Exorcisms Deconstruction

This first clip is just a scene of possession, from the film Possession (1981.) It is interesting to note the classic features used in possession scenes, such as un-natural movements, voice manipulation and the leakage of bodily fluid (most commonly blood.) The scene opens with a mid shot of the girl looking unstable with the on-screen diegetic sound of her laughing loudly to herself. This continues with the audience watching her from behind throwing herself at the subway walls. The lighting is high-key due to the well lit walkway from the lights. The long shot shows her rolling along the walls laughing hysterically, before she starts screaming loudly and the long shot shows her violently spilling her shopping everywhere. She begins screaming in an un-natural voice with jerky and disturbing body movements before collapsing to the ground where there's a straight cut of her with fluid coming out of her mouth and she supposedly has a miscarriage.


This exorcism is taken from The Exorcism of Emily Rose. She is being exercised by the priest in the barn-house. The clip opens with a close up of Emily screaming, with low-key lighting due to the heavy storm, so she is very much in the shadows.  The priest is first shown in a close up, where the audience can clearly see by his dress (clerical collar, liturgical vestment and black robe) that he is a religious figure. The on-screen diegetic un-natural sound of her voice is very much distressing to the audience. The priest has a bible, in which he quotes out of in an attempt to rid of the demon that is possessing her. There is also a doctor present at the exorcism whom keeps an eye on her physical state throughout the exorcism, The priest tries to find out the names of the demons in a series of fast-paced straight cuts in order to get rid of them.


This is another exorcism scene from the film The Devil Inside. The scene opens with a mid-shot of the possessed lady, whom is on a treatment bed in a mental hospital in which she has been placed to look after and control her. Her physical state (red around the eyes, pale) and the distressing diegetic screech let us know that she is over-taken by a demon. The priests are easily identified again but the white clerical collar and liturgical vestment, which displays an image of the cross. They hold a wooden cross symbol over her whilst quoting lines from the bible in an attempt to rid the demon, The priests continue despite being physically assaulted by the woman, who is in an un-natural and distressed state. The woman escapes the table but is tied back be the persists, who try to find out the name of the demon in a series of frantic straight-cuts. The cross and vestment are placed on the woman whilst the lords prayer is spoken in a final attempt before the scene comes to an end.