The exorcist
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The exorcist |
| Original title | The exorcist |
 | |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1973 |
| length | 122 minutes |
| Age rating |
FSK 18 FSK 16 after re- exam JMK 16 ( Director's Cut ) |
| Rod | |
| Director | William Friedkin |
| script | William Peter Blatty |
| production | William Peter Blatty Noel Marshall |
| music |
Jack Nitzsche Mike Oldfield David Borden George Crumb Hans Werner Henze Krzysztof Penderecki Anton Webern Steve Boeddeker |
| camera |
Owen Roizman , Billy Williams |
| cut |
Norman Gay Jordan Leondopoulos Evan A. Lottman Bud S. Smith |
| occupation | |
| |
| chronology | |
|
Successor → |
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The Exorcist is an American horror film from 1973. It is based on the novel The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty , who also wrote the screenplay for the film. The exorcist is one of the greatest film hits of the early 1970s and sparked discussions around the world. The film was released in the United States on December 26, 1973.
action
The sick Jesuit priest Lankester Merrin discovers a demon figure , the Pazuzu, on a northern Iraqi archaeological site .
While he is talking about it with a colleague in a museum, a pendulum clock stops. Worried, Merrin returns to Georgetown , a borough of Washington, DC The Jesuit father Damien Karras, who also lives in Georgetown, suffers from the fact that his elderly mother lives alone in a neglected apartment building in New York and he cannot persuade her to go to a retirement home. When she is brought to a poor mental institution by her brother and dies soon afterwards, Karras blames herself even more. He doubts God and wants to be relieved of his duties as a psychiatric advisor at Georgetown University . At the same time another priest comes across a desecrated statue of the Virgin Mary in the church.
Film actress Chris MacNeil came to Washington, DC from Hollywood to film with her 12-year-old daughter Regan. In the town villa they live in in Georgetown, they are looked after by the nanny Sharon Spencer and the domestic servants Karl and Willie Engstrom. Chris is divorced. She is only friends with the director Burke Dennings, she explains to her daughter when she already believes she will have a stepfather. At night, Chris hears noises from the attic and lets Karl set traps there because she assumes they are rats . But no vermin is found.
During a medical examination at Dr. Little Regan swears and says to "keep his fingers off her goddamn cunt". When Dr. She can hardly imagine talking to Chris about it, because she only knows Regan as a well-bred and amiable girl. Dr. Klein prescribes Regan Ritalin for hyperactivity . However, the behavioral disorders intensify: Regan is becoming more and more aggressive and abusive. Dr. Klein suspects the 12-year-old has an anomaly in the temporal lobe , but x-rays do not reveal anything. From consulting a psychiatrist, Dr. Small off, instead he does more brain exams.
One evening Chris invited friends and colleagues. Suddenly Regan appears in a nightgown, urinates on the carpet in front of the guests and prophesies death to an astronaut with the words "You will die up there". Regan's condition is getting worse and worse, and when Chris comes home one evening, she finds Regan alone in her bedroom with the window open. Shortly thereafter, the nanny Sharon, who was supposed to take care of Regan, returns and explains her absence by having got Regan medication, while director Dennings, who happened to be in the house, stayed with Regan. However, this is not in the house. Shortly thereafter, Chris and Sharon receive news that his body has been found at the foot of a stone staircase below Regan's room window. Homicide Police Lieutenant William F. Kinderman is investigating the case and finds it strange that Dennings' head is turned 180 degrees. Assuming Dennings fell out of Regan's room window, he questions Chris MacNeil. But the actress is absolutely convinced that the director friend of her was not in Regan's room. Chris sees with his own eyes how the bed her daughter lies in is shaken by invisible forces. Dr. Klein tries to explain this with the girl's spasms at first , but Chris has lost confidence in him. Other doctors and finally a psychiatrist are brought in. All examinations and consultations remain inconclusive.
One of the doctors suggests trying exorcism . Although this is a questionable method and has nothing to do with the events claimed by the church, every now and then such an expulsion of the devil can eliminate psychosomatic disorders through the suggestive effect . In desperation and fear for her daughter, Chris turns to Damien Karras. She is now convinced that Regan killed Dennings in her obsession. The Jesuit initially refuses to even consider the medieval ritual, but Chris urges him to look at her terribly disfigured, blasphemous , obscene , screaming, drooling and writhing daughter Regan, who is now tied to the bed, horribly disfigured, blasphemous , obscene . After several visits, the clergyman, suffering from doubtful faith, comes to the conclusion that Regan is indeed possessed by a demon. Bishop Michael allows the exorcism on the condition that it is carried out by an experienced priest like Lankester Merrin and that Karras only serves as an assistant. The two Jesuits begin to drive out the devil.
