While watching The Exorcist, I had many grossed out moments but overall had two main thoughts that remained after the final scene. First, The Exorcist had a very interesting beginning to me. While watching it, I was trying to figure out the whole time what the connection would be between the archaeological site and this little home of mother and daughter in D.C. and I don’t think my question was ever answered (although Barbara Creed drew some very nice parallels between the women in both places as witches in The Monstrous Woman). The very end of the movie showed a superimposed image of the weird bat-like demon statue that was at the archaeological site, but my main question was how did this demon choose this seemingly innocent child to begin with?
Father Merrin seems to be the link between the two physical places but it still feels odd as to why the child was possessed. For cinematic purposes, an innocent child that is still young enough for the words that she uttered and actions she performed while possessed had a very disturbing impact. The only reason I can think that Regan was chosen was because of talking to “captain howdy” on the Ouija board she found in a closet but even then, in a city that big and populated, there has to be more than one Ouija board being messed around with. Maybe I am just being too cynical and unwilling to believe the impossible (meaning demonic possession) which brings me to my second observation.
I couldn’t help but think back to “Be Right Back” at certain points in this film because of the impossibility of certain actions. For example, when Regan moved her head in a complete circle, could stab herself without feeling the pain, or live seemingly without food because no one could go near her or her mouth, it drew a parallel to the human but not body of the replacement Ash in Black Mirror. Both films use human bodies in ways that are abnormal and impossible to conceive as reality in a truly “human” concept and instead force the viewer to see them as an other and come up with a different explanation of the actions taken before their eyes, possibly lending to the horror of the genres.