Former Navy Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt Claims to Perform Exorcisms on Gay People

Former Navy Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt, who founded the lobbying group The Pray In Jesus Name Project, claimed on 'The David Pakman Show' that he possesses the power to “exorcise” homosexuality out of people, on Tuesday.
Joining Klingenschmitt was Wayne Besen, executive director of the LGBT advocacy group Truth Wins Out, who challenged Klingenschmitt’s opening claim that he once “healed” a lesbian woman of her sexual orientation.
Besen said: “You cannot pray away the gay. What I think he’s talking about is absurd. People who go through individuals like that come to me afterwards to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. They’re not healed, they’re harmed by such voodoo, so to speak. This isn’t Christianity. This is some kind of cult-like, bizarre notion that has nothing to do with real religion but has something to do with radicalism and extremism.”
Klingenschmitt responded that when people confess their sins and profess faith in the Jesus Christ, he’s actually been able to “exorcise” homosexuality out of them.

The Paranormal Disappearance of Allyn Jesick Review

Written by: Lola Savage

Recently, I had the good fortune of screening an up-and-coming director’s new addition to the found-footage genre. Shot and produced in my home state, director Mason Freeman creates an interesting tale of the supernatural and witchcraft. Yes, while everyone else is buzzing over exorcisms and ghosts, Freeman decided to expose the terrifying dangers of magic in The Paranormal Disappearance of Allyn Jesick.
Allyn Jesick (Hayley Lovitt) is creating a “My Life” video thesis, depicting the reunion of her, her sister Rose (Bethany Tiller), and their mother (Annie Cook) at their mother’s home in the North Carolina mountains. Their mother has suffered from cancer for several years, and has recently decided to cease her medical treatment for holistic practices. While Allyn and her mother are both optimistic about the results, Rose, a nurse, is highly skeptical. Their reunion is documented by an unseen friend and film student, but, instead of a happy family weekend, the camera captures something far more sinister.
As each night passes, our cameraman (director Mason Freeman) captures strange glowing lights in the old barn and chicken coop. When he boldly investigates during the day,  he finds identical remains of burnt candles and black sludge. He keeps his findings hidden from the women, so as not to frighten anyone prematurely. But there are bigger things to worry about as their mother’s pleasant demeanor takes a drastic turn for the worse and her behavior becomes erratic, violent, and downright weird. They blame the cancer at first, but even after a visit from Dr. Charles (David Shifter, casting director), it’s clear something beyond this world is causing her distress. You know they should leave, call the police, or an ambulance, but, unfortunately, it’s too late.
This film is built on a very small cast, but it was quintessential for their chemistry to be as authentic as possible, which meant a rigorous casting process to find mom and daughters that would be beyond convincing. I have to applaud David Shifter and Hollywood East Casting for their work on finding the star trio. Their portrayals carried the movie above and beyond any performance like it I’ve seen. What made the film even more note-worthy was its lack of a formal script. By using an outline and allowing the cast to improvise most of their lines, every line felt significantly more real than it could have with a formal script. Certainly this tactic could have proven harmful to their story but, in fact, it was pulled off really well.
Where Paranormal lacks is in its inability to build tension toward the climax of the movie. It’s imperative for a horror film to create the sense of fear in the scenario in which the characters are put. Most of the scenes were very mild leading up to the pinnacle of the story. When the motor did start, though, the director’s use of cinematography, and lack of CG, proved well-placed in conveying a very creepy farm. To keep in their theme of genuine acting, actors on the set were sometimes uninformed of certain scenes in order to capture the most authentic scares you can get.
My Savage Score is a possessed 3 out of 5. Unlike other mockumentaries using flashy CG and abrupt screen shots to get cheap thrills, Paranormal stays simple and manages to hold its own in the crowd. Gore Score is a spotted 3 out of 10. Not a lot of blood to go around so keep an eye out for what’s not there. I think viewers will relate closely to this story and the actors inside it. More information will be released in the future about when this film will be available to the public.

Exorcisms: A 'hot' service in the Valley

 He called it a gift from God. Brownsville Pastor Gabriel Villela told Action 4 News he can cast out demons. The evil spirits he claimed hide inside many of us, sometimes making us sick. “God told me, ‘Gabriel, if you take bad spirits out of people, the sicknesses they have will go away,’" said Villela. Every Tuesday believers fill a small room in Brownsville. Berta Guillen said she had a thyroid problem. "The doctor had given me all kinds of medications,” said Guillen. “The medications weren't helping me." Rolando Garcia said he was addicted to drugs. "A cocaine addict, and I even got to the point where I was smoking crack," said Garcia. It all changed when both met Villela. "The doctor told me, 'I don't know what you took or what happened, but there's nothing wrong with you," said Guillen. “I was liberated of a spirit, a spirit of addiction,” said Garcia. Arthritis, depression, even cancer: all are illnesses Villela said he's conquered by expelling demons from members of his flock. Villela said he expels demons an average of 15 times a week. “Right now it's popular,” said Doctor Tony Zavaleta, an anthropology professor at the University of Texas at Brownsville. “It's in vogue for people to be possessed by demons." Zavaleta said in the last 20 years, there's been a dramatic increase in people claiming they’re possessed. “But the majority of this is an emotional disturbance, some sort of mental health issue," said Zavaleta. Zavaleta said he has seen a case in which a healer like Villela cured a Brownsville woman of ovarian cancer. He said some in the Valley will see a pastor before a doctor. “We have the lowest level of insurance coverage, the highest rate of poverty, one of the highest rates of belief and participation with folk healers,” said Zavaleta. “So here in the Valley your first line of defense might not be your family practice physician.” "The church has always said the first line of defense for a Christian is common sense," said Bishop Daniel Flores of the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville. In an audio recording on the diocese web site, Bishop Flores explained the Catholic Church's view on demonic possession. "Possession is actually fairly rare," said Bishop Flores. The devil, Bishop Flores said, is a hot topic. Although he's never seen a possession first hand, Bishop Flores said he has seen plenty of obsession. "Possession is when the devil for some mysterious reason has been able to take possession of the interior soul of the person,” said Bishop Flores. “Obsession is not that the devil is inside. It's harassing you from the outside." Priests only perform exorcisms after thorough physical and mental evaluations. "There's a very, very rigorous examination the church goes through to be able to discern whether something is actually a possession or not,” said Bishop Flores. Villela said he only casts out demons from people after they see a doctor. His followers called him their last hope when medicine and doctors didn't do the job. "I'm so thankful I found him," said Guillen.

Swedish exorcism parents freed without charge

The father and step-mother of a teenage girl, who claimed they repeatedly tortured her because they “thought she was a witch”, have been released without charge. A court in western Sweden decided that the evidence against the pair was not strong enough to convict, despite the prosecution’s claim that they locked up the 14-year-old to protect her younger siblings for her “inherent evil”, tied her up and shaved her head.
“According to the girl’s version of events, she has been locked up, has had her feet tied together, been assaulted through being burned with a red-hot knife in a torture-like manner and other violent rites and exorcisms,” prosecutor Daniel Larsson wrote in a statement.
The parents and two priests, all from a small religious community in Malmö known as The River, were charged but denied the allegations. Although the court admitted that some circumstances supported the girl’s version of events, they said others disputed them.
The teenager lost credibility for failing to come forward quickly enough after the alleged events, with the court deciding that she may have been influenced by footage of exorcisms she had watched on YouTube. Statements from social workers and teachers, as well as a scar on the girl’s arm, were not deemed to be enough to secure a guilty verdict.

