The Furniture: The Exorcist's Possessed Bedroom
Monday, March 14, 2016 at 5:00PM Daniel Walber, new contributor, with the first episode of a weekly feature on production design. Every Monday morning we'll take a look at memorable sets and props, from classic Oscar nominees to the best new releases.
The Exorcist is a movie about a single room. Sure, it starts halfway across the world, on an archaeological dig in Northern Iraq. It’s true that Father Damien has a memorable, upsetting trip to a mental hospital in New York. And those iconic steps lurk just outside the house. Yet all of the violence, all of the vomit, all of Mercedes McCambridge’s legendary profanity issues forth from little Regan MacNeil’s tiny bedroom...
Oscar-nominated production design team Bill Malley (Mommie Dearest) and Jerry Wunderlich (Ordinary People) certainly rose to the challenge. The bed, in particular, is a triumph. Its first appearance comes before the madness, on a calm and quit evening. Her Virgin Mary-blue sheets and her warm quilt wrap her in safety. The bed itself, with its gorgeous wood, is a subtle reminder of the financial stability that comes from having a famous actress as a mom. And, on the whole, Ellen Burstyn’s Chris MacNeil seems to have been a perfectly loving parent.
Soon, however, the set turns on them. The bed strikes first. Chris puts Regan to bed after her unnerving appearance downstairs. Yet neither gets any time to recover, as suddenly the bed begins to violently shake. Its nurturing colors are the same, but that can no longer hide the fact that something has gone horribly wrong.
A few scenes later, the high chest of drawers goes rogue as well. As ornate and reassuring a presence in the room as the bed, it is now just another instrument of evil. After the colorful armchair blocks Chris’s way out of the room, the chest rushes at her with a speed and vigor unheard of in the world of colonial revival furniture.
By the arrival of Father Damien, everything has changed. The dresser and armchair have been removed. The only thing left is the bed, from which Regan/Pazuzu will wreak havoc. For her protection, she’s been tied down. The bed itself has been wrapped with cushions and cloth.
It bears no more resemblance to ordinary furniture. It’s like if a hideous futon were exposed to nuclear radiation, bulging in all of the wrong places. At Father Damien’s second visit, the binding appears to have somehow expanded, as if it were feeding off of the malevolent energy throbbing within.
The bed looks diseased. It mimics the multitude of damned souls collecting in Regan’s body, bursting at the seams. The cushions behind her, meanwhile, sometimes frame her as if she we were already in a coffin.
The monstrous bedposts give a bizarre geometric order to the shots, particularly when they frame Father Damien, cowering near the floor.
In other shots they create uncanny shadows, projecting their form onto the walls. Stare into the still below long enough and you can see any number of things – the wing of an enormous bat, perhaps?
Finally, in one of the film’s most celebrated shots, one of these bulbous pillars takes on the proud height of a temple column. It evokes the enormous Iraqi ruins that begin the film, connecting this urban possession with the ancient demonic force that caused it. Sure, what we remember is the rapturous form of Regan as she receives the statue of Pazuzu. But the framing, the towering presence of the bed-turned-monument, is just as essential to this triumph of blasphemous corruption.
Reader Comments (13)
and great piece. You've done the Production Design team proud.Jerry Wunderlich is no longer with us but hopefully Bill Malley can feel the appreciation all these years later.
Daniel, thank you for this terrific analysis of this brilliant work. The Exorcist is not only the greatest horror film of all time, it is one of the greatest films period. The spiritual allegory here is so dense and complex that each viewing reveals new depths. The evil here is palpable and inviolate, despite the metaphysical trappings. The art direction depicts this as much as anything in the script or performance. The film makes a persuasive case for sleeping on the couch in the living room.
Very much looking forward to this new column! This was a great read and reminder of just how much set decoration and design can add to a film.
Well done, great observations with delicious turns of phrase. A nice bit of appreciation for a film that is a classic.
I enjoyed this article too. Production design is not generally given the attention it is deserved, and The Exorcist uses its design so well, it is a great one to start with.
Awesome analysis, thanks!
Loved this! And so did William Friedkin on Twitter, so that's a win!
Enjoyed this post! I just noticed that the bed is the same as the one in http://chinahomelife247.com/ !!! So I guess they bought it there. Check it out!
Thanks for such a wonderful article, really enjoyed it. I agree with brookesboy, The Exorcist is truly one of the greatest films ever made. It's definitely my favorite film. It works on so many levels, and has a clearly positive message about good and evil, and how good triumphs in the end.
This article has reinforced what I already thought about this masterpiece of cinema. I think the film is misunderstood by some people, and is perhaps too complex to understand fully without several viewings. Every time I watch the film I see something new and different, it is still just as potent today as it was when it came out back in 1973!
What a fantastic analysis on an iconic chiller's underappreciated set design! The set construction and decor are as vital to the unfolding of this harrowing and horrific tale as the direction, performances and cinematography. The struggle of good and evil is rooted in antiquity and it was very wise for the film's screenwriter (and author of the novel before it) to choose an old-world brick colonial in Washington, D.C. as the setting for his story, as it served to enhance the primal nature of the movie's themes; a glass house in L.A. with uber-chic furnishings certainly wouldn't have allowed for the same effect. In the novel, the MacNeil's rented home is owned by a retired naval captain and it's fascinating to see how the film's set decorator remained faithful to this aspect by incorporating little bits of Americana here and there (the model ship sitting on a shelf in the den and the golden eagle plague hanging on a wall, for instance). But getting back to the set pieces discussed in this feature, yes, the wood furniture in Regan's bedroom lends an understated yet upscale touch. Again, bravo to a well-articulated feature on an overlooked aspect of an often (and rightfully so!) praised masterpiece!
REAGAN IS NOT REALLY POSSED RIGHT I KNOW HOW TO GET REAGAN UNPOSSED TELL SATAN TO GO AWAY AND NEVER COME BACK NO MORE JUST LEAVE YOUR BED FOR GOOD REAGAN THAT'S WHAT I WOULD TO THEY MAKE IT DISPPER AND YOU CAN STAY WITH A FRIEND TILL IT'S GONE?
REAGAN IS NOT REALLY POSSED RIGHT I KNOW HOW TO GET REAGAN UNPOSSED TELL SATAN TO GO AWAY AND NEVER COME BACK NO MORE JUST LEAVE YOUR BED FOR GOOD REAGAN THAT'S WHAT I WOULD TO THEY MAKE IT DISPPER AND YOU CAN STAY WITH A FRIEND TILL IT'S GONE?
This movie can be deconstructed over and over and it keeps revealing new secrets! The bat shadow is a new one to me.To me the scariest scene is Karras dead mother sitting up in bed with her sunken eyes and morticians makeup on.