MovieChat Forums > The Exorcist (1973) Discussion > Friedkin is confused

Friedkin is confused

posted 2 years ago by Stratego (29462)
6 replies | jump to latest

I just watched an interview with Friedkin about the movie and apparently he doesn't understand why Pazuzu would take possession of Father Karras. I've never read the book and I only recently saw the movie again after more than 20 years. But I can't say I was as confused as Friedkin was. The way I saw it was that Karras had almost completely lost his faith at that point and resorted to attacking Regan and commanding the demon to go inside him out of desperation, which was a pretty reckless thing to do. Friedkin even mentioned himself that Pazuzu's intention was to destroy Karras' faith, so it's not surprising he chose this moment to take possession of him.

Anyone agree with Friedkin's confusion? He also didn't seem to agree with Blatty's insistence that Karras had to transform back to himself before making the choice to jump to his death.

[–] pazuzu9 (318) 2 years ago

Friedkin is a strange guy. I've heard him say lots of crazy things.

I know Blatty regretted the ambiguous ending. A lot of people thought the Demon won.

[–] Jeepster (1053) 2 years ago

In a way it did. You have 2 people dead, Regan almost. Where was God? Did he swoop in at the end & spare everyone their fates? Did he or his angels show up to take care of things? No. So you had a grizzled ol’ veteran priest who had tangled with the demon before who lost this bout as the demon assured him he would. He made good on that promise. Then you had this poor soul of a man who endured the ultimate horror by having that thing inside of him, what he must he felt. He’s now dead.

The demon is in NO way destroyed, so get that out of your mind because it isn’t. It just left & went back to wherever it was, waiting for its next victimn/host. So who won? Really? In the novel it says that Karras at last got his faith back. HOW? By losing & dying, horribly? This I personally find absurd but ok if they say so.

I’m not sure how the supposed “rules” are supposed to work. Why didn’t it just leave Karras when he was dead & swoop back to Regan or someone else? Again if there are any so called “rules” on how things must play out then I or we would just not know the answer to this question.

What I”m wondering is when it left Regan was she still in as bad shape physically as she was when she was possessed or did she go back to normal since it left her? The novel or movie never elborates on that fact & I don’t know if anyone here ever wondered about that but I am.

[–] andersonb85 (1630) 2 years ago

Now that you bring it up, I do wonder about some of your points. The demon probably left Karras at his death to find another tormented soul elsewhere in the world. Regan seemed healed physically but mentally could have been a whole different story. She has a quiet demeanor, with no visible wounds on her face by the time she gets in the Mercedes and leaves Washington D.C.

[–] xanthas (3215) 2 years ago

All of the answers are in The Exorcist 2!

(That movie makes me laugh)

[–] pazuzu9 (318) 2 years ago

The answer is an inebriated Richard Burton.

[–] pazuzu9 (318) 2 years ago

"In a way it did. You have 2 people dead, Regan almost. Where was God? Did he swoop in at the end & spare everyone their fates? Did he or his angels show up to take care of things? No. So you had a grizzled ol’ veteran priest who had tangled with the demon before who lost this bout as the demon assured him he would. He made good on that promise. Then you had this poor soul of a man who endured the ultimate horror by having that thing inside of him, what he must he felt. He’s now dead."

I don't think the Demons intention was to kill the priests but only to torture and kill Regan while the Priests watched (Making an attack on their faith).

"The demon is in NO way destroyed, so get that out of your mind because it isn’t. It just left & went back to wherever it was, waiting for its next victimn/host. So who won? Really? In the novel it says that Karras at last got his faith back. HOW? By losing & dying, horribly? This I personally find absurd but ok if they say so."

The Demon didn't finish what it set out to do, which is kill Regan and corrupt the priests faith. Karras sacrificed himself to save Regan so that showed that Karras believed the Demon was real and therefore Karras was a believer again. This is something much clearer in the book. In the book, Karras' skepticism as a psychiatrist is prominent.

"What I”m wondering is when it left Regan was she still in as bad shape physically as she was when she was possessed or did she go back to normal since it left her? The novel or movie never elborates on that fact & I don’t know if anyone here ever wondered about that but I am. "

I always wondered about that too. In the movie she looks much more back to normal when the Demon leaves her. In the book she doesn't take on the same grotesque transformation to begin with.