Football curses: witchdoctors, exorcisms and tactical urination

• 
• • Rob Smyth
  • guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 25 April 2012 00.09 BST
  • Article history

Barry Fry: turning the air blue and the grass yellow. Photograph: Laurence Griffiths/Empics Sports Photo Agency

"During his spell as Birmingham City manager, Barry Fry famously urinated on the pitch to break a gypsy curse on the club," starts Lucy Morrissey promisingly. "Are there any other examples of supernatural curses on clubs, and are any stadiums around the world haunted?"

1. More Knowledge: More of Your Football Questions Answered Buy More Knowledge from Guardian Books

Barry Fry knows all about curses, with swear words reportedly accounting for 92.47% of his half-time team-talks. And he did indeed leave his scent in all four corners of the St Andrew's pitch in an attempt to remove a longstanding gypsy curse. "We went three months without winning … We were desperate, so I pissed in all four corners, holding it in while I waddled round the pitch," he said in this interview. "Did it work? Well, we started to win and I thought it had, then they fucking sacked me, so probably not."
Other grounds have been cursed, although mercifully their managers didn't feel the need to paint the grass yellow. When Derby built the Baseball Ground in the 19th century, a group of Romany Gypsies were forced to move from the site. Their response was to place a curse that meant Derby would never win the FA Cup. Soon after, Derby lost three finals in six seasons. When they reached another, against Charlton in 1946, the club captain Jack Nicholson paid Gypsies to lift the curse. With the score 1-1 and extra-time approaching, the ball burst. It is seen as the moment the curse was lifted, and Derby went on to win 4-1.
It's not just grounds that are cursed, as we can see with this story of dead herring from Jostein Nygård. "Back in 1999, a local derby in the Norwegian second division between Alta and Hammerfest ended with the home team winning 2-1," says Jostein. "After the match, Hammerfest heavily criticised the referee, Nils Mikkel Sara, in the local paper. He was not too happy and demanded an apology; if not, he said he would 'gande' the team so that they would lose the rest of their matches and be relegated. (In Norwegian 'gande' or 'ganne' is a term used for Sami curses.) Terje Hansen, who was coaching Hammerfest, ignored the referee.
"Since Hammerfest had enjoyed great start to the season, this didn't seem like a likely outcome, but then they started losing match after match despite dominating most of them. At first the Hammerfest coach assumed they were just unlucky, but then the players started to believe in the curse. After talking to some old locals, the coach tried lifting the curse by sacrificing herring at a sacrificial stone in the area, but it didn't help. He was too stubborn to apologise and, sure enough, they ended up getting relegated.
"Here's a link to a 2005 Dagbladet article on the story (you could try Google translate). Mr Sara is still active as a referee. He has tried his magic skills on several occasions, both at national and international level, but I'm unaware of any other successes."
There was a success involving Australia in 2005, however. "Cursed football teams?" sniffs Matt Leonard. "You simply have to mention the Australian national team, the Socceroos, and their curse from 1969 that was broken in 2005 by the brilliant John Safran. Safran is not a football player, but an Australian football fan and media personality, who travelled to Africa seeking the aid of a witchdoctor to remove the curse. The whole adventure was also captured for one episode of Safran's exceptional TV series 'John Safran vs God'. There is more information here."
Many fans of the Colombian team América de Cali feel the club has been cursed since 1948. A local dentist, one of the club's most passionate fans, was opposed to the idea of the team turning professional. "If the team ever becomes professional," said Benjamin Urrea, better known as Garabato, "I swear to God that no matter what they do they will never be champions."
They did not win a domestic championship for 30 years – at which point, according to the Fifa website, Urrea and a group of fans performed an exorcism at América's stadium. They won their first national title the following season. (Other reports suggest the exorcism was performed by a singer and a journalist after they had won the title.) Either way, it was the first of 12 championships in a golden 23-year period, but many feel the Curse of Garabato still holds: América have never been champions of South America, having finished as runners-up in the Copa Libertadores on four occasions.
We've dealt with juju at the African Cup of Nations before, but if you have any more tales of curses, email knowledge@guardian.co.uk or contact us on Twitter.

Canadian media criticized for irresponsible 'exorcism'

Bishop Donald Bolen and CBC News.

Saskatoon, Canada, Apr 24, 2012 / 02:07 am (CNA).- Canadian news outlets are sensationalizing an event that was not treated as demonic possession and did not prompt a search for an exorcist, according to the Diocese of Saskatoon's communications office.
Communications coordinator Kiply Yaworski told CNA that the public had been misled by “headlines that were completely false,” suggesting that an exorcism had been performed by a local priest in March.
“There was no rite of exorcism,” said Yaworski. “No one here was calling it that.” She said media outlets were erroneously connecting the “blessing of a distraught man” to the topic of possession and exorcism, “just to get people to click on their stories.”
Yaworski was eager to clear up misunderstandings about an event reported by CBC News on April 13, under the headline “Exorcist expertise sought after Saskatoon 'possession'.”
According to CBC News, the incident involved a “shirtless middle-aged man, slouched on a couch and holding his head in his hands,” who had “used a sharp instrument to carve the word 'Hell' on his chest.”
“When the priest entered the room,” the Canadian outlet reported, “the man spoke in the third person, saying 'He belongs to me. Get out of here,' using a strange voice.”
CBC's article acknowledged that the priestly blessing the man received was “not a formal exorcism.” Bishop Donald Bolan, the only Catholic leader named in the article, reportedly said it was unclear whether the man was possessed or merely mentally disturbed.
But his comments were placed alongside those of the unnamed “church leaders,” who were said to be “considering whether Saskatoon needs a trained exorcist” after “a case of what is being called possible demonic possession.”
Yaworski blasted the misleading portrayal of the blessing that had occurred in March, and said Bishop Bolan's considerations about a diocesan exorcist had not been affected by the incident at all.
Bishop Bolan did tell CBC that the diocese was “kind of looking at what the diocese of Calgary does,” with its “special commission for spiritual discernment” which looks into unusual cases. Yaworski explained that these comments were a general reflection, not a response to the March incident.
The spiritual discernment commission in Calgary does not discuss its cases with the media. On April 20, this prompted the Toronto Sun to claim that the Calgary diocese was “working in mysterious ways” with the Church in Saskatoon, through its “shadowy” and “closely-guarded” commission.
Yaworski dismissed the notion of a “shadow” and “mysterious” commission in Calgary, and suggested the media were mistakenly imagining a secretive attitude in cases where the Church simply seeks to protect family and personal privacy.
On April 17, the Saskatoon diocese issued an official statement on the original March occurrence, acknowledging that it had “captured media attention.”
During the incident, the diocese said, “a priest blessed a distraught and emotional man with holy water and prayed with the family, before advising them to call the police.”
In his statement on the matter, Bishop Bolan stressed the reality of supernatural evil, but confirmed that no exorcism had occurred in the March incident.
“In Jesus' ministry there were exorcisms, and so it is not something that we can lightly dismiss,” he said.
“But the headline that the bishop of Saskatoon is looking for an exorcist was a vast oversimplification. Catholic dioceses, like other Christian communities, must look at how best to respond to requests in this area.”
“Our resurrection faith is that life is stronger than death, that God brings hope out of despair and light out of darkness,” Bishop Bolan said. “It is more important to affirm the goodness of the love of God than to speculate about the nature of events such as these.”