When Karras returns to Regan's room after a short absence, he finds Merrin dead. With the words “Take me!” He furiously attacks the possessed woman, the demon jumps on him, and the exorcist rushes through the window onto the stone stairs. At the hour of his death, Karras received the absolution from Father Dyer, who made his confession. Regan is freed from evil and is a lovely girl again.
background
When the film came into the cinemas, Friedkin hid for marketing reasons the fact that the part of Regan, who was possessed by Pazuzu, was composed of various components (in several scenes the actress Eileen Dietz played instead of twelve-year-old Linda Blair , while the demonic voice of Mercedes McCambridge was contributed). Both actresses were not named in the credits. McCambridge fought his way through legal action, and the disclosure of Dietz's contribution in an LA Times article shortly after Linda Blair's Golden Globe win and before the 1974 Academy Awards prevented Blair from winning the Oscar , according to Hollywood insiders received.
The European premiere in London reported that there had been emigration and fainting. The Austrian Neue Kronen Zeitung quoted the manager of the cinema: “At the end of the film, our theater was more of a first aid station than a cinema. […] We had to treat 20 men and women, all with green faces, with smelling salts. Around ten percent of our visitors left the demonstration early. "
In 1977 the sequel to the film with the title Exorcist II - The Heretic came into the cinemas. The second part with Linda Blair, Richard Burton and Louise Fletcher could not follow on from the success of the original.
In 1980, an 18-minute-long Selected Scenes edition by Warner Bros. was released on cine film. This looks like an extra long trailer and shows the highlights from the entire film. The storyline was retained. A year later a 3 × 110 m version followed with a playing time of approx. 47 minutes. Both versions were distributed internationally in English, German and Spanish, with the copies for the German-speaking area also being made in the USA. The 18-minute version contained scenes that could be transferred to the 47-minute version, with an approximate total running time of 52 minutes. The cine versions concentrate on the essential content and horror scenes of the original film. At one point the order of scenes was changed.
In 1990, the second sequel The Exorcist III was finally published, in which Jason Miller can be seen as patient X in a supporting role. Directed by William Peter Blatty , and as a template served his own novel Legion (English title: The Sign ).
Also in 1990 appeared the pastiche Obsessed by all spirits with the leading actress Linda Blair .
In 2001 the Director's Cut of The Exorcist was released - a digitally revised version that is 10 minutes longer. The devil's face, which appears in short cutscenes (and shows itself in the Director's Cut during a night scene on the kitchen hood), is embodied by Eileen Dietz, who became known for roles with elaborate masks in many films and, instead of Linda Blair, the most notorious Scenes played during Regan's obsession. The film was re-synchronized by digitizing the film.
In November 2004, Exorcist: The Beginning was released, a prequel to the previous film series. It shows the first encounter between Father Lankester Merrin ( Stellan Skarsgård ) and a demonic power in Africa. In contrast to its predecessors, this film comes up with a multitude of spectacular special effects. Directed by Renny Harlin .
In October 2005 another prequel was released on DVD ( Dominion: Exorcist - The Beginning of Evil ), which is an alternative version to Exorcist: The Beginning . This film was the originally filmed version of Exorcist: The Beginning , but the studio and test audience did not like it, which is why almost the entire film was shot again with a new script.
In 2016, an American television series was created, which is also based on the literary template.
Reviews
" Psycho shocker speculating on fear and horror who tries to get to grips with his subject with the means of a perfectly staged horror film."
“The film undoubtedly has its successful moments. The special effects, which are wisely kept within limits, are really frightening in places, although relatively easy to see through. Color and tone are used in a creative way. The sound is even largely responsible for the success of the movie, since practically the whole horror lies in the fact that the devil speaks, what he says and how he speaks. [...] One cannot deny that 'The Exorcist' really sweeps an audience away; and yet it is a cheap and inferior film - often immensely clumsy in its inability to even produce smooth connections between scenes - that has none of the professionalism that distinguished the older and certainly more conventional film about obsession, ' The Lady and the Monster ' . Despite all its hocus-pocus, 'The Exorcist' does not succeed in making the devil appear more terrible than the vampire in Carl Dreyer's ' Vampyr '. It is probably a symptom of our confused times that people ran into 'The Exorcist' to be scared because they wanted to scream, come out scared and disgusted, but somehow proud that they endured it . "
“Perhaps the censors have also noticed that they are looking at a masterpiece and not a work of the devil. [...] This film is so strong because nothing happens in it for the devil. "
“The Exorcist” as a film polarized the audience even more than the book; surprisingly, it delighted the press and filmmakers alike and was ultimately awarded two of the coveted trophies (including the screenplay award for Blatty) out of ten “Oscar” nominations. The waves of a heated, thoroughly serious discussion that the horror film struck even in serious church circles has not yet been granted to any other work of this genre. […] Not least in its homogeneous combination of science and superstition, book and film achieve a tremendous pull that gives the improbable, downright ridiculous material its unsettling "authenticity". "
“Friedkin doesn't just want to hit the pit of the stomach, but also the heart of the beholder. Because precisely because you recognize yourself in the uncertainty of the characters, you are defenselessly exposed to the terror of the film. "
“William Friedkin's vision of hell still provokes a certain anxiety. Although the focus is on an outdated, irrational, mystical motif with the expulsion of the devil, DER EXORCIST - together with the B-movie THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE by Tobe Hooper at the same time - establishes the genre of the so-called “modern horror film”, in the downright “secular “Images for the representation of the threat were underlined by special effects that are still convincing today. [...] Why Friedkin was no longer able to build on this achievement is one of the secrets that the cinema keeps to itself. "
German synchronization
The German version was created by Aura Film Synchron GmbH in Munich. Herbert Asmodi wrote the dialogue book, and Bernhard Wicki and Conrad von Molo were responsible for the dialogue direction .
