# Logical loopholes in the Exorcist - please discuss for my sanity!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 17, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logical-loopholes-in-the-exorcist-please-discuss-for-my-sanity/336058 "2005-12-17T16:01:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tevildo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Tevildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tevildo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2005, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logical-loopholes-in-the-exorcist-please-discuss-for-my-sanity/336058/21 "2005-12-17T23:16:18Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Is this related to a movie, or just a web game? It’s not related to the movie, no. It’s an interactive “ghost story” with the same sort of background and general atmosphere. It is also by far the most terrifying thing that I’ve seen in any medium. 🙂 That being said, if one does not like “The Grudge”, one will not like “theHouse” for similar reasons. _De gustibus non est disputandem_, and that. ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2005, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logical-loopholes-in-the-exorcist-please-discuss-for-my-sanity/336058/22 "2005-12-17T23:17:25Z")
> [@Logically Loquacious](#): > > …And I didn’t buy the fact that the priest was able to trick the demon into coming into himself and then being able to quickly kill himself for two reasons…the demon, who could bounce the bed, physically attack and hurt others, open and close doors at will and cause a little girl to stab herself with a crucifix and turn her head 180 degrees, cannot take control and prevent the death of its priest host? Not believable and illogical… Good post, but I disagree with the quoted part above. The Demon left Fr. Karras’ body after he fought the urge to strangle Regan and prior to his throwing himself out of the bedroom window. Some people (yes, including ‘kooks’ like Wilson B. Key) believe one reason the Exorcist was so creepy were the subliminal techniques Friedkin used throughout the film. Not everyone who saw The Exorcist consciously perceived the death mask; which flashed momentarily on screen about a 1/2 dozen times - or the soundtrack; with the sound buzzing bees and pigs being slaughtered laced throughout. If you don’t wanna look like a wimp, watch the movie again with no audio / close captioned. It’s alot less frightening. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2005, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logical-loopholes-in-the-exorcist-please-discuss-for-my-sanity/336058/23 "2005-12-17T23:30:06Z")
> [@Tevildo](#): > > It’s not related to the movie, no. It’s an interactive “ghost story” with the same sort of background and general atmosphere. It is also by far the most terrifying thing that I’ve seen in any medium. 🙂 That being said, if one does not like “The Grudge”, one will not like “theHouse” for similar reasons. _De gustibus non est disputandem_, and that. It was indeed creepy, thanks for the link! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logical-loopholes-in-the-exorcist-please-discuss-for-my-sanity/336058/24 "2005-12-17T23:55:55Z")
I didn’t read the book or see the movie until YEARS after the movie became a hit. I thought the book was okay, and the movie was pretty cheesey. But “logical loopholes” aren’t really an issue for me. Remember, in the book: 1. Father Karras sees the “logical loopholes” as well as anyone. 2. Blatty points out that as far back as the Council of Trent, the Catholic Church declared that exorcism was to be reserved until all secular medical treatments had failed. Even the Church has presumed for centuries that symptoms of possession should be treated first as symptoms of a physical or mental disease. So… why does Karras choose to see Regan’s condition as a real case of possession? Because he’s having his own psychiatric problems and his own crisis of faith. He’s got grave doubts about God’s existence. So, for him, a real possession is proof that Satan exists. And if Satan exists, then God must exist… right? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logical-loopholes-in-the-exorcist-please-discuss-for-my-sanity/336058/25 "2005-12-18T04:18:58Z")
One way to defuse _The Exorcist_, _Poltergeist_, or virtually any horror movie with localized bizarre events is to consider how quickly the demons et al would have been vanquished in a real-life setting. All the victims had to do was call up the _National Enquirer_, _Weekly World News_, _A Current Affair_ or a bunch of network reality show producers and fill them in. You think any self-respecting demon or spirit would hang around once the place was deluged with reporters, Hollywood types, hangers-on and a horde of gawking tourists? Think of _Salem’s Lot_ with a bunch of RVs full of slack-jawed nincompoops cruising by the old haunted house. No vampire would put up with that crap. Now this would not work with something like _Night of the Living Dead_ where almost no one normal is left. You could call up the _National Enquirer_ and reporters would show up alright - but they’d be more interesting in a good meal than a juicy quote. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logical-loopholes-in-the-exorcist-please-discuss-for-my-sanity/336058/26 "2005-12-18T04:47:32Z")
