Demonic Possession or WMD?

[Mephisto]

I've noticed a recent surge in "exorcist" type movies lately (both on television and the theater) and I'm wondering if the Catholic church is trying the old WMD trick on us?

I remember when the original book by William Peter Blatty was published there was an international interest in demonic possession and Catholicism. When the movie was released and the multitudes stood in long lines to see Linda Blair puke pea soup, the Catholic church received quite a bit of attention (understandable, since they are the only ones with the Roman Ritual).

I'm wondering if they are attempting to regain that popularity by spooking the faithful (and barely faithful) with some Satanic WMD. Of course, I realize that these films are independantly produced, but I wonder what could be the reason for the sudden influx of this narrow appeal in the horror genre.

Pretty soon, we're going to see the Pope on TV proclaiming that demonic possession is Satan's "smoking gun" and that various metal tubes (containing potent demons) were recently purchased in Nigeria.

Anyone's thoughts are appreciated.

 

[Sandy M]

I'm no apologist for the Catholic Church, but my understanding was that the "modern" Church's position is that (a) demonic possession is so very rare as to be almost (but not quite!)non-existent, and people should look to mental illness first as the cause of such "possessed" behavior; and (b) only the equivalent of a "certified" exorist can determine or act upon cases of so-called "demonic possession." So I just doubt they are influencing movie/tv producers to produce such flicks. It's probably just all of a part with the recent "Medium" tv show and woo-woo interest in psychic phenomena, the "Crossing Over" nonsense and the like.

 

[Dan Beaird]

I'd rather chalk up all motivation to the studio focus group that said: "Hey! Let's make another exorcist movie! I bet that'll make a bundle at the box office". I don't think there are enough original thought neurons in all of Hollywood these days to follow the twisty logic trail of your premise. But now that you've written it down I bet someone will be pitching it as next year's blockbuster conspiracy movie within the week.

 

[BracesForImpact]

I'd say it's a sign of the times that people would much rather look for a supernatural explanation then a natural one.

"Based on a true story". Indeed.

 

[Beanbag]

From a screenwriter's point of view, a demonic posession storyline is a fairly easy ride, all things considered. Special effects are primarily makeup and mechanical prosthetics. The settings are contemporary, so location shots and sets are inexpensive. Storyline considerations are minimal -- just about anything can happen and the audience will take it at face value. The audience WANTS to believe, just like Star Wars.

From what I've seen of the new movie through trailers, the whole thing could have been shot for less than ten million. It's going to make its money back the first weekend it opens.

Beanbag

 

[c4ts]

From a screenwriter's point of view, a demonic posession storyline is a fairly easy ride, all things considered. Special effects are primarily makeup and mechanical prosthetics. The settings are contemporary, so location shots and sets are inexpensive. Storyline considerations are minimal -- just about anything can happen and the audience will take it at face value. The audience WANTS to believe, just like Star Wars.

From what I've seen of the new movie through trailers, the whole thing could have been shot for less than ten million. It's going to make its money back the first weekend it opens.

Beanbag

Those are preproduction problems you're talking about, not just screenwriting. Things like SFX and staging are primarily budget considerations. A script is just going to call for something, and a writer has no problem doing that as long as it can be imagined. Screenwriting concerns are "Does it have coherent scenes?" "Does it have interesting characters and a beginning, middle, and end?" and so on. These aren't necessarily provided by real life, or in this case, ficticious accounts posing as real life.

 

[Beanbag]

A screenwriter always has the budget considerations in the back of their mind while they are writing, particularly if they are writing on spec. Science fiction screenplays are one of the hardest to sell. Why? Expensive production costs. Expensive special effects (that often look so hokey they sink the film). Everything has to be built up from scratch.

The horror genre (of which exorcism belongs) is usually a fairly inexpensive movie, unless you do hybrid stories like Alien or the latest War of the Worlds, which is sci-fi/horror, and comes with a sci-fi price tag to produce. Straight horror is usually contemporary and has a lower production cost, which makes it a lot easier to turn a profit even if it performs less than stellar at the box office. The only people who make movies for the art are directors. For the rest of the industry, the driving point is will it make money? After all, this is a business, and if you approach it that way with your writing, it helps you get sold.

Allowing that you have a decent story, a producer is going to take your script and start assigning a dollar value to each page. All things equal, the script with the lower potential production costs will beat out the one with higher costs.

Beanbag

 

[Mephisto]

I'm no apologist for the Catholic Church, but my understanding was that the "modern" Church's position is that (a) demonic possession is so very rare as to be almost (but not quite!)non-existent, and people should look to mental illness first as the cause of such "possessed" behavior; and (b) only the equivalent of a "certified" exorist can determine or act upon cases of so-called "demonic possession." So I just doubt they are influencing movie/tv producers to produce such flicks. It's probably just all of a part with the recent "Medium" tv show and woo-woo interest in psychic phenomena, the "Crossing Over" nonsense and the like.

I watched a program on A&E last night (The Real Exorcists) that stated that the Vatican has rekindled the interest in exorcisms and has even increased the number of "authorized" exorcists tenfold.

Sounds like they're building up for war, no?

Cinema aside, it benefits the Catholic church to plant these seeds in the heads of their followers (and potential followers). As an American, it seems to me that I've seen these fear-provoking measure before. I think they saw how "The Passion of the Christ" (you know, the movie by the Gibson) affected the faithful and are now seeing Hollywood as a great propaganda outlet.

 

[Starrman]

watched a program on A&E last night (The Real Exorcists) that stated that the Vatican has rekindled the interest in exorcisms and has even increased the number of "authorized" exorcists tenfold.

That show sucked hard. I can't wait for the follow up documentary on the 'real' Jack and his beanstalk.

The Catholic Church should be ashamed for presenting this stuff as real - I remember how scared 'The Excorcist' made me when I was 7 or 8. I was absolutely traumatized, as it was presented as real and re-inforced as real to us at our Catholic School.

Some of these are the same adults who certainly tell kids there is no monster under the bed. But look out, one might really take over your soul, slice words in your chest and make you kill your parents.

 

[Anti_Hypeman]

I think you might be on the right track have you seen this?

http://www.catholic.org/cathcom/national_story.php?id=15786

They need evil forces to fight after all if this is going to work. Someone tell them that Neo wasnt celibate its not the shades that made him cool it was the booty he was tappin.


The MTV generation just isnt going to pack the churches to fight gays and porn like in the good old days they need real Constantine style demons and holy wars.