So last time I was writing around these parts it was all about Mick Taylor slaughtering tourists in the Aussie Outback. Well I’m back, and rather than taking on another season of Mick’s activities I decided to hit a new show on the block The Exorcist. While I guess most horror fans are somewhat concerned about how television is going to handle one of the great horror franchises which let’s face it has been battered and bruised already, the concern for me was how they were going to handle an episodic season take on what is after all primarily a movie based property. Are we going to see exorcism of the week or are we going to get an exorcism per season? Grab the holy water and crucifixes we’re going to crash the satanic lifeboat party.

Angela Rance is a devout Catholic, which is just as well as things aren’t exactly rocking on the home front and we all need those crutches when things go South. Angela’s husband Henry has some serious brain damage and isn’t always up with the here and now, older daughter Kat is home from college and finding it hard to leave her room, but thankfully younger teen daughter Casey is keeping to the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, Angela is experiencing some strangeness in her home, strange knockings on walls that can’t be explained, and are those voices behind the wall? Naturally being devout Catholic Angela decides the cause of her home invasion is demonic in origin and takes it up with her parish priest Father Tomas Ortega. Tomas isn’t exactly jumping to conclusions here, hey the whole demon thing is a boreoarctic nightmare in the Catholic church, but agrees to dinner to check the situation out. Over the course of that evening Tomas talks to Kat, nothing to show there except Kat being a bit of a bitch, and definitely no paranormal activity to sink his teeth into. However, Tomas is having nightmares, which involve Father Marcus Keene conducting an exorcism in Mexico City, and their paths are going to cross. Oh Tomas goes back to Casa del Rance and has an encounter with Casey, which probably means Kat isn’t the one Angela needs to worry about!

I was kind of interested in how the television show would reference the movies, and was pretty much on board with the handling of this aspect. During the introduction scenes we get the barking dogs as Father Marcus heads in to do battle with demonic forces which is pretty much par for the course for the franchise. A lot more subtle however is the attic scene, that probably nails the only truly scary scene in the first episode. Casey mentions rats and the need to get additional rat traps, which harkens back to a certain scene in a Georgetown home. We also get Father Tomas researching exorcism, because you apparently go to the internet rather than church resources when rocking that search, reading a newspaper account of the deaths of Father Karris and Father Merrin and naturally the steps outside the infamous townhouse from the first movie. I was okay with the referencing, but kind of hope this doesn’t become a plot device going forward. And I’m going to finish wiith the slightly obtuse reference of a character looking back and upwards to glimpse someone in an upstairs bedroom dimly seen behind the curtains.

The episode gets out of the blocks in pretty stylish fashion, with a visit to working class Mexico City. We get to meet Father Marcus, an Exorcist, who we pretty soon discover is a maverick within the Church and who goes his own way. Interestingly, and we get this in a nightmare sequence Father Tomas witnesses, Marcus fails in his attempt to save the soul of a young boy losing out to a demon who isn’t named. This leads to Marcus having to endure a Catholic retreat in the U.S, which is clearly going to work into the plot lines as they are being developed. This series of scenes is actually pretty good, nice creepy atmospherics, and those dogs are almost harbingers of something wicked this way comes. I was nailed to the screen from this scene onwards.

But there is an inherent problem with the scare tactics being used. Beside the opening scenes, which are pretty effective, there is the attic scene which while referencing the all-conquering first movie, nails the tension and atmosphere. Director Rupert Wyatt nails it like the whole concept is going out of fashion. So what happened in the rest of the episode and how did Wyatt get it completely wrong. Well, exorcism stories work best while dealing in gradually escalating chaos entering a straight forward world. Think The Exorcist and Paranormal Activity. In this episode Wyatt starts off bringing strange tapings and voices in the wall to the table, but then goes boots and all into the possession states. There is no gradual build up, it’s all on the table, there is not a lot left to introduce some questions about what is going down, or if we are dealing with a psychological disorder. Rather than going medical, a mainstay of the subgenre, we go all in with the religious element. There is no chance to prove something supernatural is happening because science is completely left out of it. I’m sort of going to leave this on the backburner as the season may surprise with the directions it takes, but I am already only half in. Wyatt has folded one of the best hands he could have been dealt, barely firing a shot in anger.

Angela Rance, wonderfully played by the great Geena Davis – was it just me or did she appear like an adult Regan in certain scenes, all about that facial structure – doesn’t have a moments pause, she’s right in on the demon manifestation angle, no convincing needed there, medical or otherwise. I grew up in a fundamental Catholic household, and I can guarantee the parental units wouldn’t have leapt to demonic happenings this quickly. It doesn’t have that ring of crystal, as Stephen King would say, Wyatt really needs to convince me through the next couple of episodes else these episode reviews are going to sink into comedy.

From the Catholic church side of the communal wafer we get three priests and not a lot of going to the diocese hierarchy to get permission for an exorcism, early days I know, but you would think things should be moving in that direction. Father Marcus is the required Exorcist, with plenty of experience dealing with the eternal enemy, Father Tomas is the priest who needs to be convinced – surprisingly Henry Rance might have convinced him, watch the show to find out how, and Father Bennett represents the church and the orderly process of the church which doesn’t delve into all this demon malarkey – which is kind of a strange representation in this subgenre considering the Catholic church has what amounts to a whole department dedicated to exorcism. So at least this aspect of the show was pretty well conceived and delivered on.

I was pleasantly surprised by the post attic scene, which see’s Father Tomas walking home to the sounds of the prolong to Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, which of course was the theme music for the original movie. We are unsure which path Father Tomas is going to take, see I can hold up a metaphor, but I’m going to assume it’s to see about getting an exorcism happening. At the same time Father Marcus is donning his black gear and leaving the retreat stage left, he has clearly made his mind up about things and is heading into battle. Nice touches here, clearly setting up the next episode and no doubt further problems with the local Diocese about whether or not to conduct the Roman ritual.

I was worried about what we might get with The Exorcist television series, exorcism of the week or that old conspiracy standby, the missteps are just waiting to happen. Must admit to being both surprised and disappointed after the end credits to Chapter One: And Left My Cry Come Unto Thee, that’s a cumbersome title folks. I was surprised just how engrossed I became with the episode and how well the tension and atmosphere was created. I was however disappointed, they have rushed the beginning of the exorcism journey, with everyone immediately involved in supernatural events reaching for the exorcist paraphilia without bothering to build anything up; smacks of dangers ahead I’m afraid. I would definitely tune into this one, could have been worse, but am holding back judgement till we see how things unfold from here. I’m worried, if I had to be honest, who else is expecting some sort of conspiracy or a shock left field happening to go down? Fingers and toes crossed the show makers can keep things rocking and not just turn in another Yank season of disappointments.