Analysing Full Films- Repossessed

Full Analysis of Repossessed

Repossessed is an American comedy film made in 1990 that spoofs the 1973 horror film The Exorcist. It was written and directed by Bob Logan. The film features the original star of The Exorcist, Linda Blair, as well as Leslie Nielsen and Anthony Starke. Many jokes were based around events in The Exorcist, such as the green-vomit and head-spinning scenes.

Todorov’s theory of narrative structure suggests that the story begins with equilibrium where everything is in balance. This is then disrupted by an event, causing disequilibrium. Problems are then resolved into a new equilibrium by the end of a story. Although it is a parody of a horror, this film follows Todorov’s narrative structure very closely, except for one exception. It could be argued that the film does not start with equilibrium, as it begins with Father Mayi performing an exorcism. However, after this first five minutes, the film effectively starts again with equilibrium. This first 5 minutes is to introduce what the film will be about and to show the audience that all will not be well throughout it. Other than this, it pretty much follows Todorov’s narrative structure. There is a disruption of equilibrium, when the devil comes out of the TV and into Nancy Aglet’s body. Throughout the film, character’s attempt to restore equilibrium using various methods, including a televised exorcism. Equilibrium is eventually restored with Father Mayi and Father Luke successfully gets the devil out of Nancy’s body.

There are many expectations that the audience will have of this film, due to the film being a subgenre of horror. They will expect to see the codes and conventions of not only horror, but comedy as well. As it is a spoof of The Exorcist, the audience will also expect cheesey jokes which steal scenes from it. As Repossessed stars Leslie Nielson, fans of him will automatically go to see the film, to see him, as he is usually the same as an actor in every film he has starred in, such as Naked Gun. This brings in more profit for the film, which is ultimately the reason why Leslie Nielson was starred as the leading role of this film. As this film isn’t a traditional horror, it doesn’t necessarily fit the genre of horror. However, it does fit the subgenre of parody horror, as it has both horror and comedy elements. One specific scene is the green-vomit scene, which takes the horror scene from the Exorcist and gives it a ‘funny’ twist, by the reaction of the characters after the vomit.

Propp’s theory of character types suggests that there are 8 character roles within films. He looked at 100s of old folk tales to establish this. He argues that in a film there is always: The villain(s)(usually female), the hero (usually male), the donor (person who provides an object with magic property), the helper (who aids the hero), the princess (reward of the hero), her father (who rewards the hero), the dispatcher (who sends the hero on their task), and finally the false hero. Even though Repossessed is a spoof, most of these character types are still present. There is a clear villain, the possessed Nancy Aglet, who as Propp suggested, is female. There is also a clear hero Father Mayi, who as Propp suggested is male. It could be argued that there is a donor in the form of God, who gives an object with magic property, in the form of a Bible. There is a clear helper, in the form of Father Luke, who is obviously helping the hero to defeat the villain. However, in my opinion, the other character’s aren’t obviously present in the film, apart from possibly the dispatcher, who is also the villain, as she taunts Father Mayi to stop her, therefore technically sending the hero on their task.

There are clear binary oppositions, as described by Claude Levis-Strauss, in the form of good vs. evil (Father Mayi vs. The Possessed Nancy Aglet), as well as more of a religious opposition of God vs. The Devil, or Heaven vs. Hell.

In conclusion, I believe that Repossessed didn’t intentionally go against some of the conventions of a horror film as suggested by Propp and Todorov, but instead couldn’t help but challenge them, due to the fact that it is a parody of a horror, and so needed to change the structure a little bit in order to engage the audience more and to try and made them unexpectedly laugh.