Hey, Tom Joad here. Quint sat two seats away from me during this screening... and by the sound of his review, I'm pretty glad about that... sounds like his excitement could've caused bodily harm to those around him...
Ahoy there... blah blah blah.... crusty seaman... blah blah blah. Screw all the usual intro stuff tonight! All I have to say is finally!!! Finally, finally, finally! Somebody got it right!
All right, I'm a little calmer now... ahem... composed... yeah... Anyway, what I am so eloquently rambling about is the Exorcist re-release. Goddamnit, man. You guys all know who cool the film is, how revolutionary, groundbreaking, etc. Most of you would go see the Exorcist re-released even if there weren't any new scenes. I'm just so happy that William Peter Blatty and William Friedkin did it right. I had worries when I heard "12 minutes of additional footage." Oh God! What are they going to change?!? How are they going to fuck this one up? See what the Star Wars: SE stuff did to me?
But Blatty and Friedkin did it right. There is no Father Karras spewing projectile green vomit first or a bad CGI Jesus that comes in for a cameo or Max Von Sydow screaming like a bitch when the Demon gets the upper hand at the climax of the film. They did it right! Every new scene is tremendous! Every addition to existing scenes are an improvement. The sound is nothing less than amazing. I've seen The Exorcist upwards of 20 times in my life, from start to finish, and I still jumped and got goosebumps and all those other good horror movie feelings.
I know this is nowhere near a structured review, but I just can't help but geek out over this thing. You guys probably want to know about the new scenes. I'll give you a hint, but you'll have to go see the film whenever it's released near you to get the full on knowledge.
The Exorcist Re-release trump card scene, what the Jabba scene in Star Wars: SE tried to be, is the famous "spider walk" scene where Linda Blair comes down the stairs crawling, belly up, back arched on her hands and feet. It's freaky, to say the least. Those of you who have seen some of the footage on that special DVD... well... let's just say you get something unexpected. The actual footage used in the film is far more superior to what is seen in the DVD.
There are early scenes where you see the Demon gradually start taking over Linda Blair... some extra doctor scenes... a look at Father Karras in the sound room before the scene in which he discovers the backwards English. Those are all done well, but I have to say the best added things are some stuff that's put into preexisting scenes. You'll get a flash of something during a quite scene, etc. There's also some extremely subtle CG work that is done terrifically and impacts greatly.
Holy shit! Go see this movie! If you're a fan of the original cut, you should like this cut even better. If for some reason you think you'll hate a new cut, well... nothing's really cut out of the film, so go see it to see a beautiful new print of a great movie... with some extra footage. It opens this weekend in Austin, TX, Athens, GA and Anarbor. If you live in these cities do a favor, not only to yourself but to others. Go see this flick. I got to help Tom Joad in an interview with William Peter Blatty after the film tonight and Blatty said that the re-release depends on good business done this weekend in the above mentioned theaters. He said that Warner Bros. (surprise, surprise) won't make any plans to expand the re-release until the numbers come in for this weekend.
So please, if you live in any of the above cities help out your fellow film geeks that aren't fortunate enough to live where this masterpiece of horror cinema is playing. Ahhh... that seems to be enough geeking from me for tonight. I've geeked out so much during the last 8 hours that the ol' geek batteries need recharging. Keep an eye out for Tom Joad's interview with Blatty and maybe even a picture or two taken by this drunken sailor.
Till then, farewell and adieu.