Exorcism in Saskatoon (Yes, Exorcism)

Bishop Don Bolen of the Saskatoon Bishop’s office is a man with a B.A. Honours in English and Religious Studies at the University of Regina.  Bishop Bolen also believes in demons and the ability to perform exorcisms and his make-believe fantasies are putting a man’s health at risk.

A case of what is being called possible demonic possession in Saskatoon has prompted local church officials to consider the need for an exorcist.
…
According to church officials, a priest was called to a Saskatoon home by a woman who said her uncle showed signs of being possessed by the devil. The woman believed a priest’s blessing could help the distraught man.
At the home, the priest encountered a shirtless middle-aged man, slouched on a couch and holding his head in his hands.
The man had used a sharp instrument to carve the word Hell on his chest.
When the priest entered the room, the man spoke in the third person, saying “He belongs to me. Get out of here,” using a strange voice.
The priest told CBC News that he had never seen anything like this and was concerned enough to call police, for safety reasons.
He said he then blessed the man, saying he belonged to the good side, to Jesus. With that, the man’s voice returned to normal for a short time.

Welcome to 21st-century Saskatoon, where people believe The Exorcist was a work of non-fiction.  A man who most likely needs psychiatric help will not receive it because his niece believes in monsters and magic.  It’s a shame that in this day and age, with all our knowledge, that people are still relying on these ideas.  Bolen does deserve credit for calling the police, but that’s all he or the niece should have done.  The uncle needs real help, not magic.
It’d be difficult to call this an isolated incident involving one over-zealous priest.

Church leaders in Saskatoon have been considering whether Saskatoon needs a trained exorcist.
The last person in the city with formal training, Rev. Joseph Bisztyo, retired in 2003.
Nor does the Regina archdiocese have an exorcist, so Bolen said they are looking to other locations.

Could it be that they don’t have one because they don’t need one?  When they could be out helping to better the real-world, Church leaders are out chasing around invisible monsters that probably aren’t real.  No wonder many have a hard time taking them seriously these days.
We also need to discuss the embarrassing excuse for journalism on display by the CBC.  The public-run news organization is facing budget cutbacks that will force it to cut programs and staff.  They can start by firing the person behind this report.  Rather than question the statements of the priest or the niece, they take everything at face value.

CBC News followed up on the incident to learn if an exorcism had been performed, but church officials said a formal exorcism did not happen.
Bishop Don Bolen explained that the ritual of exorcism is a very structured exercise. He said it was not clear if the Saskatoon man was possessed or experiencing a mental breakdown.

There is a 99.999999999999% chance that this man was experiencing a mental breakdown.  The certainty in saying this comes from the fact that we have no evidence, zero, zilch that demons exist and can possess humans.  We have plenty of evidence regarding mental breakdowns and the functions of the human brain.  But, the report doesn’t even need to realize that.  All he needed to do was ask questions, press the priest to explain what would make a demonic possession different from a mental breakdown.  Next, the reporter could contact medical health professionals that deal with mental health.  The right expert could provide the information to answer the questions readers of the article may have regarding this incident.  Instead, readers are treated to the promotion of myth and fantasy.

Exorcism claim has church looking for help

Rene Laprise, of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, said dioceses normally have a priest designated to investigate the claims of demonic possession. (Shutterstock)

CALGARY - Calgary’s Catholic diocese is working in mysterious ways with counterparts in Saskatoon who don’t have the means to investigate claims of demonic possession.
A Catholic priest in Saskatoon attended to one man who had carved the word “Hell” on his chest last month.
According to a CBC report, the man addressed the priest in a strange voice saying, “He belongs to me. Get out of here.”
The priest blessed the man, called police and took the case back to his diocese.
Citing new regulations for the rite of casting out demons, issued by the late Pope John Paul in 1999, Bishop Don Bolen confirmed they have had to reach out to Calgary for help to discern between mental health-related cases and those that may be real-deal devil tampering.
“Firstly, in the Christian scriptures, in Jesus’ ministry there were exorcisms, and so it is not something that we can lightly dismiss,” he said in a statement.
“Secondly, today we rightly look to psychology and to medicine to bring healing to the complicated things that go on in the human mind and to assist those in mental distress.
“The Church recognizes the importance of this as an important response, while acknowledging there is much in human life that we do not understand.”
The group they have turned to is the Roman Catholic Diocese of Calgary and their shadowy Spiritual Discernment Commission, whose membership and activities are closely guarded.
Diane Jackman, the secretary of Bishop Fred Henry, the highest Catholic authority in Calgary, said it was diocesan policy to not comment on the commission.
Such secrecy surrounding the Church and demonic possession investigations shouldn’t surprise anyone, said Dr. Steven Engler, a professor of religious studies at Mount Royal University.
“In many churches, such as Pentecostal churches, exorcisms are public. They are open. They are in a sense a public good,” said Engler, adding the Catholics take a very different approach.
“Exorcisms are private and internal in the church because of the nature of the phenomenon, because of the sensitivity and of course out of respect for the people involved.”
Rene Laprise, of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, said dioceses normally have a priest designated to investigate the claims of demonic possession.
“I’ve been in the diocese for many years and I know that kind of call, from people who think they are possessed or need an exorcism,” he said.
“It happens sometimes. It’s not every day, not every week, but a few times a year.”
Laprise said he would look into the Saskatoon case, but later said there likely won’t be any further comment to the media.

The 10 Best Horror Films

The Exorcist (1973)

Dir William Friedkin (Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Jason Miller, Max von Sydow)

Forty years of sucking cocks in hell

By the ’70s, horror had divided into two camps: on one hand, there were the ‘real life’ terrors of ‘Psycho’ and ‘Night of the Living Dead’, films that brought horror into the realm of the everyday, making it all the more shocking. On the other, there were the more outrageous dream-horrors popular in Europe, the work of Hammer Studios in the UK and Mario Bava and Dario Argento in Italy, films that prized artistry, oddity and explicit gore over narrative logic. The first film to attempt to bring the two together was ‘Rosemary’s Baby’, but Polanski’s heart clearly belonged to the surreal. The first to achieve that blend with absolute certainty was ‘The Exorcist’ – which perhaps explains its position as the unassailable winner of this poll.

In cutting from the clanging bazaars of Iraq to the quiet streets of Georgetown, in blending dizzying dream sequences with starkly believable human drama, Friedkin created a horror movie like no other – both brutal and beautiful, artful and exploitative, exploring wacked-out religious concepts with the clinical precision of an agnostic scientist. And make no mistake: whatever its creator may say, ‘The Exorcist’ is most definitely a horror film: though it may be filled with rigorously examined ideas and wonderfully observed character moments, its primary concern is with shocking, scaring and, yes, horrifying its audience out of their wits – does mainstream cinema contain a more upsetting image than the crucifix scene? That it still succeeds, almost four decades later, is testament to Friedkin’s remarkable vision.

