The Exorcism, written by M.A. Fortin and Joshua John Miller (Miller also directed), opens letting you know that you are on the soundstage with an actor, rehearsing lines for a film, but after he is satisfied with his performance, something strange happens. Something supernatural. And in the aftermath, he is dead.
Now, The Exorcism is a horror film set in the world of making a horror film. Well, more accurately, remaking one of the most well-known films, The Exorcist. I think as far as horror films to do this with, this is one of the better ones, as even people less familiar with it know most of the basic references it pulls from to get the allusions. However, when Tony (played by Russell Crowe) shows his script with the code name “The Georgetown Project” (this was also the original title of the film) to his daughter, Lee (played by Ryan Simpkins), and she almost immediately gets what film it refers to, I found it a bit much. Especially since he didn’t even say he was doing a horror film, just a remake.
In general, I loved the production element adding to the horror. Because there was a lot of human evil leading to demonic evil and with both the initial actor’s death and then Tony’s subsequent actions, everything was written off as troubled actors.
Tony is introduced as someone who is in recovery and on medication for depression. And I think the film does a good job of using those with the actual possession to shine a light on the darkness of Hollywood. When times are good, if it will get the shot they want, the director will ignore, or even try to draw out reactions regardless of if it may be detrimental to the health of his actors. The fact they are even in production is proof of this as after the first actor’s death they should have shut down, but they didn’t. In fact, even after Tony has his Linda Blair contortionist moment on set, all he does is replace him.
There is also a nice balance in the early presentations of possession where it leaves room for interpretation. There is much of the film where it is unclear whether the more supernatural presentation of the possession isn’t just Tony’s perspective of it because he’s relapsed based on the way his daughter Lee reacts to him. So even in a scene where a door slams behind Lee supernaturally, one can write it off as his perspective of the event, because she does not react as if something supernatural happened, only that her father needs help, and she’s unequipped to provide it.
I was intrigued by the set design for the film within the film, where The Georgetown Project house was a dollhouse built on a soundstage. That was a fun design that created a very distinct visual look for the shoots used there for the actual film, The Exorcism, but seemed impractical for the actual full-scale production it was supposed to be used for. Most real sets have what we refer to as “staircases to nowhere” because sets tend to live on just one floor, because if you start adding those additional floors and filming up to them, you will have to use a crane, and that’s an additional expense. But it created a cool visual and the “dollhouse” element added to the idea that these characters were playthings for outside forces.
The Exorcism is currently in theatres.
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