MovieChat Forums > The Exorcist III (1990) Discussion > Major Goof(s)/Plot Hole(s)- The statue n...

Major Goof(s)/Plot Hole(s)- The statue near the elevator

posted 9 years ago by phantomcurator-178-818096
4 replies | jump to latest

I love this movie, and have watched it many, many, times, but just noticed something- after Kindermann visits Father Dyer in the hospital, when he's leaving and waits for the elevator, we see him standing next to a headless statue of Christ.

The dramatic music- and fast zoom-in shot of the statue which accompanies this scene- make it obvious that the head of this statue is the one found with the young murder victim that Kinderman discusses with Dyer in the earlier scene in the restaurant ("his head had been replaced with a statue of Christ").

A scary scene, but their are two glaring problems here:

First, why doesn't Kindermann notice that the head of the statue is missing & make the connection to his case? He's standing- all by himself- at what appears to be a distance of 3 feet or less from the statue, and he doesn't even glance at it? I know he's pre-occupied with thoughts about his friend Father Dyer's illness, but how could one not notice a vandalized/headless statue of Jesus that close?

Kinderman is so good throughout the movie at picking up clues & details (like noticing the shipping tag on the replacement autopsy shears, for example) that I find it hard to believe he would miss this very, very obvious "elephant under the coffee table" clue.

Second- and, hospital workers, please help me out here- would a hospital allow a vandalized statue like that to remain on display to hospital visitors? The sight of the statue is unsettling, to say the least, and I'm sure it would be frightening/offensive to already tense/nervous friends and family who are visiting patients (particularly young children).

OK, maybe the statue is too heavy/impractical to move right away, but wouldn't a normal hospital at least cover it up with something?

Your thoughts on this?

[–] bastasch8647 9 years ago

That's another example out of many that flaw this curious little film. Yes, the hospital would not be keeping a vandalized statue in the public eye. Chances are they would report the vandalism, the report would get to Kinderman, who would immediately put it together with the decapitated paperboy.

Worse, as you mention, Kinderman is standing directly in front of the statue and doesn't even notice it, which is just one more terrible change that Blatty inflicted on one of his best characters. Nothing gets past Kinderman - except a major clue in the case which is located two feet away from him. Bad writing, bad scene.

My idea - if Blatty was determined to have this scene, which is not in the Legion novel - would have been to shoot Kinderman standing at the elevator - shooting him from a distance down a long corridor. He gets in the elevator, the doors close, and the camera slowly moves to the right or the left to reveal the alcove with the headless statue. That would save Kinderman looking like an inattentive idiot, because in "my" scenario, the statue would be out of his sight the whole time. Why Blatty even wrote the scene is baffling, because it doesn't tell us anything new - except that his brilliant cop is as dull as a dishrag.

[–] phantomcurator-178-818096 9 years ago

I like your scene better, B8647...would have made a lot more sense.

And you point out something I hadn't even considered- your comment about the vandalism report. You're absolutely right- standard detective work 101 would involve checking the city's vandalism reports concerning statues of Jesus missing their heads; I mean, how many could there possibly be?

Still a fun movie to watch, though!

[–] bastasch8647 9 years ago

Oh, yeah, still a fun movie! I consider it one of my cinematic "guilty pleasures" because, for all its flaws, it keeps drawing me back in, from its return to Georgetown, to seeing Jason Miller again, to Brad Dourif's intense performance, to Nicol Williamson's nearly wordless, poetic presence, to Ed Flanders, to the droll university president, to the eccentric Dr. Temple... and of course "THAT" scene in the hospital corridor...

[–] DreTam2000 9 years ago

I think the point is being missed here. This scene is being taken too seriously and logically.

I always took it as a psychological sort of manipulation by the evil force to (in a sense) blind folks from noticing, or at least delay them from noticing the statue was where it was. It's really not that implausible; that is, if we're accepting the supernatural here.

The lieutenant misses it. But it was supposed to be a freak-occurrence sort of miss. Not a rational one...

I'm not a control freak, I just like things my way