Editorials
Your Guide to “The Exorcist”: Preparing for Season 2
The very idea of beloved classic The Exorcist receiving a television series adaptation was met with groans and skepticism, myself included, prior to its debut last September. Did we really need a rehash of the same story already repeated in horror enough? But then casting news starting rolling in and my curiosity was piqued. What would about this series would entice Geena Davis to sign up for a lead role? Curiosity won out, and by the pilot episode’s end it was becoming clearer that this show was far more special than its title indicated. The show, created by Jeremy Slater, continued to play into the audience’s knowledge of the source material and then flip it on its head. Halfway through the 10-episode run, a huge twist changed everything we thought we knew about the series, solidifying the small but fervent fan base.
Despite positive reviews, the series only averaged 1.2 million viewers among the ages of 18-49; not exactly great. The network remained silent on the show’s chances for renewals after the finale aired on December 16, 2016. As the months went by, it was sadly assumed to be dead. Thanks to the loyal fan base who wouldn’t let it go without a fight, and the show being produced in-house at 20th Century Fox Television, it proved to be a good day for an exorcism after all and the renewal announcement for season two finally came in May.
The sophomore season is set to premiere on September 29th, and we need to continue to tune in- not only because the show is worth our time, but because it’s the only way we’ll get to know the full scope of the demonic conspiracy introduced in season one. If you’re still sleeping on this series, you can catch up here. If you need a refresher, here’s your guide to preparing for season 2 (warning: obvious spoilers for season 1 ahead):
The Characters:
Father Tomas Ortega (Alfonso Herrera)
Fans of the original film and novel will find familiarity in Ortega; a sort of rebooted version of Damien Karras. Like Karras, Ortega suffers a crisis of faith. Early in the season, its revealed how weak his will is in terms of his vows as a holy man, when he sleeps with Jessica, a married woman he seems to have had a continuing on-and-off affair with. When their affair is outed, there’s a temptation in him to fight her husband, a violent notion that’s not very priest-like. It’s through his budding friendship with Marcus Keane and the Rance family’s demonic crisis that he finally finds the voice of God and therefore his faith. Unlike Karras, though, Ortega survives his confrontation with Pazuzu and asks Keane to teach him how to become a true exorcist. There’s more than meets the eye to Ortega, though, as it was strange visions of Father Marcus Keane’s past that made them cross paths.
Father Marcus Keane (Ben Daniels)
Steadfast in his faith and desire to save the possessed, this maverick exorcist refuses to give up. Revealed to have had an abusive childhood and a guilt over his failure to save a possessed boy in Mexico City, Keane is willing to defy the Church and all rules if it means preventing another from death by possession. Though he’s a bit rough and unorthodox in his methods. Keane lost most of his allies in the Chicago conspiracy, and figured out the plot almost too late. With new allies in Ortega and Bennett, the loss of his collar will be very interesting for this scene stealing character. The flirtation between Keane and another male customer at a bar at the end of the season opens a lot of interesting questions for someone no longer tied to vows of celibacy and rules of the Church.
Father Bennett (Kurt Egyiawan)
Revealed to be one of the few left loyal to the Office of the Exorcism within the Vatican, Father Bennett barely escaped the first season alive. Often at odds with the rule-breaking Marcus Keane, Bennett was the one responsible for getting Keane excommunicated from the Church in the first place. Yet, when not putting himself directly in harm’s way during his investigations, he often assists Keane in dealing with the Rance family possession. His many brushes with death proved Bennett to be a tough ally, and he also seemed to know what he was doing by removing Keane’s collar, especially with the Vatican no longer sanctioning exorcisms. While Ortega and Keane are the lead exorcist and exorcist-in-training directly tied to the season’s main plot, Bennett is vital to the larger mythology of the show and the characters’ main connection to the Vatican.
Maria Walters (Kirsten Fitzgerald)
A very rich and religious woman who donated a large sum of money to Father Ortega early on in season 1 to help his parish. The Friars of Ascension uses her wealth to fund their plans, and it’s through her that the Pope’s trip to Chicago is funded. When she realizes that she’s a peon considered unworthy for integration, she claims a demon for herself and asserts her role as the new leader of the Chicago group. Her next step has yet to be revealed, but it’s clear that the demon isn’t a fan of its new host.
The Friars of Ascension
A group of sinister villains with the ultimate plan to bring demons back to Earth. Maria Walters was revealed to be a lesser member of the group, led by Brother Simon. Their season-long goal, however, was to assassinate the Pope. The Friars of Ascension use the Ceremony of Ash to integrate worthy members with demons. Marcus successfully thwarted the assassination attempt on the Pope by killing Brother Simon. With many prominent members of society revealing themselves to be members, the pool of who our heroes can trust is vastly shrinking.
