Surprise! A special extra post for Halloween! Regular readers know I do something like this every year. I started in 2020 with The Descent–my favorite horror movie–and followed it up the next year with the subpar The Descent: Part 2 (which was also my 400th review, hot damn). In 2022 I kept it somewhat on theme with October of the Living Dead and covered FleshEater, then the next year had Repo! The Genetic Opera to tie into Saw-mhain. So what to do this year? I could do a horror movie I love, a horror movie I hate, or theme it to Paranormal Octoberty. After weighing all my options, I decided to go with the true sequel to The Exorcist. Eat shit, Exorcist II: The Heretic and The Exorcist: Believer! I’m going with Mr. Leslie Nielsen!
According to Repossessed, the events of The Exorcist happened… sort of. Linda Blair plays Nancy, setting the vibe early that this is gonna be filled with references to 80’s pop culture and politics. Nancy, like the throat GOAT herself, Nancy Reagan… get it? Anyway, Nielsen plays Father Mayii–ha–the exorcist who cast out the Devil but quit afterwards due to a bad heart. The young priest is Father Luke Brophy (Anthony Starke) who is unsure if he can save Nancy after she becomes repossessed when the Devil comes out of the TV and into her body, meaning Blair spends most of the movie in possessed makeup and doing an evil voice. It’s great! Eventually her exorcism is planned to be televised by Ernest Weller (Ned Beatty (who had a minor role in Exorcist II: The Heretic) and Fanny Ray Weller (Lana Schwab), a clear parody of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. But this is all part of the Devil’s plan to possess millions of viewers. Mayii and Brophy team up in an attempt to exorcize Nancy, but it all comes down to the fact that the Devil hates rock and roll. Nancy’s wearing a blue dress? Better have an extended “Devil With the Blue Dress On” music video! It works, Nancy is saved, and Father Mayii gets his groove back.
Do the kids today know about Tammy Faye? Did anyone watch The Eyes of Tammy Faye? Did you know that Rob Lowe had a sex tape leaked in 1988? Cause this movie remembered. Or how about the time Ted Kennedy was involved in a car accident that led to a woman drowning? If you didn’t then the sequence where Nancy’s husband asks a spirit board, “Will Ted Kennedy ever become president?” then the planchette ricochets around the room, causing a toy car to fall into an aquarium will sure seem weird. What about Oliver North? As a parody from 1990 there are tons of little referneces and jokes like that, some I caught while others were before my time. Like, I vaguely recognized Jake Steinfeld and Jack Lalanne as celebrities involved with fitness, but I assumed Wally George was a bad Donald Trump impersonator. Like, seriously, google that man and you’ll start to wonder if Trump stole his schtick. This movie even has Jesse “The Body” Ventura and “Mean Gene” Okerlund providing wrestling-style commentary during the final exorcism attempt. It goes on for longer than you would think to the point where they’re grooving along to “Devil With the Blue Dress On.” It’s a snapshot of its time–which means that some of the jokes absolutely don’t land in the 21st century, but hey, at least it’s not as rapey as some other 80’s comedies.
Eagle-eyed readers may notice that 1990 was also the year The Exorcist III came out. Huh, what a coincidence. I wonder if this was planned… It was definitely not and saw Exorcist III get rushed to theaters so it wouldn’t be overshadowed by Linda Blair in an Exorcist parody. And for the record, Linda Blair enjoyed making this movie, and that makes me happy. I imagine it was somewhat cathartic to her, especially after getting stuck making The Heretic. And that’s how I’m closing Paranormal Octoberty! Linda Blair had fun, and that’s good. Happy Halloween!
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