I found this stray photo of Dana DeArmond in my camera and, probably because it’s a gray and foggy day here, and a month from Halloween, thought of “The Exorcist.”
I think the point is to make us despair. To see ourselves as… animal and ugly. To make us reject the possibility that God could love us. —Father Merrin
“The Exorcist” remains one of my favorite movies. There’s all sorts of horror in it—the fear of losing faith, the fear of losing a child, the fear of that child urinating on the floor at a party and ruining both the floor and the party—all contained in a slow burn of a movie from 1973 that is just Burstyn with pleasure.
Toward the end, the possessed Linda Blair reaches toward heaven as an image of Satan appears behind her, Satan is fully erect.
When I was interviewing the director and raconteur Tim Von Swine a few months ago, he was filming DeArmond for the movie “Praise the Load 6.” The religious overtones were unmistakeable, I tell you: unmistakeable.
As she prayerfully stretched both her head and spine to a Cirque du Soleil angle, I wouldn’t have blamed Satan for showing up. But I would have hastened to say, “I done told you once, you son of a bitch: I’m the best that’s ever been.”
It’s important to mention in this age of Internet bullying that I don’t think Dana DeArmond is possessed by the devil or that I think she should be. Still, her whole body seems to borrow a line from Father Karras and says “Come into me.”
If you haven’t seen “The Exorcist” yet, you should. Watch it on a rainy afternoon. Then you can watch DeArmond in “Praise the Load 6” (because it’s way better than “Exorcist II: The Heretic”).
Previously on Porn Valley Observed: You have to be limber in this business; Tim Von Swine—the last man working in porn; Sucking cocks in Hell—porn stars discuss horror movies
Gram Ponante is America's Beloved Porn Journalist
