Thursday, October 22, 2015

Great Horror Performances: George C. Scott in The Exorcist III

by Adam Thas
If you have never seen The Exorcist III, it is definitely the second best movie of the series and a pretty great horror movie with one of my favorite jump scares of all time.

It’s going to be hard to get into why I love George C. Scott in Exorcist III without spoiling some pretty huge plot points, so I’ll try to go spoiler free for a while. Scott plays Kinderman, a detective near the end of his career who was good friends with Father Damien Karras, one of the main characters from the original Exorcist, hence where the connection comes in. Within the first few minutes after his introduction we see the three separate aspects of Kinderman’s life: his work life, family life, and friend life. What Scott gets right here is there isn’t much change in who his character is, but slight enough that we notice it; this always made Kinderman feel more real to me. Nowhere is this more apparent than with Kinderman’s relationship with his best friend Father Dyer (Ed Flanders). Flanders and Scott have really great chemistry together and the two of them have conversations that are so effortless in the delivery that they make the relationship between them seem totally genuine.
Scott really shines once the killing starts happening (not a spoiler; it’s a horror movie). It would be easy to say the Scott “plays it straight” here, but that would be too easy. Where the greatness of Scott’s performance comes through is in the struggle that Kinderman starts to feel while investigating these murders. It is almost chilling, the coldness that Kinderman has while he just goes about his police work, anticipating what is going to happen and not being surprised when it does. One of the underlying themes of the Exorcist movies is doubt and the questioning of faith, and Scott does a great job in dealing with this as most people do. He has his doubts but is confronted by supernatural forces that force him to reevaluate everything. Where the script asks him to talk about it, he’s never accusatory or grandstanding but very matter of fact in his delivery.

SPOILER TIME: Watch The Exorcist III

There are two scenes in particular that Scott just nails it. The first is when Kinderman realizes that the Gemini killer is going after his daughter and runs to the police car and tells them to drive. Instead of screaming or dropping a bunch of curse words, for the first part of the entire chase Scott just bites his hand. It’s so great, and when he finally snaps, it’s “Then ram the damn thing!” It’s such a great reaction to what is happening and a lesser actor probably would have used this as an opportunity to overact, but Scott’s reaction is so much more effective in my book.
The second scene(s), and probably my favorite sequence in the movie, is when Kinderman finds out his best friend Father Dyer was killed. The first part of it is when he has to investigate Dyer’s body. When Scott investigates the body in the first killings, there is a coldness in his face that feels like its just business as usual. In comparison, when Scott investigates Dyer’s body, he gives off this grimace in his face that just looks truly painful and you don’t know how he hasn’t broken down. A few minutes later, Kinderman is being screamed at by a hospital official about security, and you just feel the intensity as he tries to be the calm one in the room. Eventually Kinderman loses his cool and shouts out “Will you just shut your damn mouth!” Instead of doing more yelling, or trying to put on the calm, cool, persona, he starts to cry. It’s such a great reaction and Scott covers his face as if he’s ashamed he’s just broken. It’s such a moving scene and that scene in itself is worth the price of admission…or download.

The Exorcist III is still gritty for being shot in 1990. It feels a lot like a '70s horror flick, but uses imagery, subtleness and pacing to make a really solid horror movie that is not overshadowed but made better by a great performance from Scott.

14 comments:

  1. The best thing about that jump scare (agreed, one of the best ever) is just how long it takes. I've seen the movie enough and I still can't time when it's going to happen. It's fantastic. I'm gonna see myself out of here by closing with the fact that I like The Exorcist III better than The Exorcist. Peace, I'm out!

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  2. I could not agree more with that jump scare. Holy crap, I watched it again this week and I knew it was coming and they just let that take keep going. So great.

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  3. I'm going to take a 4th (or is it 5th?) attempt at finishing Exorcist II so I can appease my PBFCS (Patrick Bromley Franchise Completist Syndrome) before I watch this - it gets a lot of praise from the Killer POV gang too and the Thas Seal of Approval just makes me want to watch it more.

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    1. Great idea. "Exorcist II" (which I just saw) and "Exorcist III" combined make for a dated but appealing and entertaining horror twofer. But don't, repeat, DON'T watch the original "Exorcist" beforehand. The sequels exist in an entirely different realm that seems hopelessly bad after seeing Friedkin's take.

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  4. If you are a fan of George C. Scott and havent seen The Changeling then you need to see The Changeling. Its really great.

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  5. Great article. Such a great set-up when both characters explained how each other needed cheering up on that particular date. I really loved when Scott shows his crisis of faith discussing that particular murder investigation/scene. My personal favorite interchange is, of course, the Carp.

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    1. The diner scene where him and Flanders are talking about Damien and the waitress comes over and both of them don't talk for a good 5 seconds before Scott dismisses her is so great.

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  6. I couldn't agree more with the Exorcist III love, its not perfect but when it works it really works. The jump scare works for me too but the whole plot with Brad Dourif as the Gemini killer is really strong, nice to see he can work outside of the whole Chucky personality.

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  7. Excellent piece, Adam. You absolutely nailed why Scott's work in this is so great.

    And speaking personally? I think that's the greatest jump scare EVER in a horror film. It still gets me to this day...but I will never, ever forget sitting in that theater and having that moment pull me right out of my skin.

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    1. I think it's the best as well although I wouldn't dismiss an argument for Jaws' jump scare.

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    2. I totally agree. Whenever I hear or read the title Exorcist III, that scene is immediately in my head.
      And I prefer this to the also great one from Jaws, because in Jaws it´s clear what will happen. In Exorcist III you know that something will happen but what happens is so strange and absurd, you never could have expected that. Love it, love the film and almost any performance in the movie, especially Scott and Flanders.
      I hope that someday there will be Blattys original cut available.

      And F the guys from the Razzies who nominated Scott for worst actor in 1990.

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    3. First off, thank you. One of the reasons why I think that jump scare is so effective is there are two previous moments in other scenes where they set up a jump scare and it winds up being nothing. The first is when Kinderman visits the church and the women scares him in the hallway. Later when the priest finds the dead bird, you keep waiting for something to happen. Even in that scene it's nothing at first, they just let it keep going. So great.

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  8. Great, great performance from Scott, indeed, with so many both subtle and overt character beats - it really holds the whole movie together. I can see why this would be a favourite - it's kinda like the Rocky Franchise - yeah Rocky is the best "film" of the bunch, but Rocky III is way more fun and a more likely one-off pick. I like the way it tied into the original and Brad Dourif has some amazing scenes too.

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