Captain Howdy
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Captain Howdy is the name popularly associated with the white faced demon featured in several nearly subliminal shots (less than a second long but still consciously observable) in the 1973 horror film The Exorcist. The demon mask used in the movie Onibaba (1964) inspired William Friedkin to use a similar design for the makeup in the shots.
[edit] Background
Designed to instill unease within the audience, the shots feature an extreme close-up of a horribly grimacing, completely white face with large yellow teeth and widely opened brown eyes with dark red bags underneath, looking directly into the camera (and the audience) with a black background. The shots are so fast that they are often missed by those who are not watching carefully or even blink at the wrong moment, and they are as a result almost a still shot except for a very subtle movement of the face's jaw, opening very slightly. This barely discernable movement adds to the feelings instilled by the already lightning fast flash of the face on screen. These shots, which became more prominent in the unedited re-release of the film, are a considerable factor in the horror for which the film is famous.
Although the demon's make-up is not as frightening or creepy as Linda Blair's as the possessed Regan, the subliminal nature of the shots are very effective at triggering fright and considerable unease within the audience due to the fact that they appear at unexpected times very abruptly (such as during a brightly lit shot of Regan at the doctor's clinic) but so quickly that they do not make the audience jump (a common ploy in horror films) but cause them to still feel a rush of fright. In the unedited version of the film, the face appears five times: once as Regan is lying down on a hospital bed, just after her eyes widen slightly (this is the most effective shot, as it is the first occurrence and the bright setting and Regan's half a second widening of her eyes creates considerable dramatic effect); during Father Karras' nightmare about his mother (this shot features the face slightly tilted back, casting a shadow over some of the features); when Regan's mother comes home at night and is walking through her dimly lit home; during the sequence where the exorcism itself has begun and various images, including that of the statue of Pazuzu and an odd, seemingly artistic rendering of the white-faced demon, flash on the screen accompanied by thunder and lightning and Regan's various horrible noises, and; superimposed over Regan's face very briefly during the exorcism. There are possibly several other occurrences, but due to how quickly they appear and are then gone they are difficult to spot.
The shots can sometimes be even more effective when one knows that the shot is coming, as despite any anticipation on the part of the viewer the speed of the shot makes it very hard to precisely brace for in advance and the viewer is often therefore more focused on the screen when the shot flashes on.
[edit] "Captain Howdy"
The name "Captain Howdy" is commonly associated with the face because it is a name that Regan repeatedly mentions and is thought by both her mother and the various doctors who treat her to be an imaginary friend. She apparently encounters "him" in a ouija board found in her house, and she asks him a question through the board in the presence of her mother (though he does not respond in that instance). Later, when being hypnotized by a psychiatrist, the doctor asks Regan if the person inside of her (whom she admits is present) is Captain Howdy. When he later directly questions this "other person", thought to be Captain Howdy, Regan adopts the distinctive hoarse growl of the demon and attacks the doctor. It can be presumed from what is shown in the movie that Captain Howdy is how the demon chose to present itself to Regan in order to get inside of her (bearing resemblance to the friendly Howdy Doody), quickly abandoning this disguise once securely inside of her.
[edit] Trivia
- The original teaser trailer for the film, which consisted of nothing but images of the white-faced demon quickly flashing in and out of darkness, was banned in many theaters, as it was deemed "too frightening".
- To date, the complete footage taken of Captain Howdy has not been released.
- Captain Howdy's face is Eileen Dietz's, who also doubled for Linda Blair. The makeup took four hours to apply.
- There was a furor over the use of subliminal imagery in the film (only a few are in the original theatrical version, but some claimed they fainted due to the imagery). When The Exorcist was re-released in 2000, the face was added in several other shots digitally and more (intentionally) obviously.
- The Captain Howdy face appears briefly but obviously in Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist when Cheche confronts Father Merrin. It also appears in Exorcist: The Beginning for a few frames in a mirror beside Merrin before he smashes it, and also when Merrin confronts Pazuzu.
- The words "Captain Howdy" are shown on a shirt worn by Gorillaz frontman 2D. This shirt is on sale in the G-Shop at www.gorillaz.com. There was also a similar version of the face featured at the begining and end of their video "Rock It".
- Penn Jillette is part of a band called "The Captain Howdy", named for this character.
- Captain Howdy is prominently mentioned in the song "Horror-Teria" by the band Twisted Sister. It is on both their 1984 album Stay Hungry and its 2004 re-recording, Still Hungry.
- Although obviously not the same character, there is a character named "Captain Howdy" in the 1983 film Hysterical. He is played by actor Richard Kiel.