 Number 2: The Shining

 The Shining (1980)

Dir Stanley Kubrick (Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall)

Do not disturb

The scariest moments in ‘The Shining’ are so iconic they’ve become in-jokes: Jack Nicholson leering psychotically from posters on the walls of student bedrooms everywhere... ‘Here’s Johnny’. Even so, Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece of execution and claustrophobia still retains the power to frighten audiences out of their wits. Nicholson is Jack Torrance, a writer working as a caretaker at the isolated Overlook Hotel in the Colorado mountains over winter. Stephen King, on whose novel the film was based, was famously unimpressed. The problem, he said, was that ghost-sceptic Kubrick was ‘a man who thinks too much and feels too little’. He resented Kubrick for stripping out the supernatural elements of his story. Torrance is not tortured by ghosts but by inadequacy and alcoholism. And for many, it’s as a study of insanity and failure that makes ‘The Shining’ so chilling.
  
Number 3: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Dir Tobe Hooper (Gunnar Hansen, Marilyn Burns)

Sounds like the neighbours are doing DIY again

There are horror films which bend the boundaries of the genre, which deal with the psychological, the suggested or the subtly thematic – and then there are the sheer, in-your-face, terrifying horrors which threaten to drain your body of sweat and lock your jaw shut forever. This is one of the latter. There have been sequels and remakes and plenty of pretenders looking to steal the film’s terrifying demonisation of those strange folk who live in the woods with a link to the local abattoir, but this is where it began. Its methods are basic: innocent kids (a guy in a wheelchair! A blonde girl!), a creepy house in the forest, nighttime chases through the trees, the sound of the chainsaw, the killer’s mask… This is high-energy peril, right up until the frenzied final scene on the road as dawn arrives. Simple and sick.
  
Number 4: Psycho

Psycho (1960)

Dir Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh)

What would mother think?

Alfred Hitchcock was a restless innovator, and ‘Psycho’ gnawed at the edges of taste and decency by being way ahead of its time: the combination of the film’s independent, criminal and sexually forthright young blonde (Leigh), its slasher scenes and its lone male perpetrator (Perkins), crazed and motivated by a disturbing family background, gave the film a modernity that sets it apart from most of Hitchcock’s films both before and after. ‘Psycho’ deserves a place so high on this list for its influence alone: its legendary shower scene still shocks, but at the time such brutal bloodletting, albeit suggested via the trickery of Hitchcock’s camera and editing and the power of Bernard Herrmann’s score, was groundbreaking and immediately copied. ‘Psycho’ kickstarted a shift in the appetite of mainstream audiences for experiencing the extreme and inspired other filmmakers to exploit gore with less high-minded motivations ever since.

 Number 5: Alien

Alien (1979)

Dir Ridley Scott (Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Ian Holm)

The miracle of birth

‘Nothing happens for 45 minutes,’ a studio boss sniped to Ridley Scott about ‘Alien’, failing monumentally to get that its opening is menacing as hell. Aboard the commercial spaceship Nostromo, the crew answers a distress signal from a nearby planet. That it’s so natural – they drink coffee, bitch about overtime – only adds to the suspense. Of course, we’re all waiting for the ‘chestburster’, who makes his entrance at around the one-hour mark. Scott filmed the scene in one take, not telling his cast exactly what to expect as John Hurt thrashed about on the table, convulsing in spasms, about to give birth to HR Giger’s infant alien creation. ‘Alien’ had been pitched to the studio as ‘“Jaws” in Space’. Later writer Dan O’Bannon openly admitted, ‘I didn’t steal “Alien” from anybody. I stole it from everybody!’. Horror films have been paying ‘Alien’ the same compliment ever since.
  
Number 6: The Thing
 
 

The Thing (1982)

Dir John Carpenter (Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley)

Change you can believe in

Time travel has many enticing possibilities, but one of the most enjoyable would be to travel back to 1982 and tell John Carpenter that his new movie would someday score sixth place in a list of the 100 best horror movies – even beating his own iconic ‘Halloween’. Like many future horror classics, ‘The Thing’ was hated on first release, dismissed as an ‘Alien’ clone more interested in pushing the boundaries of SFX than in character or tension. It was a disastrous flop, and threatened Carpenter’s once unassailable reputation as the king of the new horror. It’s hard to imagine now: with the benefit of hindsight (and, more importantly, repeat viewings), ‘The Thing’ has emerged as one of our most potent modern terrors, combining the icy-cold chill of suspicion and uncertainty with those magnificently imaginative, pre-CG effects blowouts.

 Number 7: Rosemary's Baby

Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Dir Roman Polanski (Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon)

The hoof that rocks the cradle

It’s hard enough moving into a flat and trying to start a family without having to wrestle with the enveloping suspicion that your new neighbours might be satanists dead-set on parenting a demon child via you. This is the intelligent, subtle face of horror, as Polanski limits the specifics to a minimum and keeps us guessing as to how much is going on merely in the mind of Mia Farrow’s character as she comes to believe she’s been impregnated by a creepy bunch of well-to-do Manhattanites with a connection to the occult. There are some more explicit key scenes – a potential nighttime rape and a chilling climax – that serve to get right under our skin without making the whole premise seem ridiculous. Farrow and Cassavetes’s performances as a couple disintegrating serve Polanski well in his attempt to make the potential alienation of everyday family life feel horrific, and the faux-naive score, evoking lullabies, makes the whole affair feel doubly creepy in the most heady way possible.

 Number 8: Halloween

Halloween (1978)

Dir John Carpenter (Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis)

Is that a carving knife in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?

John Carpenter doesn’t put a foot wrong in this seminal hack ’n’ slasher. From the opening scene of young psycho-in-the-making Michael Myers greeting his parents with bloodied knife in hand to his inevitable return to wreak more havoc a decade later, ‘Halloween’ ticks every box. The opening sequence is a masterclass in how to unsettle nerves. Utilising the then new Steadycam system, Carpenter was able to give us a perspective from the killer’s point of view. To say it ups the creepiness to new heights is an understatement – it’s watch-from-behind-the-sofa terrifying. But Carpenter didn’t stop there: making full use of his musical talents, he also wrote the main theme, an ‘Exorcist’-style piano ditty that sets the teeth on edge. For me, this is unquestionably the most visceral, terrifying and tense film in this poll.

 Number 9: Suspiria

Suspiria (1976)

Dir Dario Argento (Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci)

An elegantly choreographed dance of death

Its violent set-pieces staged with baroque extremity and heightened further by Goblin’s clamorous prog rock score, ‘Suspiria’ influenced directors from John Carpenter through to Darren Aronofsky, whose ‘Black Swan’ explicitly references Argento’s first fully fledged horror film. American dance student Harper’s arrival at a German ballet school coincides with a shocking double murder. Amid a hothouse atmosphere of adolescent hysteria, hints of occultism give way to the revelation that the school’s tutors are part of an ancient witch’s coven. By using colour filters and forced lighting, the Mario Bava-influenced Argento pushed the artificiality of the old fashioned Technicolor stock to extremes, creating a cinema of pure visual and aural sensation.

