Exorcist, The Easter Egg - Subliminal Message

What exactly did the message mean?

Even if this was there, I doubt that it affected anyone. Many scientists have done many studies that indicate that subliminal messages generally do NOT work.

I am nearly sure that this was a rumour started because of the subliminal priest's face.And the reason the film affected people was because it unsettled those who had not seen such a chilling film before.

Friedkin (Exorcist director) purposefully put many moments of "subliminal direction" in the movie. All of which CAN be seen. They flash by very fast but not too fast to pick up. As has been proven time and time again (though some cannot accept it), subliminal effects that pass by quicker than the mind can process ARE NOT PROCESSED BY THE MIND. Friedkins use of "subliminal direction" was not hidden and discussed much in interviews during and after filiming the movie. ie. Friedkins "subliminal" effects are not subliminal, just very quick and disturbing images mixed into the final cut.

Yes! I have seen this, about 7 years ago when I had a VCR that could freeze frame. It's very freaky!

Skulll and Crossbones????????? Never seen it. What really -IS- there was a scene "cut" from the book. I've seen it paused on the VCR as well, but it isn't a skull and crossbones. It's a face painted (with crude style, purposely) depicting the struggle between Father Karras and himself through his mother. The book explains (as the movie does poorly) that Father Karras is doubting his own faith. (This is the whole point of the movie, by the way - the doubting of faith). In the book Karras is tormented by the "demons" about having left his mother in the slums to die while he went off ot college. He left her alone. That's why the demon reads his mind and says "Your mother is here with us, Karras.....#$@#$%...#$^%6ing sow....." etc, etc... No, the "subliminal" message (spelled wrong on purpose) represents Damien's mother as she descends into the subway in that dream scene. It's not a skull and crossbones - it's the actresses face in a habit with white face paint. The skull is payed heavily through the actresses' wide eyed, brown, split second visual. It's Damien Karras vs. guilt. It made no sense in the movie - and all the obvious stuff if you've read the book. And that bunk about "freeze-framing" that scene is also mixed with "Rosemary's Baby". There are two. And no...you won't die if you pause it. -Rob K. (Houston) By the way - heh- the case it was based on is a fraud: Don't buy the books on "The Story Behind the Exorcist". They're all wrong. The real story is MUCH less intersting. And, of course, no scientist has EVER been able to prove that subliminal messages work. (Besides....the Exorcist has that face for 4 frames. The max for sub mess.'s is 2)

you mean during all the freaky parts where all of a sudden that face appears. i thought that was what the girl was seeing. also, in the part (near the end) where the lady is in the kitchen and the lights go out, after they come on again, a face appears in the upper-right corner

I actually rented the movie, watched for the head to pop up and freeze framed it. Then I took my digital camera and got a pic of it. If anyone wants to see a copy, than email me. *oh and you see the pic when Karras is dreaming about his mom and shes trying to cross the street.

Actually all your theories are wrong sorry to say. The real truth is the head that pops up in Damiens dream is Captain Howdy (The demon). It is screwing around with his dreams making him feel guilty and doubting his faith . A bit of trivia for you all is the face was not originally intended to be in that scene one of the crew thought it would be a good idea to use it the face. It is actually one of many ideas for makeup for when Regan gets possessed they did a 10 sec demo filming of a girl that is 15yrs old making animal noises and screaming and thats how one of the most frightening scenes in the movie came about.

I have the real truth here. William Poundstone, author of the "Big Secrets" series of books, has the details. And I quote: "The spliced in frames show a ghostly white face looking something like Father Karras [maybe with different makeup]. The mouth and eyes are outlined in red. The face wears a white shroud. Later in the film, when Karras is possesed, his pale face looks like the subliminal shot." There. I said it.

William also states: "It has also been claimed that the word "PIG" appears subliminally. The word appears as a griffito near the stairs behind the house. It is never onscreen for more than a moment." Trust me. When someone writes about book about this, they're USUALLY right.

I'm not exactly sure why the face is in there, however, I do know it is some actress with her face painted white. I also noticed the face when the lights go out.