The Rance family
The emotional center of season 1, the Rance family was put through the ringer thanks to Pazuzu returning to taunt matriarch Angela Rance by possessing her youngest daughter Casey. Why would this iconic demon choose Angela and the Rance family? Because, in a shocking twist in episode 5, Angela Rance was revealed to be Regan MacNeil (Angela Rance is an anagram for “A clean Regan”), all grown up and hiding from her past. When things are particularly dire for Casey, Angela offers herself up to Pazuzu in a trade, setting up one final battle over Regan’s soul. Regan’s mother Chris shows up long enough to fall victim to Pazuzu, but the rest of the family makes it out alive- though some permanently injured. While their story is concluded, there’s an opening to see them pop in again. Particularly Casey, with her personal brush with possession and a special bond with Marcus Keane.
The Possessions and Exorcisms:
While the season began by introducing a similar pattern of possession seen in the original film; temptation, sin, and oppression to weaken the victim before infestation, the series changed the rules and offered new rules. One of the biggest rules was integration, or the point of no return in possession. Once the possessed fully integrates with its demon, they have no chance for survival and are past the point of saving as it permanently destroys the possessed victim’s soul.
The series also gives us more insight to the possession itself, as we get to see the demon enticing and then tormenting the possessed. It creates a psychological element to the possessions, seeing first-hand the mental cat and mouse game.
When Angela Rance gives herself over to Pazuzu to save her daughter, it means that she’s technically integrated. Her childhood encounter with the demon, however, allowed her to build up a defense mechanism that prevented the full integration. It was a unique twist that also guarantees that future seasons’ exorcisms won’t be repetitive.
Vocare Pulvere is a term used multiple times throughout the season, and refers to a summoning ritual. There are many rituals throughout the season that hint at the larger conspiracy at play, all connected, from the organ-harvesting leading up to the Ceremony of Ash. Those harvested organs are burned to ash and used in the summoning ritual in which a demon chooses its host from the group seated around the ash. It’s lends huge insight into how the Friars of Ascension plan to execute their ultimate plan.
What’s Ahead:
The Setting
Season 2 is leaving behind Chicago and heading toward a secluded private island off the coast of Seattle. Which means expect J-horror tropes thanks to the surrounding woods and water. Series creator Jeremy Slater also cited early Steven Spielberg as an influence, especially Poltergeist. There will also be a six-month time jump from the events of last season.
New characters
John Cho will play Andrew Kim, a former child psychologist running an at-risk foster home on that secluded island. One of the five children in his care will become targeted by demonic activity, and we know Brianna Hildebrand (Tragedy Girls) will play the eldest of the children, Verity. Father Bennett will gain a new ally in actress Zuleikha Robinson, another loyal member of the Office of the Exorcism.
Season 2 of The Exorcist premieres on Friday, September 29 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.
College kids, strippers and vampires—those were Donald P. Borchers’ only requirements when he approached Richard Wenk about writing and directing a movie for New World Pictures. As requested, Wenk cooked up Vamp (1986), a tailor-made blend of the decade’s teen movie craze as well as its horror boom.
Grim and earnest stories were still very much a part of the ’80s horror landscape, yet Vamp is something of a comedy. One difference between it and, say, Saturday the 14th, though, is the former avoids using schtick. Wenk’s movie proves that horror comedies also don’t have to subtract thrills from their recipes. Of course, it takes a minute before reaching that point; college antics and culture shocks preface this one macabre misadventure.
Vamp‘s initial setup is apt for a typical college-set, sex-driven comedy; to bribe their way into a fraternity house, two pledges (Chris Makepeace, Robert Rusler) go looking for some adult entertainment. Without wasting time on any further exposition, the characters embark on an all-in-one-night trip that quickly detours into terror.
To procure their elusive MacGuffin—a stripper willing to gyrate for some frat boys—Keith (Makepeace) and AJ (Rusler), plus a third wheel named Duncan (Gedee Watanabe), trade the safety of their remote college campus for the seediness of some unnamed city. The setting is recognizably L.A. by day, but as soon as night falls, downtown, along with the characters, slips into a kind of surreal universe. Director of photography Elliot Davis gave this early entry on his prolific résumé an unusual yet distinctive look; that Mario Bava-esque, magenta-green lighting is omnipresent, so much so that it’s almost its own character.
Chris Makepeace and Robert Rusler in Vamp
The faint comparisons to Martin Scorsese’s After Hours are merited, although not just because of Vamp’s distinguishing nighttime aesthetic. Save for the primary characters, the supporting roles in Wenk’s movie are also quite colorful and transactional in their behavior. The difference here, though, is the additional urge to ruin Keith and his friends at every turn. Some of that harm is humorous and tolerable enough, whereas the moment Vamp dishes out its first fatality, it’s abundantly clear how this movie qualifies as horror.
Vamp falls into that category of horror movie that reveals its genre with a scream rather than a series of whispers. The opening scene can function as a hint of what lies ahead—things are not at all what they appear to be—but otherwise, Wenk is more than happy to hold off on the horror. When that time does come, though, it catches the viewer off guard. In addition to the pure shock value is that sudden decision to upend the movie’s foremost feature. Or so it would seem.