 Number 10: Dawn of the Dead

 

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Dir George A Romero (Ken Foree, Gaylen Ross, David Emge)

Supermarket sweep

Now that’s he’s become a one-man zombie factory (with steeply diminishing returns), it’s hard to remember that George Romero was, at first, dubious about the idea of making a sequel to his 1969 game-changer ‘Night of the Living Dead’. But with his most personal project (and, perhaps, his masterpiece), ‘Martin’ (see No. 87), failing miserably at the box office, Romero decided to bite the bullet – and reinvigorated his career in the process. Though ‘Night’ changed the face of horror, this is the film he’ll be remembered for: the wildest, most deliriously exciting zombie flick of them all, and the movie which pretty much defines the concept of socially aware, politically astute horror cinema. Its influence has been felt in every zombie film since (and even on TV in ‘The Walking Dead’), and it remains a near-flawless piece of fist-pumping ultraviolence.

THE EXORCIST listed #1 on Time Out’s 100 Best Horror Films

“There is only one…”
It appears a team of 100 experts selected by London’s Time Out magazine hearkened Father Merrin’s famously whispered words and have declared that, indeed, “there is only one”. They have collectively named The Exorcist the Best Horror Film of all time– probably a phrase I have used more than any other on captainhowdy.com– on their list of the 100 Best Horror Films.
It’s nice to see The Exorcist get the recognition it absolutely deserves, especially in modern times where the film’s impact seems to have lessened, oftentimes slipping further and further down the pecking order of similar lists, if listed at all (I’m looking at you, AFI 100).
“Friedkin created a horror movie like no other”, they wrote, “both brutal and beautiful, artful and exploitative, exploring wacked-out religious concepts with the clinical precision of an agnostic scientist.”
Thank you, Time Out, for getting it right.
“One hope… The only hope… The Exorcist.”

New Exorcist book is a must!

Taking a detailed look at every aspect of our favorite film, Centipede Press have compiled an amazing book that has emerged as a must-own piece of work.
Titled The Exorcist: Studies In The Horror Film, the book is jam-packed with many contributors who provide amazing original essays, interviews and thoughtful insight into the ground-breaking motion picture.
Of note, the book boasts a discussion with director William Friedkin, a new interview with screenwriter, author and Producer William Peter Blatty, and an exclusive contribution from one of our own, Erik Kristopher Myers. An insightful interview with Jason Miller, before his passing, is also featured.
From Centipede Press:

William Friedkin’s 1973 adaptation of William Peter Blatty’s novel The Exorcist is one of the most notorious and controversial films ever made.
Nominated for ten Academy Awards (including Best Picture, the first horror film to do so) and winning two Oscars for Best Screenplay and Sound, The Exorcist remains the top grossing R-rated movie of all time. Certainly it is the scariest, according to Entertainment Weekly, Maxim, Movies.com, Variety, AFI, and Roger Ebert.
These twenty-five interviews, reminiscences, and articles explore how and why The Exorcist (premiering 26 December 1973) still haunts our imaginations and nightly dreams, along with influencing a new generation of directors, including Guillermo del Toro, M. Night Shyamalan, and James Wan. In-depth conversations with its makers, from the present to nearly four decades ago, ask about its inspirations and ambitions, and deliver many unexpected answers. New evaluative treatments from leading scholars of film and fiction track what this original film and its prequels and sequels indicate about sexuality and gender roles, morality and the monstrous, character and conflict, politics and theology, adaptation and artistic ambiguity, fateful decisions in casting/writing/directing, and conversations The Exorcist has with other films.
For The Exorcist obsessive, to casual students of film, to lovers of terror, mystery, and theological fright, this new title pays deep honor to a legendary film, and illuminates the ways Director William Friedkin and Writer William Peter Blatty’s film still possesses us.

Exorcism, Malian Style

Then came the exorcisms. Pastor Michel performed at least ten. They unfolded with great drama. Most began with women—or in one case a young man—quivering, sighing, collapsing, then screaming and sobbing on the ground. Men and women lifted them up and brought them before the podium where Pastor Michel prayed over them until they recovered, freed from the power of spirits called jina, from the Arabic, djinn.

Last May, I visited a doctoral student of mine, Dianna Bell, at her research site in Ouélessébougou, Mali, an hour south of Bamako. She was studying Bamanankan, Mali’s most widely spoken language and looking into how local people practice Christianity, Islam, and Bamana religion side by side with little fuss.

On the last day of my visit, a Sunday, Dianna invited my colleague from the University of Kankan, Sory Kourouma, who had accompanied me on the trip, and I to visit a church that she frequented in the nearby village of Tinkélé. Two of Dianna’s friends joined us: Momuso, a grandmother and the senior woman in the compound where Dianna was living, and Hamidou, Dianna’s Bamanankan teacher who exudes a contagious sense of peace.

Together we took a twenty-minute minibus ride to Tinkélé, arriving at about 8:45 a.m. We disembarked onto the shoulder of a two-lane highway and found ourselves looking at a mud-brick wall. Within the compound behind the wall stood a tall corrugated metal roof suspended over a podium and stage. The podium looked out over an expanse of wooden benches sheltered from the sun by grass mats suspended over wooden supports.

Interior of the church compound

By noon, over a thousand people had gathered in the enclosure, mostly Muslims. Dianna, Momuso, Hamidou, Sory, and I sat under the metal overhang behind the podium in plastic chairs where church attendants had seated us.

The choir sat just below the stage to our right. They sang and danced for about an hour and a half before the pastor, Michel Samaké, arrived. Pastor Michel is a charismatic and controversial figure who has been expelled from his church hierarchy in Bamako for his unorthodox methods: preaching mostly to Muslims and performing healings and exorcisms. His expulsion seems not to have diminished his following.

Pastor Michel preaching from the pulpit

After he preached tirelessly for two hours about sin and virtue, salvation and scripture, the healings began. Several people rose from their benches, claiming to walk for the first time in days, months, or years. Pains in people’s bodies reportedly disappeared. Others came forward to testify about healings that had occurred since their last visit to the church.

Then came the exorcisms. Pastor Michel performed at least ten. They unfolded with great drama. Most began with women—or in one case a young man—quivering, sighing, collapsing, then screaming and sobbing on the ground. Men and women lifted them up and brought them before the podium where Pastor Michel prayed over them until they recovered, freed from the power of spirits called jina, from the Arabic, djinn.

At noon, as the temperature rose, Dianna was not feeling well and decided to leave the church to get some air, having seen services like this several times before. I was starting to fade myself and wondered if I might be joining her soon. But when the exorcisms began, I left my seat onstage to take pictures from among the crowd as I had already done since the service began. Attendants had given me permission to take pictures.

 

Then came the exorcisms. Pastor Michel performed at least ten. They unfolded with great drama. Most began with women—or in one case a young man—quivering, sighing, collapsing, then screaming and sobbing on the ground. Men and women lifted them up and brought them before the podium where Pastor Michel prayed over them until they recovered, freed from the power of spirits called jina, from the Arabic, djinn.