I've seen both the DVD version and the older version of this movie. I have noticed quite a few different things that can be considered "subliminal." One of these that I've never seen commented on is when the mother is leaving the bedroom and the camera lingers on a shot from inside the room following her. On the wall to the left of the doorway you will see, if you watch carefully, a shadow representation of the statue of Pazuzu. I had to rewind it and replay it again to make sure that I wasn't seeing things but I assure you it was there. If anyone else has seen it please e-mail me to confirm my sanity.

This has nothing to do with this conversation, but. I heard that a guy killed himself because of the film Exorcist... He was seen leaving from the theater after the scene where they did all those loud tests to the girl. It's also been said that the guy saw the movie about ten or twenty times. He left the theater with a pale face and empty eyes. The scene is pretty nasty u'know, with the blood flying as the heart pumps and all... it can be pretty distressing. But he must have had some more deeper problems than that to kill himself. And I think it's obvious what those problems were. As his obituary came to the paper, the only people left missing him were his grandfather and the town's only priest. Weird huh? I know this well because it happened not so long ago after the uncut version hit the theaters here in Finland.

This is not a subliminal message. It was just a quick picture sliced in there to make it more scary. The face also "appears" later on when they are doing the exocism on Regan, when she is sort of smiling at the priest, the face appears on her face "over-lapping it". I think it's the actual face of the demon that has possesed her. It can't be subliminal because people know that they saw it, I remember when we were watching this at school and when the face flashed (twice I think it was), people were saying to each other "Did you see that?" Some people don't see it because it is literally a 'blink and you'll miss it' thing. It is supposed to be scary because you only see it for a second and it sticks in your mind, I don't think it would have been as scary if the face was shown on screen for longer than that micro-second.

There are no subliminal messages. I watched the movie and I saw them. And if you are able to see them than it isn't subliminal.

so that's why people left at the premiere, they fealed weard after seeing that face

The only things I saw were when the mother left the kitchen, the camera stayed for abit, and a face apeared on the extractor fan. And then when the mother left the bedroom, the cameras stays once more, and a depiction of the statue at the start apears. And im sure I saw a few flickers of faces in between scenes, and when I paused it on them, it was the same face that Karras had when he was possesed at the end.

I remember years ago I read an article about a guy who noticed one of the flashing "demon face" frames in the theatre when it was originally released. He fainted in fear, hit his head on the theatre floor and subsequently tried to sue the movie theatre for his injuries. I always loved the Exorcist but I mistakenly bought "The Version you'ver never seen'. There are TOO MANY added flashing faces in that version. So much that it becomes 'gimmicky' and not as scary for me. Not to mention the 'feel good' ending which also subtracts from the 'fear of the unknown' feeling you have in your gut after watching the original....

The face seen in the window before Karras jumps is that of Karras' mother, not Merrin.

Forgot to mention that I must agree with above comments that NONE of these images are subliminal. They're a modern equivalent of someone jumping out and yelling BOO! The original flash-faces of Pazuzu (dream and exorcism) are creepy, heck yeah, but you can't help but see them unless your blink reflexes are abnormally slow. Had Friedkin made these images as brief as absolutely possible (if it is possible for it to be briefer than they are, I don't know) they'd be even creepier; a true "did you see that?" moment. As is, none of the flash-faces can be called even close to subliminal...I've never met anyone who saw the film who didn't see them who hadn't left the room and missed it. As for the additions in the newest version (statue and face of statue in the bedroom; flash-face on grill hood), those are really cheap shots at the audience - like hitting you over the head with them. They are really ridiculous and the film would be better off without these, OR if they could be made so photographically subtle that you really can't say for sure you saw it without rewinding (like the flash-face in the mirror in Harlin's version - at least THAT was done right).

It's not an easter egg. It was meant to be seen. It's just one of those things to build up the tension and scare the audience. There are others in the film too. It's not subliminal advertising, and it isn't an egg. It isn't anything personal. It was just put there to scare the audience.

how is it supposed to be a sublminal message if its just a face instead of bones?