Yes, I watched it too, finally. I really must say one thing about this, and as usual, this has much more to do with the marketing/advertising angle than it does to the movie itself. But the movie’s advertising has always used this picture of some blood-soaked girl leaning back pretty far to show the possession angle visually. And maybe she’s a good contortionist in this picture, but have any of you reading this ever seen something called Rhythmic Gymnastics? The ladies who compete in this sport can put any demonic possession victim to shame!
There’s a woman named Evgenia Kanayeva who is perhaps the greatest ever at this sport, and she’s not possessed by the devil. Yes, she’s Russian, but that only works for when they were communist: They’re not the “evil empire” anymore, so I’m pretty sure it’s just talent, hard work, and dedication that lets her do what she does with her body. But if a movie wants to convince me someone is possessed by the devil, they’re going to have to beat Evgenia Kanayeva before I’ll believe it. And I doubt anyone could do that, even if they were possessed! (That is not a challenge, however! I’d rather not see anyone possessed.)
There’s a woman named Evgenia Kanayeva who is perhaps the greatest ever at this sport, and she’s not possessed by the devil. Yes, she’s Russian, but that only works for when they were communist: They’re not the “evil empire” anymore, so I’m pretty sure it’s just talent, hard work, and dedication that lets her do what she does with her body. But if a movie wants to convince me someone is possessed by the devil, they’re going to have to beat Evgenia Kanayeva before I’ll believe it. And I doubt anyone could do that, even if they were possessed! (That is not a challenge, however! I’d rather not see anyone possessed.)
BTW: This is not a back-handed compliment to Evgenia Kanayeva! She is the Michael Jordan of her sport, the Pelé of Rhythmic Gymnastics, if you will, and she should be world famous! (I actually think she is, except for here. The truth is, calling her the anyone of any sport is an insult! She's the greatest who's ever lived, and there's no comparison to her, apparently.) I doubt her achievement will ever be equaled in my or her lifetime, so she is one of the giants of sports, period! And it’s such a beautiful sport, we really ought to know more about it, rather than have some crappy 30-minute highlights show once a year on an obscure network most people don’t even get!
And yes, I think the message of this movie was to get more people interested in Rhythmic Gymnastics! After all, The Exorcist failed in doing it, so others must continue to make exorcism-themed movies until people understand the subtext and make it a popular American sport! And maybe they’re trying to tell us that we could finally win if we got our athletes possessed by demons or something. Hey, it’s worth a try! Nobody else can beat the Russians in this sport. So maybe it’s time to try something new? But then they’d probably make projectile-vomiting green stuff illegal at championship meets: cheaters!