If afraid of major spoilage, those new to Vamp would be wise to stop reading here. There’s just no skirting around the fact that the central fellowship in this buddy movie hits a serious snag when AJ is killed. That development causes the story to become more of a “long, bad night” journey for Keith and his romantic interest. So while Wenk scores points for subverting expectations, there is also a touch of sadness in his decision. Because if Vamp does anything well, it’s making the characters likable.
Something that comes easily to Vamp—and other teen horror movies from this same era—is its ability to invent young characters worth caring about, or at the very least, are interesting and not so immediately off-putting. More impressive is how Wenk did all this without actually fleshing out those characters. Still and all, Keith and his kind are a grade above cookie-cutter, and in some cases, aren’t completely devoid of growth.
Grace Jones in Vamp
Vamp appeals with an assorted cast of characters. No two are the same, nor are they operating on the same wavelength. The cinematically extroverted AJ, whose actor conveyed charm and vulnerability in near equal amounts, comes alive when he’s at his most undead. Makepeace then makes the chronically cautious Keith a sympathetic fellow, even as he’s more and more affected by the night’s bizarre events. Meanwhile, Duncan is indeed the designated loser of the whole bunch, but Watanabe still manages to humanize him. As a bonus, the role didn’t require him to pull a Long Duk Dong.
As for Dedee Pfeiffer, she is plain adorable as the mysterious After Dark server nicknamed “Amaretto”. She spends all night fixing her dress strap while at the same time trying to get Keith to remember how he knows her. As their offbeat romance grows, it becomes another highlight of this movie. Whether or not Pfeiffer’s character is really a vampire also creates some welcome tension in the story.
Like a lot of its contemporaries, Vamp went on to become a bit of a cult classic. That current status is determined by several factors, but without a doubt, the casting of Grace Jones is the most considerable. The image of her writhing on that unique-looking chair, a Keith Haring original, springs to mind whenever this movie is brought up.
Chris Makepeace, Billy Drago and Paunita Nichols in Vamp
Prior to that first display of unequivocal horror, local vampire queen Katrina (Jones) took to the stage and delivered a strip show like no other. One would expect nothing less from that renowned model and performance artist. By now reports of Jones’ tardiness on set are no secret, yet it’s also hard to deny her commitment to the part of Katrina. It was, in fact, Jones who took charge of her character’s appearance—on top of Haring painting her body and that now-iconic chair, she had Andy Warhol handle her costuming. And not too many actors could seize a room’s attention without saying a single line of dialogue.
In 2022, Vamp received a retrospective novelization from Encyclopocalypse. This literary union of preexisting source material—Wenk’s original screenplay—and new ideas from author Christian Francis amounts to a more comprehensive visit to the After Dark Club. The basic story there is no different than what’s shown on screen; however, Francis gets creative with the characters’ origins and designs, and he enhances a number of key scenes.
The novelization expands on the urban and social decay of the main setting, and supplies a background for the After Dark Club. Sandy Baron’s character, Katrina’s emcee and familiar, is given ample motivation for sticking around; up until the fiery end, he is loyal to his friend and former business partner “Squeak”, who looks like he was “fed through a combine harvester, and left as nothing more than a heap of mangled remains”. Then there is Billy Drago’s character Snow, the leader of a street gang called The Dragons. His reason for menacing Keith and AJ is more altruistic than in the movie; he and his peers act tough to scare off any potential food for the vampires.
Lisa Lyon in Vamp
If not for all the backstories, Francis’ Vamp would be a hell of a lot shorter. Instead, this tie-in read dives into how AJ met Keith—the orphaned Anthony Joseph hailed from a broken home back in Brooklyn—and how their friendship flourished over the years. Keith’s archership is no longer just an assumed part of his entire being; it’s a confidence-building extracurricular for a boy who got picked on before coming into the protection of the new kid in town. These supplemental, in-depth looks at the protagonists, plus their close connection, are maybe unnecessary. The movie already did a fair and concise job of addressing their platonic intimacy without the need for flashbacks and insights, specifically in that scene where AJ lays it all out as he sacrifices himself.
Where the novelization gets off course is its approach to the minor characters. Intermittently backstorying the likes of Katrina’s indentured servants, Seko (Leila Hee Olsen) and Vlad (Brad Logan), ends up disturbing the flow of the writing. Was it absolutely essential that readers know Vlad was the Grand Duke of the House of Romanov, or how Snow’s accomplice Maven (Paunita Nichols) became so dentally challenged? No, not really. However, one’s mileage with these random biographies may vary.
The novelization is a more substantial experience, but for a movie like Vamp, less is more. And as plentiful as they are, it never simply coasts on its campy charms, either. The character work sits comfortably in that realm between cursory and meticulous, the script is sharper than first realized, and Greg Cannom’s vampire makeup is straightforward yet effective. Most of all, the movie didn’t squander its out-of-the-box concept. Richard Wenk made his vision of a “comic nightmare in which just about anything that can go wrong does” come true, and it is very enjoyable.
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