While I was shooting, I noticed commotion in the area where I had been seated. I then saw several men carrying Dianna’s friend, Momuso, down to the ground in front of the podium. She was screaming, tears trickling from her eyes. She writhed and wailed on the ground for almost a full minute, which at the moment seemed like an eternity. Now that Momuso was the only woman possessed, time seemed to stop, focused on her alone.

Pastor Michel changed his routine. No longer needing to pray on stage over several possessions simultaneously, he came down from it, approached Momuso and prayed over her personally, touching her left shoulder.

Throughout Momuso’s passion and Pastor Michel’s intervention, I took photos, overcome by a sense of urgency to do so in spite of a feeling of discomfort at doing so.

Several women in possession trance in front of Pastor Michel’s podium.

Possession is a moment of public intimacy, in which persons channel emotions before others they would normally repress: feelings of abandonment, anger, excitement, helplessness, shame, terror. No ethical protocol could have prepared me for these circumstances. How does one ask informed consent to take photos of a person in trance? How did I know that my pictures would not offend Momuso? Despite the permission I had received from the church, I felt I was intruding into lives and feelings I could never fully understand. I decided to shoot and wait until later to learn whether or not I had made the right decision. I was ready to delete the photos if I learned I had not.

Then, as suddenly as Momuso’s trance had begun, Pastor Michel finished a forceful prayer over her. Momuso went limp and then stirred as if awaking from a restful night’s sleep. She lifted her upper body off the ground by her arms, stood, and went to find her seat again on the stage.

I followed to retake my seat directly in front of hers. I turned in my chair to give her a bottle of water I had brought from Ouélessébougou and a meat-pocket I had bought at the commercial stands along the road before the service began. Attendants had told us not to drink or eat inside church during the service, but Momuso’s condition merited some rule breaking. She looked stunned, disoriented, astonished. Drops of sweat collected on her forehead. I tried to cool her with a woven rattan fan I had bought that morning. My friend Sory to my right also turned, took her right hand, and comforted her. I held her left. Hamidou, seated farther away, watched with concern. Dianna could do all this so much better, I thought to myself. She knows Momuso.

A swarm of mini-buses parked off the highway next to the Tinkélé church

After a few minutes, I left Momuso in Sory’s care and went to find Dianna to tell her what had happened. I found her outside talking with a taxi driver about his work bringing people to the church—informally interviewing at every opportunity, I thought, like a good anthropologist should.

We walked back to the church together and took our seats next to Momuso. Then Pastor Michel began to pray for a range of ailments for which he asked anyone afflicted to stand. Next he asked us all to stand and pray spontaneously for our unspoken intentions. The crowd rose, closed their eyes, raised their hands and unleashed their prayers in a glorious mumble that sounded like the humming of a hundred trucks on a highway. Again, the moment found me taking pictures. But not for long. This time I stopped. I closed my eyes, opened my mouth, and let the Spirit do the talking.

Then came the exorcisms. Pastor Michel performed at least ten. They unfolded with great drama. Most began with women—or in one case a young man—quivering, sighing, collapsing, then screaming and sobbing on the ground. Men and women lifted them up and brought them before the podium where Pastor Michel prayed over them until they recovered, freed from the power of spirits called jina, from the Arabic, djinn.

With that, the service drew to a close. After a final invocation, Pastor Michel exited the church his retinue behind him. The crowd slowly dispersed.

Hamidou (background) Sory Kourouma, and myself in the mini-bus

Back in Ouélessébougou, Sory and I packed and prepared to leave so we would arrive back in Bamako before sunset. I had little time to discuss what had just happened with Momuso or Dianna, but I left electronic copies of all the photos I’d taken with them.

Several days later, back in Kankan, Guinea, I called Dianna. She said she had begun to talk with Momuso about what happened in Tinkélé. Momuso claimed to have no memory of her possession. But she said that since she was a child, she had been plagued by dreams of drowning in a river that runs through Ouélessébougou. Coincidentally, jina spirits are often said to frequent rivers. The dreams had stopped since the exorcism, she said, but she was unsure they would cease for good.

Dianna told me that if it hadn’t been for the photos I had taken of Momuso, Momuso would never have believed she had been possessed, although she still thought the whole thing might be a trick.

We had all been taken by surprise. Momuso had no idea what had transpired. Dianna saw her in a new and unexpected light. My friend Sory, a Muslim who had never attended a Christian service before, said the experience moved him. He said that if Momuso had not been possessed, he would have taken the exorcisms for a show. As for Hamidou, he retained his characteristic silence, no doubt to write about the event one day (You can read his writings at www.hamidouko.blogspot.com). I marveled at how quickly one can gain such intimate knowledge of others’ lives.

Thrown together by circumstance, the five of us managed to explain to and for each other the sense of what had happened, perceived only partially by each of us in isolation. We created tenuously shared meanings across languages, cultures, and religions, demonstrating that no worldview was sufficient in itself to grasp the nature of what we had witnessed. So it is at the church in Tinkélé whenever Muslims and Christians come together to approach the divine across differences of faith and creed.

Momuso’s possession and exorcism, her recovery at the church, Dianna’s discussions with her in Ouélessébougou, and the photos I took seem now like memories from another world, one in which cultures cohere rather than clash, not in spite of, but because of their differences. Without difference, there is no wholeness. Without wholeness, no peace of mind. No chance to understand the dreams that may burst one day into our waking lives when we least expect them. No chance to know the joy of depending on others to carry us while in trance, take us back to our seats, and share the good news that genies have failed to drag us under.

First person: 'I have witnessed 20 exorcisms'

In Rome, exorcists have waiting rooms. It was one of many surprising things I found when I decided to write about an act whose popular image, seen in films, is of Gothic locations in some shadowy underworld. I'd read books written by fundamentalists who saw demons everywhere and others who only ridiculed the act. I wanted the truth. I read about a course being offered at a university affiliated with the Vatican and decided to find out more.

