Joker statue scene

Interesting... I'll give that scene a rewatch soon and consider.

Another interesting scene is when Kinderman is in Dr. Temple's office.

Behind Kinderman on the right is a pic (X-Ray) that's looks a lot like the Pazuzu amulet from the first film.

Temples office: https://orspectral.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/aos-1.jpg

Pazuzu amulet: https://www.brianamartini.com/amuletopazuzu

It may just be another skull X-Ray like on the left of Kinderman but it looks quite a bit different...so who knows.

Edit: Forgot to mention the toilet in Temples bathroom: http://www.scifimoviezone.com/cpthowdy02.jpg

Here's a good video of the Joker statue scene. It starts with a short scene about the surgical shears:

https://youtu.be/MngJShRWV3U?t=16

I’ve always thought the joker statue scene was simply to frighten audiences. I remember seeing in on its initial run, and there was a quiet gasp, and then murmur that ran through the audience. I don’t know if people believed what they’d seen. I think it was brilliant on Blatty’s part, because the audience is busy thinking about what they MAY have just seen when he unloads the jump scare with Alice.

The hospital hallway scene is justifiably famous, but everything in the priest’s office, and leading up to the Alice jolt, is also very effective (and frightening).

It's one of the most misunderstood scenes in the film. This is going to sound arrogant but I think I know what it's about. It's not a simple jump scare, nothing about the film is simple. The statue is a psychological attack on both the viewer and whoever discovers the statue first.

First and foremost, it's a reminder that we're dealing with a demon who goes where he wants and does what he likes. The opening scenes of the movie sets up the premise that holy ground holds no power for this demon. He can enter churches and deface statues. A direct challenge to gods power when you can walk into his house and start demonizing the joint.

So the statue is a late in the movie reminder. This demon is able to go where he pleases because he can possess who he wants. In the case of this scene, he has possessed Alice into defacing a statue, not only on holy ground, but within 30 meters of the head priest. And he does it to simply show that he can, to remind us of how he's getting around and doing all the murders and to remind us again that holy ground holds no fear for him.

It's a deeper scene than most realise. Some describe it as a cheap jump scare, but I've always liked it, and the above is why. Once you realise you're dealing with a demon who has no fear of god and who can enter gods house at will, it ramps up the terror factor to 11. You probably know that (I think it was Blatty) who said that this is actually a scarier film than the original and this why he said that - because the original featured a less sophisticated possession of a little girl. This film features very advanced possessions of just about anyone, which can get him on holy ground. That I believe is why he said it's a scarier film (although for years I didn't agree because I didn't understand what I understand now - I just thought he was being nuts saying that, or trying to market the film with outrageous claims of it being scarier - in a lot of ways, he's right.....it's psychologically scarier because of the increased skill of the demon.....but not visually scarier imho).

So a jump scare is the least of what the statue is. It's the deeper meaning behind it that is much more scarier than a jump scare can ever be. I love that this movie doesn't make things too obvious, it's a worthy successor to the original.

I believe this scene is actually a victim of the editting process.

Blatty was forced to cut a large amount of content in post production from what I've read. The statue scene was put out there as an attention getter for sure, but never went anywhere. None of the characters saw it, no terror in their eyes at all.

The missing head from the statue of Mary in the hospital was not noticed by the character's either, that we know of (some detective work, right? Kinderman walked right by it.) However, it was already defaced when we entered the scene. We also know the killer was working the hospital actively - that this happened is no surprise.

I don't believe Alice was the one to alter it. In the cases where we were shown interaction with the environment, we got some sort of clue there was a party involved, presumably possessed temporarily, or either a first person perspective as in the movie's beginning. This scene gives none of that.

No, I believe this was part of something larger that ultimately got chopped during the edit process and left out there as a stand alone.

I suppose the novel could give us a clue, however I have never read it so knowing how it translated to the screenplay is above me currently.