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Exorcist,
The - The Directors Cut |
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When William Friedkin and author William Peter Blatty got together to do the commentary track for the 25th Anniversary DVD of The Exorcist, they found that they still had a lot to talk about and indeed still argue about even after all those years. One gets the impression that Blatty would have liked the inclusion of certain scenes in the story that were considered unnecessary by Friedkin back in 1973.
Anyway, the story behind this Director' Cut as we interpret it is as follows. Friedkin's phenomenal horror movie had been ridiculously banned by the Brits in the wake of the Mary Whitehouse Video Nasties campaign. The zealots among the manic moral majority started ranting about the horrors on display at the local high street video shop and how their cherubic children were being traumatized by such VHS abominations - in the panic that followed the British Film Board decided to ban films left right and centre in desperate efforts at appeasement. The Exorcist, a film nominated for no less than 10 Academy Awards was pigeonholed along with titles such grim exploitation fare as I Spit on Your Grave and Cannibal Holocaust and slapped with an outright ban. It took the retirement of James Ferman and a long 20 years before the laughable ban was lifted and The Exorcist was once again primed for release all over the country in cinema's and video to follow.
The movie scared up huge business even after all these years, and ended up as one of the year's top grossing films (in the UK) despite being a quarter of a century old. Buoyed by the rapturous reception that the movie received in Britain Friedkin was encouraged to go ahead and re-cut the film once again so that he would produce the version that both he as well as Blatty would be satisfied with and make some more dosh in the process. In fact the new version is much more of an "Author's Cut" than a Director's Cut because almost all the scenes that had been left out that Blatty was in favour of, have been grafted into the main body of the film. The end that Blatty so wanted because he wanted to be more upbeat has also been tacked on to the film's old ending. The question really to be asked is that is this new version Director's Cut an improvement over the version of the film that the world has known for the last 25 years or is this all just another slimy trick and an excuse for Friedkin to earn some more big bucks. Whatever the answer, the fact is that the film has been a resounding success upon release both in America where it added a cool 30 million plus to its Box Office gross and equally successful in the UK and elsewhere. Friedkin has had the last laugh as audiences worldwide spent their cash watching his new fangled Directors Cut. Though the film has proved a winner for Warner's in this new revamped version, does it actually benefit the film as such or it just a gimmick? Everyone will have his or her own point of view, but we reckon that the film has not been improved in any way as far as the narrative is concerned. Most of the scenes that were left out were left out for a good reason and in no way does the film benefit by having these scenes restored to the film. The scene were Regan is tested in hospital and behaves petulantly is not required and just stresses a point where no further stress is needed. We don't need to have it written out for us that the girl is being slowly taken over by an otherworldly demon. However, the new scenes and the sudden flashes of imagery implies that the viewer is a little dimmer than he was 20 years ago and needs a little help in understanding events on screen. The legendary "spider walking" scene was left out by Friedkin reluctantly because in those days it hadn't appeared right and they didn't have the special effects wizardry available to them that they would now have. The scene has now been brought back in an abbreviated but fairly shocking and effective manner and is the one addition that doesn't do any harm at all. However, Regan doesn't end up licking Sharon's ankles with a forked tongue as she did in the novel and as had been shown in the outtakes of the 25th Anniversary DVD edition. There are other scenes that don't really add to proceedings at all in that they just overstress points that are already being made. There is a scene in the language lab that is not particularly fascinating and then the conversation between Merrin and Karras has been elongated in between the Exorcism - again, not really detracting from the movie but certainly not adding anything either. There are two bits where the soundtrack has been altered; one where young Regan overhears her mother having a foul mouthed fit at the telephone operator - this scene is given the sinister sound treatment to chilling effect. In the past the scene had been virtually devoid of background music. The other noticeable change is that the moslem chant of "Allah ho Akbar" is heard at the very end of the movie (as well as the very opening) making the statement that Merrin's triumph over the demon is not restricted merely to the Catholic faith but is a collective victory for spiritualism and religion. The original cut opens with chant of "Allah ho Akbar" as the very name of the film comes up in blood red, setting the tone for events that follow. By inserting the same chant at the triumphant end, Friedkin has attempted to deflect suggestions that his film has anti-islamic undertones. (Which we don't really believe the film contains), unlike his overtly Moslem bashing piece of regpugnant trash Rules of Engagement. The one aspect of the film that has been improved out of sight is the sound. The film has had a total re-tweaking of its audio tracks with spectacular results. Previously with the 25th Anniversary edition the movie had been mixed in 5.1 but this time around it's a whole new experience. Watching the movie with this remixed soundtrack is a joy to behold. It's the most spectacularly remixed sound that we have yet come across of an old movie and ranks along with Vertigo as the most impressive audio resurrection so far. The video too has been sharpened up and suddenly the wallpapers of the McNeil household appear sharper and more vivid than ever before. There is little doubt that the film has ever looked better than this new version, yet the sound is what truly steals the thunder and is the star of the show. The sound re-mixers deserve special credit here for adding a dimension to watching this great horror classic after all these years - a truly magnificent job - and if you are fortunate enough to be able to enjoy this on a 6.1 Surround Ex system, better still! Other than the brief spider walking scene, we wouldn't have tinkered around with this superb film - yet it is worth experiencing all over again just to enjoy the thrilling audio experience that has been crafted by the sound engineers. The Exorcist never sounded better, and Mercedes McCambridge's voice is as ever, the real star of the show. A hair raising experience if you have the sound system to enjoy it with…if not, stick with the "classic" version of The Exorcist which will do just fine.
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