The course used PowerPoint presentations and the teachers had doctorates. I met an American priest called Father Gary Thomas, who had been sent to Rome at the behest of his bishop. I got to know him and ended up watching about 20 exorcisms he did. They were bizarre on many levels.
The theory goes that demons possess people, affecting them – as one person described it – as if from the end of a pipe. The exorcist's prayer stimulates the demons, forcing them through the pipe, as it were, and they take over the body. The demons try to get the exorcist to stop saying the prayer, often by causing dramatic behaviour. For example, because the demons can't look at the priest, the person's eyes roll up and become white or they close tight.
One case involved a nun. I wasn't in the room but I heard the voices through the door. It sounded like a dog trying to talk. Her voice had a quality to it that was definitely not human. She cursed the exorcist, laughing at him and telling him he had no power. Father Gary said this woman became unrecognisable. She flopped around on the floor like a fish and started smacking her head into a wall. For him, the suffering proved the behaviour was not faked.
Father Gary also saw a small woman of about 26, whose convulsions were so strong she bent the legs of a metal chair and on another occasion broke a wooden chair. In another case, I watched a woman who started belching really loudly, like a big guy in the pub. She started to vomit and spat something up. Another woman levitated, but probably the most powerful experience for Father Gary was a woman who was being held down and looked at him with open eyes, which is rare. He said he felt an evil presence trying to stare deep inside him.
The ritual lasts half an hour. When it ends, the demon detaches itself and goes back to being a spirit. It's a repeat process – the ritual diminishes the ability of the power of the demon until it can be said to have been cast out completely. Exorcism is not always violent. There are famous cases, perhaps most notoriously that of Anneliese Michel, a German who died as a result of exorcism, but another thing that surprised me was that the ritual is often very mild. And those who react strongly often come with other people. I saw one woman who was very violent but came with her parents and husband, who could restrain her. Usually, though, it's enough for the exorcist to place his hand on top of the person's head and say the prayer. There's no shouting or screaming – just a sense of calm.
Father Gary is currently seeing a scientist in order to exorcise him. The scientist doesn't believe in possession – so he's angry about what's happening to him. Many people assume exorcism involves only the very devout being brainwashed by priests. That goes on but I'm certain other cases go beyond our understanding.
Whether or not demons exist, I've talked to enough non-believing sceptics and doctors who admit something real is happening. That isn't to say I would recommend it.
'The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist' by Matt Baglio (Simon & Schuster, £12.99)

Children in Congo forced into exorcisms

By Dan Harris, Special for USA TODAY

Isaac Mananga, 10, and his half sister Chanel, 7, knelt on the dirt floor of the church, staring up at the pastor through scared, confused eyes.

Standing before a wooden cross, Pastor Moise Tshombe, in a robe adorned with pictures of Jesus, went into a trance. Claiming to be speaking through the Holy Spirit, he declared, "These children are witches."

Moments later, with Isaac and Chanel by her side, the children's grandmother, Marie Nzenze, said she believed the charges. "God has spoken through the mouth of the prophet," she said. "God has not lied."

According to a United Nations report issued this year, a growing number of children in the Democratic Republic of Congo are being accused of witchcraft and subjected to violent exorcisms by religious leaders, in which they are often beaten, burned, starved and even murdered. The relatively new phenomenon has become one of the main causes in Central Africa for humanitarian groups, which are organizing programs to protect children's rights and educate pastors on the dangers of accusing children.

Ties to poverty

Liana Bianchi, the administrative director for the humanitarian group Africare, says the trend is partly the result of decades of war and economic decline in the Congo. The non-profit group Save the Children estimates that 70% of the roughly 15,000 street children in Kinshasa, the capital, were kicked out of their homes after being accused of witchcraft.

"In my opinion," Bianchi said, "poverty is really at the root of child abandonment. Accusations of witchcraft have become socially acceptable reasons for why a family turns a child out on the street."

The practice, which has also been reported in Nigeria and Angola, can be lucrative for the priests who perform them.

Pastor Tshombe charged Julie Moseka $50 to exorcise her emaciated daughter, Noella, 8. The average annual salary in Congo is $100.

During the ceremony, Pastor Tshombe and three of his aides held Noella's spindly limbs down and poured hot candle wax on her belly while she screamed and cried. Then the pastor bit down hard and pulled the skin on her stomach, pretending to pull demonic flesh out of her.

In an interview afterward, Tshombe acknowledged the ritual can be painful, but he says it's necessary because otherwise the children would not be "cured."

When asked whether he thinks Jesus would approve of what he's doing, Tshombe said, "Why wouldn't he be happy? I'm just using the gifts given to me by the Holy Spirit."

Noella's mother, agreed. "It was imperative that it happen this way," she said, "because the child is accused of witchcraft."

The pastors who conduct such rituals are non-denominational, and most have no theological training, says Matondo Kasese of the humanitarian group Reejer. According to Arnold Mushiete, a social worker with a small Catholic organization called Our House, Congo's atmosphere of religious fervor, minimal education and rampant poverty makes for fertile territory for pastors who convince desperate parents that their children are the cause of their financial, medical and romantic problems.

"Formerly in our culture," Mushiete said, "the child was a precious being. Now, because of the church, children have become harmful beings."

Thrown into streets

Mushiete works with street children who have been accused of witchcraft. He says homeless children are frequently raped and beaten, even by police. Drug use is rampant. Girls often resort to prostitution, leaving their own babies to sleep on the side of the road at night while they sell themselves.

The Congolese legislature recently passed a law that makes it illegal to accuse children of witchcraft, but many activists, including Bianchi, say the law is not enforced.

Even the head of a special government commission to protect children accused of witchcraft said he thinks it is possible for children to be "sorcerers."

"You sometimes see a very little child with big eyes, black eyes, a distended stomach," said Theodore Luleka Mwanalwamba. "These are the physical aspects."

When asked how someone with his beliefs could protect children accused of witchcraft, he said the state has "the duty to save all the people who are in dangerous situations." He said cracking down on abusive pastors is difficult because "important people" are sometimes members of their churches.

Mushiete, the social worker, said he does not get discouraged. "The big work we want to do," he said, "is to sensitize the pastors, so they give another image of Jesus — not a Jesus who tortures children."

Warning on child ‘demons'

EXORCISTS who claim depression and schizophrenia are demons that can be cast out are treating children as young as two for possession, prompting medical warnings.

Exorcisms, religious rites some think can expel devils from people, are reportedly on the rise in Australia.
Michelle Pecoult, from Perth-based non-denominational Christian ministry Set Right, said it did four or five exorcisms a day and had treated a two-year-old.
The child had "started growling and snarling".
"(The demon) was told to leave and in 20 minutes left. The child didn't know (it had happened)," she said.
The ministry's website claims depression is a "common low-ranking demon" while schizophrenia is "another demon we have met often and evicted".
Dr Choong-Siew Yong, who represents psychiatry on the Australian Medical Association's federal council, said he was concerned about untrained practitioners making claims that contradict science. He warned that saying someone was possessed could reinforce their delusions and stop them getting proper care.
"There is an enormous amount of research that has discredited the idea that people with psychiatric conditions such as depression and schizophrenia are because of demonic possession," he said.
"Some people with psychotic illnesses do believe that they're possessed, or have strange religious ideas. When they're assessed by a doctor there will be a diagnosis of mental illness."
Ms Pecoult insisted: "God is greater than any medical doctor. Depression can be a symptom of a demonic power being in there.
"Jesus dealt with lunatic spirits. They're real. You can't get rid of them by medication. You have to renew your mind."

Child Exorcism in Australia

It seems America isn’t the only country that has a problem with people who believe in exorcising demons. In Australia, they’re apparently performing exorcisms on kids as young as two years old, which has psychologists very concerned — and for good reason.

Michelle Pecoult, from Perth-based non-denominational Christian ministry Set Right, said it did four or five exorcisms a day and had treated a two-year-old.
The child had “started growling and snarling”.
“(The demon) was told to leave and in 20 minutes left. The child didn’t know (it had happened),” she said.
The ministry’s website claims depression is a “common low-ranking demon” while schizophrenia is “another demon we have met often and evicted”.
Dr Choong-Siew Yong, who represents psychiatry on the Australian Medical Association’s federal council, said he was concerned about untrained practitioners making claims that contradict science. He warned that saying someone was possessed could reinforce their delusions and stop them getting proper care.
“There is an enormous amount of research that has discredited the idea that people with psychiatric conditions such as depression and schizophrenia are because of demonic possession,” he said.

