Funny / The Exorcist

Moments pages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned.

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Even one of the scariest films has its funny moments.

1973 film

Rhetoric!

• This line of dialogue:
  Burke Dennings: Shall we summon the writer? He's in Paris.
  Chris: Hiding?
  Burke Dennings: Fucking.
  • Even Fr. Karras laughs at that one. In the book, Chris notices, and it's one of the reasons she has an instinctive liking and trust for him.
• The scene where Regan is talking with Chris about her relationship with Burke:
  Regan: But ya like him.
  Chris: Of course I like him. I like pizzas too, but I'm not gonna marry one.
• In the book, Fr. Karras and Fr. Dyer trade affectionate gags with each other in the seminary dorm. It becomes Heartwarming when Dyer sneaks in some Chivas Regal and drinks it with Karras to mourn for the death of Karras' mother. There is also this kind of affectionate humor between Karras and Lt. Kinderman, adding to the poignancy when Karras dies. The last lines of the book have Kinderman taking up the same type of banter with Dyer.
  In forgetting, they were trying to remember.
• Karras asks Merrin if he'd like to know anything about Regan before they start the exorcism. Merrin gives an earnestly confused "Why?"
• When the possessed Regan spits bile at Merrin at the start of the exorcism, in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot, Karras quickly dodges behind a bedpost to avoid the bile. He’s learned from previous experience, of course.
• In the book, Chris feels that Karl is copping a bit of an attitude about putting traps in the attic to catch rats. So she pranks him by taking a Mickey Mouse doll from Regan's room and leaving it caught in a trap for Karl to find.
• Early in Karras' first interactions with the possessed Regan, he arranges the room carefully and slowly, gingerly takes a seat at the side of the bed. A drawer on the bedside table suddenly slides open;
  Karras: Did you do that?
  Pazuzu: (amused) Uh-huhhhhhhhhhh.
• Probably unintentional, but Pazuzu loses a bit of his scariness when he starts talking like a foul-mouthed 12-year-old who plays Call of Duty (as pictured above).
  Pazuzu: Your mother sucks cocks in Hell, Karras, you faithless slime!
  Pazuzu: Shove it up your ass, you faggot!
  Pazuzu: Stick your cock up her ass, you motherfucking worthless cocksucker.
• Another narmy example occurs in a scene where Pazuzu is pretty much trolling Karras by speaking Latin, then French:
  Pazuzu: Mirabile dictu, don't you agree?^note "Wonderful to say."
  Karras: You speak Latin?
  Pazuzu: Ego te absolvo.^note "I absolve you."
  Karras: Quod nomen mihi est?^note "What is my name?"
  Pazuzu: (beat) Bonjour.
  Karras: (Visibly annoyed) Quod nomen mihi est?
  Pazuzu: La plume de ma tante. AAAAAGGGHHH!^note "La plume de ma tante" (The pen of my aunt) is regarded as an irrelevant and "idiotically useless" phrase for beginners learning how to speak French.
  • Possessed Regan's smug grin as she delivers that last line is pretty hilarious.

2016 series

• This exchange at the Rego's trailer. Marcus is absorbed in a web search and Cherry is trying to get his attention:
  Cherry: Yo! Colin Firth!
  Lester: Colin Firth? No. It's more like a scruffy Alec Guinness...
• While on a break during the first Rance exorcism in Chapter 5, Father Tomas is watching Father Marcus sketch over the pages of his bible (a sacreligious act and a big no-no, to be clear):
  Father Tomas: Isn't that the Book of Revelation?
  Father Marcus: [shrug]
  • Becomes a Brick Joke in the last episode with Bennett.
  Father Bennett: Desecrating the Bible is a sin.
  Father Marcus: Redacting, not desecrating.
  Father Bennett: There's a tree right there.