> [@JohnBckWLD](#): > > Some people (yes, including ‘kooks’ like Wilson B. Key) believe one reason the Exorcist was so creepy were the subliminal techniques Friedkin used throughout the film. Not everyone who saw The Exorcist consciously perceived the death mask; which flashed momentarily on screen about a 1/2 dozen times - or the soundtrack; with the sound buzzing bees and pigs being slaughtered laced throughout. Unfortunately, some of the assertions made by the Kook of Kooks (WBK) persist as urban legend. The scary Father Karras face flash only occurs twice: once in a dream sequence, and once during the exorcism. You either notice it or you don’t. If you don’t notice it, it doesn’t make things any scarier. It’s no different from the red flash in _Spellbound_ – a simple special effect. Everything else Wilson Bryan Key rambled about was either totally imaginary (like the faces in the condensed breath, which was real and only had faces in it in the same sense as the [smoke from the WTC](http://www.christianmedia.us/devil-face.html) did – by virtue of imagination and projection) or just regular sound design or art direction, like the creepy noises in the sound mix or the dead flowers _passim_. God, I hate that guy. (“Ritz crackers have hundreds of instances of the word ‘sex’ _baked right into them_, that’s why you keep buying them!”) ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logical-loopholes-in-the-exorcist-please-discuss-for-my-sanity/336058/27 "2005-12-18T09:42:13Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > God, I hate that guy. (“Ritz crackers have hundreds of instances of the word ‘sex’ _baked right into them_, that’s why you keep buying them!”) You know, I don’t have sex all that often, and I _hate_ Ritz crackers and thus never buy them. Perhaps there’s a connection! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logical-loopholes-in-the-exorcist-please-discuss-for-my-sanity/336058/28 "2005-12-18T09:58:22Z")
It’s possible that the insidious attempt by the mind-control specialists at Nabisco to equate sex with their product has backfired for you and put you off sex as something that smells funky, messes up your fingers, and coats your tongue. Maybe you can sue for damages. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logical-loopholes-in-the-exorcist-please-discuss-for-my-sanity/336058/29 "2005-12-18T10:01:31Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > It’s possible that the insidious attempt by the mind-control specialists at Nabisco to equate sex with their product has backfired for you and put you off sex as something that smells funky, messes up your fingers, and coats your tongue. > > Maybe you can sue for damages. 😃 Yeah, but _good_ sex smells funky, messes up your fingers, and coats your tongue. . . . ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logical-loopholes-in-the-exorcist-please-discuss-for-my-sanity/336058/30 "2005-12-18T12:47:19Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > The scary Father Karras face flash only occurs twice: once in a dream sequence, and once during the exorcism. Not relevent to WBK, but in the re-release a few years ago they added 1 or 2 more face bits. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2005, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logical-loopholes-in-the-exorcist-please-discuss-for-my-sanity/336058/31 "2005-12-18T22:00:51Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > > [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > > > If they do the devil’s work without being possessed, there’s no need to possess them. > > Are you saying that politicians _naturally_ do the devil’s work? No, of course not. Maybe “If some of them do some things that are the devil’s work” would be clearer. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logical-loopholes-in-the-exorcist-please-discuss-for-my-sanity/336058/32 "2005-12-19T17:31:03Z")
The Brunching Shuttlecocks’ “Self-Made Critic” wrote a [great piece](http://www.brunching.com/exorcist.html) on _The Exorcist_: > [@](#): > > Scholars have spent years trying to explain why this movie is so scary. And while I think it’s because the actors were terrified of the director (there are stories of Director William Friedkin randomly firing guns on the set to startle the actors), most agree that it is because there seems to be no reason why this particular girl is chosen to be possessed. She’s just a regular nice girl. And that’s scary. Regular nice people get possessed, for no reason. And you could be next. Or your own little girl. Or your Uncle Harvey with the club foot. Or Sammy Sosa, which would just prove that the Cubs are forever cursed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/logical-loopholes-in-the-exorcist-please-discuss-for-my-sanity/336058.md?page=1)