The year is 2012. We are surrounded by vampires- most of
them ridiculously good looking. Werewolves are largely misunderstood, but still
manage to find the time to work on their abs in between bouts of angst ridden
brooding. The world’s most watched television drama is about a zombie
apocalypse. Three of this year’s most successful animated movies center around a
young boy who can speak to ghosts, a dead dog brought back to life and a luxury
resort for monsters run by Count Dracula.
Horror has become a pop culture staple, never more so than
when it comes to demonic possession. In the last year alone we’ve been
subjected to The Rite, The Devil Inside, The Last Exorcism and The
Possession. Yup, we’re
surrounded by horror. And we love it.
But in 1971, the world was a very different place. Horror
was predominantly escapist fantasy for teenage boys featuring classic movie
monsters, things from outer space and scantily clad 50 feet tall women. Then
along came a book that changed everything. That book was called The Exorcist
and it taught us that horror was real, that it was lying in bed, upstairs. Waiting.
Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells was the perfect
soundtrack to the movie and continues to be haunting.
41 years hence, The Exorcist may no longer be as shocking
and visceral a read as it was when it was first published, but it still remains
one of the greatest horror novels ever written. As the New York Times Sunday
Book Review memorably put it, “The
Exorcist is to most other books of its kind as an Einstein equation is to
an accountant's column of figures”.
The Exorcist created the
original blueprint for what has now become Demonic Possession 101: young,
innocent girl is possessed by malevolent demon and is then exorcised by
Catholic priest. But its power
lies not in its fairly linear plot, but rather in its tone, manner and
immensely compelling style. The Exorcist is not a horror novel written in a
literary style. It is a literary novel that just happens to be terrifying.
William Peter Blatty shuns
fast and easy thrills in favour of slow paced, simmering characterization. The
book’s three principle protagonists - conflicted Jesuit priest Damien Karras, traumatized
actress Chris MacNeil and her possessed daughter Regan all become living,
breathing people that you actually find yourself caring about. The book’s
titular character, Father Lankester Merrin only really joins the proceedings in
the last 50 pages, yet at no point preceding this does one feel the need for things
to get a move on.
While the 1972 film (as brilliant as it was) relied largely
on visual shock tactics to deliver most of it scares, the book is more
restrained and instead worms its way into your psyche far more insidiously. It
is far more than a simple tale of good vs. evil and raises some profound
questions regarding the nature of evil, faith and God himself.
Given the increasing amounts of real world horror that we are
exposed to these days and the resultant nonchalance with which we have come to
treat it, The Exorcist may no longer pack as terrifying a punch as it did all
those years ago. However, its message and its underlying implications have
never been more relevant than they have today. Is an emaciated, foul mouthed, head spinning little girl the
only manifestation of demonic possession? What about the child molester? The
rapist? The murderer? The terrorist? The man who shoots his neighbour over a
parking space?
We often talk about how the world we live in ‘is going to hell’.
The Exorcist raises the chilling possibility of that particular metaphor being
a little too literal for comfort.
Is The Exorcist ‘the scariest book ever written’? Probably not.
But is it one of the most disturbing? Most definitely.Ultimately, the book’s power lies not in its ability to make you
want to sleep with the light on (though it’ll do that as well, trust me) but
instead in its ability to make you think about your own particular belief
system- or lack thereof.
In his poem The Generous Gambler, Charles Baudelaire famously
wrote “the most exquisite of the Devil’s
wiles is persuading us that he does not exist”.
The Exorcist reminds us that not only does The Devil exist, but
that he’s waiting for you. In that little room. Just up those stairs…
A little bit about our reviewer
John Thangaraj is 34 years old, and spends most of his time
reading comics, listening to obnoxiously loud metal and playing with his dog
(who does not like the obnoxiously loud metal). He also occasionally finds the time to work, though given
that he works in advertising, the actual definition of ‘work’ is ambiguous at
best. Having been traumatized by his parents at the tender age of 7 by being
made to watch The Omen, The Exorcist and Salem’s Lot in quick succession, he
has a somewhat unhealthy obsession with horror and
fantasy. His favourite authors include Stephen King, Road Dahl, Bill Bryson and
Neil Gaiman. He thinks The Lord of the Rings rules and The Fountainhead sucks.
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