The Exorcist – Help Me

By starrymag | November 24, 2017

By: Maggie Stankiewicz

 

 

Andy (John Cho) rests within the confines of his own mind. Nikki (Alicia Witt) calls to him from the ether, causing him to slowly rise from the bed. The color of Andy and his home has been dampened, but it doesn’t stop him from seeking out his wife downstairs. On the counter rests a “World’s Greatest Mom” mug. He fills it, and his own with coffee. The silent solitude of his morning routine is interrupted by Truck (Cyrus Arnold), holding a brown paper bag within his hand. “What does it mean?” He asks, reading the note Nikki scribbled on a napkin for him. “Don’t forget that I will always love you.” Truck is questioning what it means, and how he could ever forget. Andy insists it’s nothing more than a mother’s love declaration and sends him on his way. He moves along to check on Caleb (Hunter Dillon) before exiting the home to bring Nikki her coffee. He passes by the infamous well on his way down to the water’s edge, growing increasingly concerned.

 

Nikki is slowly wading in the water, trudging through it deep and deeper until she is swallowed by it. Andy runs into the water after her, unable to locate her whereabouts. The water is too deep, too murky. He screams and flails, but it’s too late. A quick jump cut later, and we spot the sheriff’s department searching the water for Nikki’s body while Andy and Peter (Christopher Cousins) talk in the back of an ambulance. Andy only now realizes that Nikki’s note to truck was a precursor to her death; a suicide. The sheriff finally pulls Nikki’s body from the water. Already she is bloating, her skin milky and saturated. As the police lift her body up from the shoreline, a rock falls from her person. A rock that was used to weigh her body down in the water. A rock that a certain priest had been taunting with him during a prior encounter. The world around Andy rings and buzzes until he is snapped back into the physical reality.

 

Fathers Marcus (Ben Daniels) and Tomas (Alfonso Herrera) are aggressively attempting to exorcise the demon that resides within Andy. It is not yet in control, though it is seducing him quite successfully. Andy’s own skin has an uncomfortable pallor, resembling the complexion of his wife, post mortem. He is restrained to the bed and fighting the ropes as they read him his rites. This will not be an easy fight.

 

It’s pulled him back in.

 

In another flashback/memory sequence, Andy, Nikki, Verity (Brianna Hildebrand), Shelby (Alex Barima), and the rest of the kids are attempting to pose for a Christmas-card worthy photo. The kids are goofing off as usual, but Andy is determined to pull the family together for one good shot. The memories are so close to heaven for Andy, that he believes this is where he should be. His mind is so warped, that his memories feel like home. The exorcism occurring on the physical plane of existence feels like an assault, and he writhes in pain as Tomas and Marcus work. Andy awakens for just a moment, enough to beg the men to let him go. He asks where the kids are, then cries out, “I couldn’t stop her.” The men initially believe that he’s talking about the demon, but Andy continues with, “I couldn’t save her.” He is still stuck in the past, stuck in the memories that the demon has so strategically placed within his mind.

 

We’re immersed in a flashback once again. Andy brushes his teeth while Nikki sits on the edge of the bathtub, discussing a young girl that she’s been unable to find a home for. Nikki suggests allowing the girl to come to their home as their child, admitting that while this girl needs her, she needs the girl as well. Andy agrees to bring the girl home and she’s…Verity. The happy moment is spoiled by a slight jump ahead, to the day Andy and the kids spread Nikki’s ashes in the garden. Shelby says a prayer for his mother. Andy freezes up just before he’s ready to throw the ashes. Shelby takes over, leaving her among the flowers. Verity orders him to stop, criticizing his method. She snaps that he was supposed to scatter Nikki’s ashes, rather than dumping them. At the emotional height of the scene, Verity cries in Andy’s arms. Trucks sends her off with a final, “I love you Mom”.

 

Marcus and Tomas are hard at work evoking the Saints to pray for them and Andy. Marcus runs bedside, trying to pull Andy’s soul back to the surface. He tells him that the demon will lie and twist it all, but he feels too weak to fight it. Marcus urges Andy to keep fighting, for the kids. And speaking of the kids…Andy is pushed back inside the real of cerebral torment. He finds Verity folding laundry for him. She offers to go shopping after school to get more detergent. Their conversation is as empty as their hearts. Verity garners the courage the ask if her mother had said anything to indicate whether or not she was going to kill herself. “She wasn’t even sad.” This is an important moment for media and its depictions of depression, but what Andy says next is even more important. “It’s not about being sad, kiddo. Depression is a disease.” Depression, not a demon, nor a wave of sadness caused this tragedy. It was a disease, a mental illness that took its toll on her. The signs of depression are not always apparent, just as they weren’t with Nikki.

 

Marcus’ voice cuts through the static long enough for him to ask Andy about the demon’s first form. We are shown that the demon manifested within Nikki’s studio, in the form of Grace. Andy was crying on the floor when a little hand reached out to comfort him. They shook hands, and their fates were sealed. “Can you help me, Andy?” Grace asked. And so he vowed to. Helping her in all the way he was unable to help his wife. A perfectly crafted exploitation of guilt and grief. Marcus and Tomas urge him to fight the memories, which are warping more and more with each passing moment. The walls around him shake and Grace disappears. He runs through the dark house after her, but finds only her “mask” on the ground. When he turns around, Nikki is standing behind him.

