A Head Full of Ghosts

When Dr. Navidson arrives, Father Wanderly leads everyone in prayer, Mom and Merry silently joining hands with the men. As they talk with her, Marjorie is smug and identifies Father Wanderly’s deviations from exorcism protocols dictated by the church. Among them is the Vatican’s mandate that no media be present during an exorcism’s performance. Marjorie acknowledges the money to be made off what they are presently recording, and the appetite for it among the Discovery Channel’s audience. She gives a name, which they take to be that of a demon, and quotes from the text of the rite of exorcism in Father Wanderly’s hands.

Dr. Navidson asks where she learned the information she is sharing, and suggests restricting her access to the Internet against Mom’s objection. Marjorie begins trying to provoke responses from the people in the room, making references to the epidemic of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, and laughs and mocks the naiveté of her parents, Dr. Navidson, and Father Wanderly. She speaks in different voices, switching to that of a helpless innocent when pleading for help. She reveals myriad injuries on her stomach, taunting Father Wanderly about the efficacy of previous exorcisms he performed.