The Exorcist (1973): Theatrical Cut Reconstruction

[Jetrell Fo]

Thank you!! Awesome work. Where can I find this version?

It's not really a good sign when your first post on a forum is for wanting something. Try reading around the forums. Offering support for projects or asking questions helps too. If nobody knows you at all it is unlikely anyone will respond to you.

[Lucasyugi27]

Where can I find this project? I love this film and would love to assist you in this theatrical reconstruction.

[pipefan413]

Wow, nice! I can recapture the mono audio /with/ video if you'd like. Let me know.

That would be great. If you do recapture it, please copy me in. I'm helping Falcon out with audio work and will try to pitch in if there's a v2 of the mono.

Did this ever happen in the end? Preservation of this film is crucial imo, and an accurate sync of the original mono mix is part of that. It may well be that it's perfectly good as it exists in this project, but I agree that there would be value in having it revisited with the additional assist from having the video from the LaserDisc to verify missing frames and such.

[spaceboy710]

I'm down to capture any and all sources to get this project up and running. If there is an affordable pressing (less than $50), I can capture analog audio at 96/24 and video to go along with it.

[pipefan413]

I'm down to capture any and all sources to get this project up and running. If there is an affordable pressing (less than $50), I can capture analog audio at 96/24 and video to go along with it.

Not entirely sure what you mean by getting it "up and running"; as you can see from the top post, TAF finished it in 2017. But it doesn't look like the LD video got captured, from what I can see. I would very much like to see that happen so that the original theatrical mono mix can potentially be elevated to the default position (I understand TAF's reasons for not doing so thus far). If you do find yourself in a position to be able to do this, by all means, give me a shout! The two Japanese LaserDiscs I know of that have mono tracks (both analogue) are 10JL-1007 (the one that the audio was captured from previously) and NJEL-01007.

I'm also keen to attempt a cleanup of the TERROR IN THE AISLES footage (which I've actually just re-ripped and trimmed out earlier, ready to muck about with) so that it more closely matches the rest of the footage. It'll never fully blend because the print scanned and encoded for that HALLOWEEN II Blu-ray Disc has quite a lot of damage and is grainy as hell compared to mostly excellent restoration of THE EXORCIST we got back in 2010 (numerous other problems aside, fidelity is actually pretty nice and it isn't DNRed to hell) but I'm eager to see if it might be possible to get it slightly closer by correcting the worst bits of print damage and maybe even trying stuff like AI-assisted sharpening to get it closer to the Blu-ray shots on either side of the insert. However, I have pretty much zero experience doing that sort of thing, so I have a lot of learning to do before I'd be comfortable doing it.

I wondered if maybe it would even just be possible to partially "despecialise" (ahem) the morph by simply chopping out the worst-offending frames from the Blu-ray version of the shot, as an alternative. To explore this, I compared the Blu-ray shot to the version from TAF's restoration (which looks to be subtly different from the source, I assume to keep sync) and to the TERROR IN THE AISLES shot TAF used as replacement footage. I'm not entirely convinced though, because it seems the Blu-ray already has a duplicate frame at the end of the shot (again, I assume for sync) and because the morph is...

... not just on Jason Miller's face but also on his right shoulder/arm over quite a few frames to make the pop when it cuts to the other end of the transformation less jarring.

I'll put this behind a spoiler tag just to be on the safe side but I assume everybody here's probably seen the film anyway... here's a side by side comparison (as a video on Vimeo, with one particularly terrible frame from it shown below as an image) of the transformation jump cut / morph:

(password is the thing that it turns out Regan is saying backwards when the tape recording is analysed)

Basically, the actual face morph only takes place over 2 frames but they also morph his arm rather unnaturally over 6 frames, so my "take 1 or 2 frames out" idea is not going to work as simply as I hoped.

[Dek Rollins]

Pipefan, could you post the actual password to that comparison video?

[Chewtobacca]

Did this ever happen in the end?

I'm afraid that there was never a v2, at least not one that I was aware of.

[pipefan413]

Did this ever happen in the end?

I'm afraid that there was never a v2, at least not one that I was aware of.

Sorry, I specifically meant did the LaserDisc video ever get captured to help resync the mono track as accurately as possible. I know there's no V2 of the project thus far. But I guess not, from the silence, hahah!

[Chewtobacca]

Sorry, I specifically meant did the LaserDisc video ever get captured to help resync the mono track as accurately as possible. I know there's no V2 of the project thus far.

Yeah, I was referring to the planned v2 of the synced mono (not the project itself), based on a recapture with video, but neither the recapture nor the resyncing came about.

[pipefan413]

...

Password is "Captain Howdy's" real name