Fr. Kanavan/No Fr. Kanavan

Although Blatty has, perhaps, been rightly praised for "not showing" the priest's decapitated body, although he did shoot that scene, I wonder if it could have been used somewhere else in the picture to an extremely chilling purpose/effect.

E.g., iirc, immediately after the infamous nurse/hallway scene, Blatty inserted a shot of the headless Christ bust (so infamously missed earlier by Kinderman even though he was shown standing right next to it). I think Blatty's idea was to "firm up" for the audience that Nurse Keating has been decaptiated by the sheet-shrouded figure wielding the surgical shears.

However, I wonder if a quick shot of the headless Kanovan in the confessional might have been useful and more pertinent/appropriate at this juncture. We already know his face, and we already know that he's been decapitated - so the scene would be immediately understandable in that context. As I said, the scene would be brief, and it would much better suggest the decapitation of a living person than a shot of a cold, inert piece of sculpture. The shot could be lighted in an eerie manner, perhaps grainy black and white, or perhaps a kind of sickish, "leaden" lighting with desaturated color. And I think it would be successfully shocking, since to that point Blatty has not shown us the priest's decapitated body ... he has only shown his initial look of terror, and his blood streaming out from the base of the confessional. And then... to unexpectedly, suddenly, see the full results of his murder, no matter how briefly, would probably have been completely appropriate and shocking to most viewers.

Any thoughts?