The ones who really need the psychological help are the people who believe in demon possession.

Group wants ban on exorcisms after incident in Saskatoon

Catholic bishop discusses issue of exorcism in Saskatoon in this undated video image.

View Larger Image

The Canadian Press

Date: Tue. Apr. 17 2012 6:23 PM ET

SASKATOON — A group that promotes secularism is calling for a prohibition on exorcisms after an incident in Saskatoon.
The Centre for Inquiry says there's no good evidence that exorcisms work and that they can do more harm than good.
Centre spokesman Justin Trottier said from Toronto that most cases of claimed demonic possession are misdiagnoses of genuine and serious mental health conditions.
The comments come after a priest was called to a Saskatoon home last month by a woman who said her uncle showed signs of being possessed by the devil.
Blessings were offered until his behaviour returned to normal, but the Catholic Church says no formal exorcism took place.
Bishop Don Bolen says it's not clear if the Saskatoon man was possessed or was having a mental breakdown.
He says Catholic Church leaders are considering whether they need a trained exorcist -- the last person in Saskatoon with formal training retired in 2003.

The Exorcist

I wouldn’t dare try to put into words how passionate I am about The Exorcist. This entire website alone says how crazy I am about this film, no? I’ll continue to pack this particular page and (and of course the whole website) with Exorcist paraphernalia while writing commentaries about the film and including snippets as I go. I might even write a complete review one day…

I’d give anything to be able to see this film for the first time all over again. No film before or since has been able to catapult me to such heights of fear, doubt and terror. In one swift viewing, The Exorcist restored my faith and opened the door to a world of films that I didn’t yet know existed. I was 14 when I first saw it, and it is something that I will never forget. The film is such that everyone always remembers where they were and who they were with when they first saw it.
What started as a developing story in a newspaper about a possessed boy inspired William Peter Blatty to pen the novel. It became a best-seller and was quickly optioned by Warner Brothers to be developed into a motion picture. Blatty would go on to write the screenplay and William Friedkin, fresh from his film highly acclaimed and award winning film The French Connection, was brought on to direct. In 1972, production on The Exorcist would begin– and what a famous production it would become.
Millions of dollars over budget and tales of people dying on set, it is now common legend that The Exorcist production was cursed. Even the set burned down at one point. Director Friedkin was ruthless at milking performances from his actors and the studio watched the dailies in horror as a 12-year-old girl cursed obcenities beyond her years and masturbated with a crucifix.
There will never be another film like The Exorcist.
The film went on to be the highest grossing motion picture of all time (until ’77 when Star Wars would sweep the screens) and even today remains the highest grossing horror film ever produced (as listed in the Guinness Book of World Records).
The Academy awarded William Peter Blatty an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay as well as Robert Knudson and Christopher Newman for their efforts in sound. Linda Blair’s nomination for Best Supporting Actress was surrounded by controversy when it was believed that her stunt double Eileen Dietz had performed most of her scenes (a false claim). While Ellen Burston, William Friedkin, Jason Miller and Owen Roizman would all be nominated but miss out on Oscars, the Academy’s big snub (in retrospect) may have been not awarding Th Exorcist Best Picture; that honor went to The Sting (a great film, sure– but hardy as genre defining and affective as The Exorcist). At least the Golden Globes got it right that year.
Over thirty five years later and The Exorcist still remains one of the defining horror films of all time. We still discuss and critique every aspect of the film. The original true-story, the startling Captain Howdy subliminal images, the spider-walk scene, the crucifix scene, the levitation, the pea soup… There’s been nothing like it since, and one has to wonder if, in today’s seemingly religious-free and desensitized society, we could ever see a film as horrific, frightening, nauseating and creepy as The Exorcist.

THE EXORCIST takes to the stage

Some of this criteria comes dangerously close to indicating a remake of The Exorcist might be right around the corner: A new LA-based production based on William Peter Blatty’s most famous novel is about to get underway. However, it’s not the TV mini-series we’ve been praying for, nor is it a feature film remake. Nope, it’s a play.
LA’s famous Geffen Playhouse will soon premiere The Exorcist play live on stage, running from July 11 to Aug 12 in 2012 and directed by Tony award winner John Doyle.
William Peter Blatty’s novel has been adapted for the stage by playwright John Pielmeier, who previously tackled issues of faith in his 1982 play Agnes of God, which tells the story of a novice nun who gives birth and insists that the dead child was the result of a virgin conception.
Pielmeier wrote on his website that his Exorcist adaptation requires only minor special effects, stating:

“No heads spinning or pea-green puke, thank you very much!”

I actually like the sound of that. Sounds like he might have looked beyond the shock and awe that most people refer to when discussing The Exorcist and went straight to the soul of the story– that of Damien Karras’ struggle with his faith. I also wonder if many of the subplots found in the novel will find their way to the stage production.
Not to get ahead of myself, but we could also contemplate potential interest in a film remake should this play be tremendously successful. Casting would be in place and there would be a solid script to ‘re-build’ from for a brand new feature film remake. Not outside the realm of possibility. Possible, however… unlikely.

The Exorcist

 On the 27th Dec 1973 The Exorcist premiered to audiences.
 One of the most chilling horror stories ever told.

Exorcism enters a new age

The Vatican's updated manual is to help with exorcisms

The boom in "New Age" religions, ignorance of the Bible and a growth in spiritual confusion are being blamed for the rising tide of exorcisms being performed around the world. To cope with the modern rise in demonic influences, the Vatican is promoting greater distribution of its manual on exorcism.

There are people in need and the Church is dealing with the problem more effectively.

Father Jeremy Davies

Leading exorcist Father Jeremy Davies, 65, from the Westminster Diocese, believes the Church's increased vigilance in the past 10 years had also contributed to the number of exorcisms being performed. He told the Catholic Herald newspaper: "The incidence of the demonic on the whole is rising. At the centre of this is man's ever growing pride and attempted self-reliance."
Spiritual or medical?
Today's priests are being encouraged to work more closely with the medical profession to distinguish between cases of mental illness and demonic influence.
Father Davies, a former doctor and a co-founder of the 200-strong International Association of Exorcists, warned there was a tendency in the West to mistake the spiritual for the psychological.
This, he said, was opposed to the African continent where the reverse was true.
In Britain, each Catholic diocese has an exorcist, but they are forbidden to speak publicly about the ritual and are rarely identified.
Worldwide distribution
The 1998 manual, which replaces the one in use since 1624, is currently being translated from Latin for distribution to bishops and exorcists around the world.
The 90-page ritual, entitled De Exorcismus et Supplicantionibus Quibustam (On Every Kind of Exorcism in Supplication) encourages priests to spend more time in prayer with the possessed person.
It retains much of the symbolism of the original, but tones down the most aggressive imprecations against the devil.
A Vatican commission of theologians and liturgists has been working on the manual for the past 20 years.