Halloween Film Fest 2006 – Part 4
16. Land of the Dead (2005)
It still does my heart good be able to watch a fourth Romero Dead movie during my Halloween fest.
17. Bandh Darwaza (1990)
This was one of the Bollywood horror movies I was looking forward to. My God, it was terrible. The plot made very little sense–even for a Bollywood film. The musical numbers were sub-par and the freaking vampire didn't even sing! What a disappointment.
18. The Thing (1982)
This film is flat, freaking genius. I never get sick of watching it.
19. The Invisible Man (1933)
20. Curse of the Doll People (1960)
21. The Exorcist 3 (1990)
I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing William Peter Blatty when the new unedited version of The Exorcist made the rounds in cinemas. I brought him a copy of Legion to sign and told him I greatly enjoyed this film, which he helmed. He seemed very pleased to hear this. I had the distinct impression he doesn't hear that enough. I'd like to point out how insane it is that Blatty has not directed a film since. I actually asked him why and he said he couldn't get a gig. He had been offered two films at the time I spoke with him: a civil war/ghost story/teen romance that was set to start production in a few weeks from when he was asked and a Pumpkinhead sequel. Scandalous. I hope he eventually gets a chance to get back in the chair. He's far too good to not direct again. And besides, George C. Scott is amazing. Always.
Update: You know, if you think about it: exorcism makes no sense. God is supposed to be omnipotent. Therefore, he trumps Satan. Hands down. Because Satan is not omnipotent. So in an exorcism, if you think about it, a full-on Man of God is telling Satan (or the demon or the whatever) to get the hell (no pun intended) out of the victim in question. He's doing so as God's instrument, yes? So why doesn't Satan get lost? Why is it always a battle? There's no answer to this. Even in the Christian mythos, there's no answer. At least none that makes sense. If God is omnipotent, then the result should be that Satan turns tail at the first splash of holy water. The only other answer is that God is toying with the victim as part of those "mysterious ways." Story of Job and all that. And if that's the case, then what sort of God is that? What point can be so important to allow that sort of suffering? So I don't even know how exorcism makes sense in a God vs. Satan sort of setup. I wouldn't be sure how to even write that, because the internal logic within the mythos doesn't even make sense.
What am I missing?
22.
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Could it be that the amount of God power needed to kick the demon out quickly would be too much for the merely human instrument?
Or the priest can't use full power since blasting the demon out may kill the victim?
Nope. Because if God is ALL-powerful then he is powerful enough to use just the right amount to drive the demon out AND keep the human safe.
Also, it's not the priest's power, remember? Hence the term "INSTRUMENT of God."
So nope, doesn't work.
OK. How about God doesn't give a shit what you think, so shut up and give your tithe to the priest already. And he needs to see little Johnny for some 'spiritual counseling'.
The answer to the exorcism conundrum is best approached as an analogy: If you think of God as a powerful holy laser, and the Instrument of God as the lens. If the lens' faith is not Perfect (which of course it can't be, being mortal), the beam is weakened, scattered, or distorted. There's still enough holy juju in the beam to do the work, but the lens is going to strain under the load and possibly crack. Add to this that the Minion of Evil(tm) is usually doing everything in its vast (though not absolute) power to further "cloud the lens" by pushing various tests of faith on the Instrument, and voila, instant conflict.
That's all well and good, but if God is God, then He's omnipotent. And omnipotent means if he wants the demon gone, the demon's gone. No lens, no muss, no fuss. Unless of course he wants there to be conflict, which means that he wants there to be suffering, which means that he's a right bastard, don't you think?