Word: exorcists
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
From his office walls, M. Night Shyamalan's idols and inspirations look down on him. His production company, located in Conshohocken, Pa., just outside Philadelphia, has a cozy main room that is dominated by several framed movie posters. There's one from "The Exorcist," which is one of Shyamalan's favorite horror films. There's also a poster from "Raiders of the Lost Ark," a film directed by one of Shyamalan's heroes, Steven Spielberg. And finally, there's a large poster from "Die Hard" featuring a sooty portrait of Bruce Willis, who right now is Shyamalan's favorite leading...
...tail twitch from 50 yds. away. This would be easier if not for the camouflage hat the officers gave me. With a curtain of dangling burlap strips, it looks like Bob Marley has joined a militia. My doe's head may be spinning around like something out of The Exorcist for all I know. I can't see through the dreadlocks. The driver may not know whether to lock and load or call a priest. But he's still watching. Go ahead, tough guy. Show some courage...
...exorcism. Conditions previously thought diabolical, such as Tourette's syndrome, proved medically treatable. In the wake of Vatican II, many American Catholics "wanted to restrict things to only a scientific way of knowing" and shied away from the rite's supernatural literalism, says the Rev. Kazimierz Kowalski, an exorcist in Manhattan. Notes the Rev. James LeBar, who took up the work in 1989: "The whole thing kind of went down to embers...
...there are sparks of life once again. In 1991 LeBar and some underemployed colleagues performed a television exorcism on ABC's 20/20. So many viewers called in to request similar aid that the late John Cardinal O'Connor of New York appointed four archdiocesan exorcists. In an average year, they investigate some 350 cases and perform 10 to 15 exorcisms. Last year Chicago's Francis Cardinal George appointed the first official exorcist in his diocese's 160-year history. Several months earlier, the Vatican had revised the Rite of Exorcism. It eliminated physical descriptions of Satan and such honorifics...
...Many exorcists think their job prospects are looking up because the need has grown. The culture's lack of a moral anchor, its acceptance of abortion and an increased flirtation with paganism, says Kowalski, can lead the susceptible to "put themselves proximate to darkness." Many exorcists praise The Exorcist for its realism. Kowalski, for one, is looking forward to seeing the movie, which has been re-edited to add 11 min. of footage. "How could I not go," he asks, "and root for the home team...