Also, treating possession as analogous to puberty creates some new possible interpretations.
I have to admit, at the time I read it, this thought didn't even occur to me despite puberty being something I was not much removed from, if out of it yet (I was 18 at the time.) The treatment isn't much different from BtVS and the "high school is hell" metaphor. Not surprising others might find teenagers freakish when that's how we felt ourselves at the time.
I also read it for the first time at 18. It was just this time that it hit me that Regan was around the age of puberty.
I think part of the reason the book isn't work as well as horror (at least for me) is that most of the horrifying events take place offstage. Leaving us emphasizing other people's reactions to events instead of the events themselves.
Kodi Smit-McPhee has been cast as the young Logan in the Wolverine movie AND as the son in the movie of The Road.
It was just this time that it hit me that Regan was around the age of puberty.
Yeah, when I read it (and saw the movie) as a teenager, I was all about how Regan was a pubescent girl, because most documented poltergeist cases involve an adolescent girl (I was a bit into parapsychology). But I TOTALLY MISSED the puberty = possession metaphor.
(Yes, I got the metaphor in
Teen Wolf.
)
sequel post:
from sumi's link, this comment about The Road movie cracked me up:
I'm way excited for this. I loved Children of Men, but wished it wasn't so damned cheery. This oughta do the trick.
Heh.
Also, apparently Cloverfield sequel will probably happen. Set it outside the US. Go on. You know you want to.
I thought the sequel was basically going to be the same events, but from the POV of another group of characters.
OMG. That's awesome. And I saw the Hellboy II trailer today, which made me feel a HUGE need to actually go back and watch the first Hellboy movie (I "saw" it, but there was a girl involved. Memory = slim).
See this Making Light post for suggestions on what to name the second Hobbit movie:
[link]