vomit and the conversation never involves anything of substance. Bastasch you sure LOVE this movie, are you sure you're not W. Friedkin, Blatty or worse possesed!!! I think you put the "Fan" in Fanatic. I wish I had a single ounce of passion about anything artistic as you do about this film, and It's in my top 5 films ever. I admire your dedication to a film that is over 40+ years old.
shareabernardo, thanks much for your kind words. Sometimes I wish I were Blatty, so I could write another "Exorcist franchise" novel or short story! I need my Exorcist "fix", but that's not likely to be fulfilled (and I don't watch the new TV series).
Yeah, the movie's controversial elements are still being discussed, but now there's a lot of mockery for it "not being scary". But it broke boundaries and set precedents in its time, and I believe that any serious lover of film should respect it on its own terms..
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But the novel's demon spread the wealth
Lol! And it's quite true...