In 2001 the director's cut version of the film was released, which was also re-dubbed. The new dubbing took place at FFS Film- & Fernseh-Synchron GmbH in Munich, based on a dialogue book by Hartmut Neugebauer , who also directed the dialogue.
| role | actor | Theatrical version (1973) | Director's Cut Version (2001) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regan Teresa MacNeil | Linda Blair / Eileen Dietz | Simone Brahmann / Hanne Wieder | Jana Kilka / Katharina Lopinski |
| Chris MacNeil | Ellen Burstyn | Agnes Fink | Krista Posch |
| Father Lankester Merrin | Max von Sydow | Dieter Borsche | Hartmut Reck |
| Father Damien Karras | Jason Anthony Miller | Michael Degen | Udo Wachtveitl |
| Lt. William F Kinderman | Lee J. Cobb | Arnold Marquis | Hartmut Neugebauer |
| Dr. Taney | Robert Symonds | Hansjörg Felmy | Thomas Fritsch |
| Bishop Michael | Wallace Rooney | Wolfgang Buettner | Fred Maire |
| Dr. Small | Barton Heyman | Manfred Schott | Peter Fricke |
| Father Dyer | Reverend William O'Malley | Harald Leipnitz | Fritz von Hardenberg |
| University President Tom | Reverend Thomas Bermingham | Charles Regnier | Horst Raspe |
Awards
The film received two Academy Awards in 1974 for Best Screenplay and Best Sound . There were also nominations in the categories of Best Supporting Actor , Best Actress , Best Supporting Actress , Best Production Design , Best Cinematography , Best Director , Best Editing , Best Film .
Four Golden Globes ( best film ; best director ; best screenplay ; best supporting actress ) also went to the film, and it was nominated for three more ( best leading actress ; best supporting actor ; best young actress ).
Other prizes were:
- Golden Scroll 1975 ( Best Horror Movie , Best Screenplay , Best Special Effects , Best Makeup )
- Golden canvas 1978
- Empire Award 1999
The Wiesbaden film evaluation agency awarded the film the rating of “particularly valuable”.
In 2010, The Exorcist was included in the National Film Registry as an American film that is particularly worth preserving .
Web links
- The Exorcist in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Exorcist at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- The Exorcist in the online movie database
- Review by Ulrich Behrens in the Filmzentrale
- Review at Filmrezicenter.de ( Memento from April 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- Comparison of the cut versions theatrical version - Director's Cut , Director's Cut Blu-ray - Director's Cut DVD by Der Exorzist at Schnittberichte.com
- Spiegel article from 1974
- Spiegel cover story for the theatrical release of the film
Individual evidence
- ↑ Frank Trebbin: Fear sits next to you - complete edition . 1st edition. Schönwalde 1998, ISBN 3-929234-03-3 , p. 820 . Movie Review on page 182
- ↑ ofdb.de: version view theatrical release , accessed on December 6, 2013
- ↑ ign.com: Interview with The Exorcist's Linda Blair
- ^ Smelling salts for the audience. Horror scenes at the European premiere of the "Exorcist" . In: Neue Kronen Zeitung . No. 4936 , February 27, 1974, Abroad, p. 5 .
- ↑ Edward VKanty: 'The Exorcist' Comes To The Stage As Fox Premieres Series. inquisitr.com, May 19, 2016, accessed August 27, 2016 .
- ↑ The Exorcist. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ William K. Everson: Classics of Horror Films. Goldmann, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-442-10205-7 , p. 249. (OT: Classics of the Horror Film )
- ↑ Lars-Olav Beier : The devil's writer . In: tip . No. 6/2001 . Berlin June 2001, film, p. 42-44 .
- ↑ Jörg Gerle: In the suction. "The Exorcist": The Reconstruction of a Nightmare . In: Filmdienst . No. 05/01 , May 2001, p. 10 f .
- ↑ René Classen: The Exorcist - Director's Cut . In: Filmdienst . No. 06/01 , June 2001, cinema, p. 18 .
- ↑ Manfred Riepe: The Exorcist. After 28 years, technically refreshed again in the cinema as Director's Cut . In: epd film . No. 4/2001 , April 2001, p. 38 f .
- ↑ First dubbed version on Synchronkartei.de
- ↑ Director's Cut dubbed version on Synchronkartei.de