Analyzing Evil: Pazuzu From The Exorcist Franchise

Hello everyone and welcome to the one hundred fifty-second episode of Analyzing Evil! Our feature character for this video is Pazuzu, from The Exorcist franchise. I hope you enjoy, and thanks for watching. If you have any feedback or questions feel free to let me know below!

#halloween #movie #evil

[TheVileEye]

Sorry about the credits appearing earlier than they should have everyone!

[Ididitlikethis]

Pazuzu currently has a successful career as a CEO at Electronic Arts.

[Chalepastel]

Pazuzu's iconic line "YOUR MOTHERSUCKSCOCKS IN HELL" has haunted/amused for so long

[threethousandbees]

For a demon to be named something like Pazuzu and still instill this kind of terror really tells you just how metal he is.

[CalebConn]

Father Merrin in the first movie perfectly describes the intentions of the demon: “think the point is to make us despair. To see ourselves as... animal and ugly. To make us reject the possibility that God could love us.” That’s the goal of Satan and his angels.

[mostlyholy]

The reason Pazuzu, as a demon of wind, was associated with both causing and protecting from disease is that ancient people believed disease was caused by "bad air". A wind demon might bring such air to you, or drive it away from you, leading to this double aspect that seems odd to us.

[achd]

Pazuzu will always be my favorite depiction of a demon because of two scenes.

1: When father Karras sits with him for the first time he falsely introduces himself as the devil and asks Karras to remove the straps, to which Karras asks why he doesn’t just remove them himself and Pazuzu says “that’s much too vulgar a display of power, father Karras.” If you think about what a demon is, an entity of pure pride who tried to rebel against God Himself, it’s almost profound for Pazuzu to introduce himself as the devil, a stronger entity than he, and to be too proud to show even a fraction of his power to a priest. They truly nailed the idea that demons are first and foremost entities of pride made manifest.

2: When father Merrin arrives at the house, before considering the sequels or prequels to aid the lore, you see Pazuzu in bed looking afraid. Before all he’d dealt with was scared onlookers, confused doctors, and father Karras who’s been having a crisis of faith, but now he’s about to come face to face with an elder clergyman who’s performed an exorcism before, who’s faith is unshakable, and who has no fear of demons. That tiny scene of Merrin standing in the street staring up at the house, feeling the evil radiating from that bedroom, and Pazuzu strapped to the bed looking terrified as he knows he’s in for a real fight is easily the single greatest scene of any exorcism-based movie.

[TetsuShima]

"The Exorcist 3" is a pretty underrated sequel that was forgotten by fault of the awful reception of "The Exorcist 2". The mere acting of Brad Douriff and Jason Miller as the Gemini Killer and the perfectly executed screaming in the Hospital make it worth watching!

[danielsantiagourtado]

Man, you're one of the few youtubers, who put out such frequent content, that over the years has not only avoided a decrease in quality but you get better and better. You've been going from strength to strength, and you should be very proud

[NebMunb]

"Pazuzu,  you ungrateful gargoyle, I put you through college, and this is how you repay me?"
- Professor Hubert Farnsworth

[BertoPlease]

You know a film is bad when Vile decides to dunk on it for no reason, as they tend to not bring their personal opinion on the quality of the product 😂

[karrotakun]

You know how much of a baller you gotta be to piss off a demon older than most recorded human history so badly that it decides to keep you alive simply out of spite? Karras was a genuine hero.

[MrfrogAXN]

Pazuzu always scared the hell out of me.

[claytongoode]

The fact that Pazuzu was used as a source of protection could have made for a far more interesting Exorcist sequel. Imagine a family making a deal with the demon in order to keep another one at bay.

[connorhilchie]

8:05 nailed it Mr Vile Eye. Some people(and things) don't need a reason to be evil. Like Alfred tells Bruce in The Dark Knight "Some men just want to watch the world burn"

[gnarwhal]

Oddly enough, the only scene of the Exorcist that truly scared me was the part where Pazuzu flashes abruptly in Reagan's head while being tested in the hospital. I was not at all expecting it, but even on rewatch, the image has burnt itself into my memory. It's like Nosferatu on steroids

[spencerhering]

I loved how you almost had me going. But when you said “they managed to make an exorcist movie worse then the second one”, boom. That was genius

[Ididitlikethis]

“I have seen the Exorcist 167 times, and it gets funnier each time!”

-Beetlejuice

[DisparityOfBeliefAndTruth]

Ideas for villain analysis:

El Guapo, Three Amigos
Jareth, Labyrinth
Cujo, Cujo
Dark Helmet, Spaceballs
Ferris, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Judge Doom, Who Framed Roger Rabbit

[Acheron]

I would love to see you do an episode on either Wilson Fisk from Daredevil and the MCU, or, on a more realistic note like with your Frank Costello video, Pablo Escobar from Narcos, or really, the entirety of the Narcos cast.

Regardless, great video as always!