Exorcisms, Demons and Priests, Oh My! Double Bill!

I’ve got a double bill review for you today! Also this is my 200th post! HOORAY! I’ve bored you 200 times already….

Quick update on my own life since I know ya’ll are waiting patiently to hear about my gypsy cursed life. That’s why you really read this right? HA!

I had surgery last week on my face and got the lump removed, only they weren’t able to remove it all. So they stitched it up and tomorrow night I have to go get steroids injected into the wound and hopefully that kills the rest of it. If it doesn’t, I’m off for more surgery! That twin I absorbed in utero is really hanging on! Jokes aside, I’m really stressed about it and scared. BUT that’s why horror movies are so great because when I watch them they make me forget about my trivial panics and think, well at least I’m not being chased by nazi zombies in the snow!

So I laid out my “to-watch” horror movie list in a nice and organized way and then completely freaked out because there’s 44 movies on there, and that’s not including the ones coming out this year.

I think I need to sort out another challenge for myself because that’s when I actually carve out the time to watch horror movies properly. I organized my movies into decades. Maybe I could do like an early 2000’s themed week? I’ll figure it out.

BUT…this week I did watch a double bill of my own choosing:
The Exorcist 3 and Hostage to the Devil.
So without further ado – let’s jump right in!

THE EXORCIST 3 (1990)

Well, there I was so awfully dead in that electric chair. I didn't like it. Would you? It's upsetting. There was still so much killing to do, and there I was, in the void, without a body.

Written and directed by William Peter Blatty (RIP) it is based on his book, Legion. Blatty of course brought us the original The Exorcist novel which is an amazing piece of horror fiction that I highly recommend. I haven’t read Legion yet but have it on order.

It stars George C. Scott, returning as Detective Kinderman, Ed Flanders, returning as Father Dyer, and Brad Dourif. It takes place 17 years after the events of The Exorcist and starts off with a traumatic murder of a priest and a young boy. Kinderman is on the case and is starting to think it may be the work of the Gemini Killer (who is based off of the Zodiac killer) which is impossible…the Gemini Killer should be dead!

What I loved most about this movie was the caring, loving relationship between Dyer and Kinderman. The two old men who have seen some shit together, are tender and loving to each other and banter back and forth about old movies and tease each other. But Dyer is put into the hospital and shortly after killed. The aftermath of Dyer’s death is so freaky, leaving a lot to the imagination. There’s little cups of blood all around the room that have somehow been drained from Dyer’s body without making a mess and painted on the wall in his blood is ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’. George C. Scott is triumphant in this movie and when he switches from calm to absolute rage, it’s an amazing thing to watch.

Kinderman’s investigation takes a strange turn for the worse when he discovers a patient in the hospital who looks like Father Karras who died at the end of the first movie. Dourif’s portrayal of Karras/the Gemini Killer is wonderful. Dourif is such a force to be reckoned with.

This is a character driven piece with lots of monologues and quiet moments. But when the horror hits, it hits fucking hard. Of course, this movie is known for its famous horrific scene with the nurse in the hallway. And even though I knew it was coming I still jumped like a lunatic and it gave me goosebumps. It’s the perfect buildup of tension that creates the paranoia in you as your eyes roam back and forth across the screen, wondering when and where it will come.

The Exorcist 3 is a wonderful, horrific, dreamy film that holds its punches until you can’t take it anymore and then smacks you upside the head. I adore it and can’t wait to watch it again. And I’m also angry I took so long to watch it.

10/10

HOSTAGE TO THE DEVIL (2017)

The devil does exist, he really is out there, he is our enemy and he hates us.

Next up I watched the documentary Hostage to the Devil. I have read the book that Malachi Martin wrote which this documentary takes it name from a year or so ago and found it enjoyable but boring in some parts.

The documentary tells the life story of Father Martin, an Irish Catholic priest and writer. During his life he was heavily involved in the preparations of the Second Vatican Council before starting to disagree with the reforms. He asked to be released and moved to New York where he wrote 17 novels that oftentimes were critical of the Catholic Church. A lot of his work was focused on exorcisms and the existence of demons. After his “mysterious” death, friends and disbelievers come together in this documentary to explore his life and memory and to relive the exorcisms he performed during his long career.

Unfortunately this documentary spends most of its time having Martin’s friends and family talk about how charismatic he was and when the film does finally focus on the exorcisms it gets very confusing. Near the end it introduces a paranormal research team who did one of the first “paranormal shows” for ABC. I have no idea why they were introduced? And then it shows Martin’s last exorcism through the words of a CIA friend but since that friend wasn’t actually present during the exorcism it gets super confusing what he’s talking about.

The two saving graces I will give it are that Lorraine Warren makes a few appearances as she was a good friend of Martin’s. While she doesn’t speak to the documentarians, she is in some of the old footage and you know I love the hell out of her. The second is Ralph Sarchie who I also love. He was the New York cop whose story Deliver us from Evil is loosely based on. He also got his own TV show last year which is so bad that it becomes good again. He speaks frankly and honestly with the camera and I liked hearing his point of view.

What I did like were the little tidbits that we learn about real life exorcisms and some of the quotes from Martin and the church. We’re told about the four signs of a possession that people look for:

• Extraordinary Strength
• Knowledge of ancient language
• Fear of sacred things
• Knowledge of things they couldn’t possibly know about other people

Honestly I wouldn’t recommend this to most people. Unless you have a complete fascination of the paranormal and know a lot of the big guys and gals in the community, you won’t get much from this. Even the exorcism footage they show is not worth it – it’s grainy and blurred and hard to make out.

I obviously believe in ghosts, I’ve spoken a lot about that on this blog before. But I always struggle with demons. I’m not a religious person so I don’t believe in heaven and hell and angels, but for some reason I do believe that demons could possibly exist. Either way, documentaries and shows like this always make me question for hours what to think. Can I believe in demons if I don’t believe in God? Are demons fake? Are exorcisms real, or just mentally ill people being taken advantage of? Ugh. My brain hurts.

I give this a 5/10. Quite boring at some parts and very confusing.

Alrighty, I’ll leave you with that for now. I’m back to the doctors tomorrow and we’ll see what happens with my face. I’m not making any concrete promises on when I’ll be back. Could be tomorrow, could be a week, could be a month. You know me – but one of these days this thing will actually be updated daily and properly. In fact one of my goals this year is to move this blog over to an actual website and set myself with a proper horror website. I’ll be looking for writers to join, but I’ll sort all that out in the summer.

ANYWAY

I’m going to go and figure out some sort of fun challenge to get through all these movies on my to-watch list and hopefully not die from the lump in my face.

Stay spooky!