 

She embraces him tenderly and waters the seeds of doubt she had been planting within his mind. The demon is one step closer to making Marcus and Tomas appear as the villains of their story. “They’re trying to break us apart, but we’re not going to let them. Are we?” Marcus reminds him of the children, but Andy is too invested in this reality, the one where Nikki is still there with him.

 

The demon has strengthened within Andy. As he growls in bed, Rose, Marcus, and Tomas discuss the current situation; the exorcism, the murder, the kids. They’re running out of time, and need to work faster in order to ensure the safety of the entire family. While they talk, Andy wakes up. He turns his head, and Nikki is laying beside him, urging him to not look at the priests. He listens, and returns to his dream state. Nikki is always there. Within the dream, he asks where the kids are. Nikki says they’re in the garden, but he wants to check on them. Nikki has other plans. This version of Nikki is trying to distract him from seeing anything other than her. It’s the only way to control him. Nikki drags Andy through the home, presenting him with surprises. He continues to ask about the children. Nikki insists that the kids are in the garden. He runs outside to find them. And they are in the garden…buried in it. Nikki watches from behind as he digs through the fresh graves.

 

The demon is one step closer to completely isolating Andy, so that he has no choice but to find comfort in her. To let her inside.

 

Nikki approaches Andy and tells him that it was a necessity. She claims that the children took all of his attention, rendering him unable to recognize the signs of her depression. Andy grows skeptical now and demands she get out of his head. The demon counters by pulling him back into a distorted view of their past. Truck and Caleb barge into their room in the midst of a fight. Nikki breaks up the fight, and breaks down to Andy when they leave. Andy rejects this version of the reality, but the demon manipulates him even further. Verity is insulting Nikki after another confrontation. Verity tells Nikki to pop some more pills and cry. Andy comforts Nikki, but seems unaware of the symptoms of depression. Andy is still fighting it, still rejecting it.

 

But the demon is growing stronger in spite Andy.

 

Another memory, a true memory. Nikki holds a crying Verity. Andy turns around, and demon Nikki is waiting. Making a gun with her fingers, she mimes shooting him in the head. Andy snaps back into the unsaturated version of reality. It is cold and bleak and full of lies. He is once again alone in bed. He jumps to a start, looking for Nikki. The door is open. The house is quiet. Truck is back again, reading the note Nikki left. This is a sick and twisted Groundhog Day. Andy remembers this time, and makes his way out front. Shelby stops him. Verity calls out over his shoulder. The kids are surrounding him now, a coldness etched on their faces. He runs outside and spots Nikki in the water once again, plunging to her death. The kids kept him inside for a few seconds too long. This time…he finds her. The kids watch from the shoreline and taunt him. “I’m glad she’s dead.”

 

Andy is still hanging on. He knows that this isn’t how it happened. Nikki’s body opens its heavily cataracted eyes and spews brown liquid from its mouth. In reality, Andy’s body begins to do the same. He is drowning from within. Marcus rolls him over and he vomits onto the floor. “Help me.” He’s crying out, though his voice is hollow. Tomas vows to stay with him until the end. They proceed with their exorcism. Marcus knows that the demon is twisting his perception, but it might be too late. What is real? Andy’s not sure…and that’s exactly what the demon wants. The men increase their exorcism efforts and an insidious darkness is cast upon the entire house. Andy’s body relaxes, and when he awakes Rose is at his side. He recognizes her and weakly asks about the kids. Andy doesn’t seem to care, and instead asks Rose to untie him. He blames her for bringing them into the home, his reality so distorted that the priests are already painted as the villains in his narrative. He screams at Rose until she flees, the priests ushering her to safety.

 

Father Marcus and Father Tomas turn to look at Andy…and something isn’t quite right. Marcus’ skin is leathery and pale, his teeth stained and rotten within his mouth. Father Tomas isn’t looking much better. The demonic versions of the men approach Andy, whispering to him the imaginary crimes of his children. They tell him that the kids are the reason he’s there, for they took from him the only thing he’s ever loved. And this time…it looks like he believes it. Andy couldn’t be fooled by the manipulations of his wife’s memory – but he has no foundation of trust with the priests. Nothing to hold onto. The demon has figured this out, and has wasted no time in adjusting its Integration Strategy.

 

Andy feels nothing but the pain of the exorcism, experiencing it so deeply that he cannot focus on the fabrication of his reality. There is only pain in what’s supposed to be his salvation. He screams. Then he begs. “Help me. Please help me.” It looks like he’s asking Marcus and Tomas…but we know better. The world around him freezes. The pain subsides. Nikki appears with a dooming, “I thought you’d never ask.” She touches his face, Marcus and Tomas frozen in place behind her. Nikki lays on top of him. Marcus and Tomas unfreeze and begin throwing holy water. Nikki martyrizes herself, seemingly protecting Andy from the priests and urges him to choose. He blinks back into a delusion of the kids tied up on the floor. He walks away.

 

His choice is made.

 

Andy runs down to the lake as Nikki is descending into its depths and lifts her out. She is alive. He has chosen her. By binding the children in place, he had enough time for her. They kiss…and she is inside. Andy flashes into reality, strengthened by the convergence. Marcus and Tomas are sent flying backwards into the wall. Andy goes back into his delusion where Nikki asks a bone-chilling question; “Now what are we doing about those kids?” As Marcus and Tomas struggle to regain consciousness, Andy returns to the earthly plane and grins like the devil he has become.