Running Time: 117 Minutes
Certification: 18
Starring: Linda Blair, Richard Burton, Louise Fletcher, Max von Sydow, Kitty Winn, Paul Henreid, James Earl Jones
Released in 1973, The Exorcist was a milestone horror film which overcame production mishaps and much controversy to become a smash hit. Between the box office takings and numerous Academy Award nominations, the film was a success, which made it only natural for Warner Bros to follow it up with a sequel. Although, nobody could have expected for Exorcist II: The Heretic to be surrounded by such intensely negative reactions.
Four years after the events of the first film, Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) appears to be living a life of normality. She remembers nothing about the exorcism which saved her life, but her therapist Dr. Tuskin (Louise Fletcher) believes those memories are repressed and waiting to be unlocked. Meanwhile, Father Philip Lamont (Richard Burton) is struggling to move forward after a failed exorcism left his faith shaken. He is tasked by the Vatican to investigate Father Merrin (Max von Sydow), who faces posthumous charges of heresy. Father Lamont's investigation leads him to Reagan, with the pair drawn into a spiritual battle that encircles the globe.
Due to ongoing lawsuits, there was no desire to return from the original film's screenwriter, William Peter Blatty (who adapted his own novel), or director William Friedkin. Without the original film's driving forces, the sequel's direction would be guided by writer William Goodhart and director John Boorman. The latter addition was surprising due to the Deliverance and Zardoz director's dislike for The Exorcist, with Boorman reportedly turning down directing it due to finding the story "rather repulsive."
As such, this sequel offers Boorman the chance to guide the story in a preferential direction, but such hopes feel diminished by the direction the story takes. While the original film was a compelling look at two priests fighting satanic forces, all in the name of saving a young girl's soul, this sequel is a baffling work with little rhyme or reason as to what happens. It is possible that this is due to reports that, while on-set, Boorman and Rospo Pallenberg rewrote Goodhart's script multiple times, yet that does not excuse the film's biggest sin of being boring.
There is an interesting idea central to this film, as Reagan must grapple with her trauma from her time possessed by Pazuzu. The way it is approached, through psychic abilities and a machine that creates a technological mind-meld, feels vastly out of place. If it was revealed that the original script was unrelated to the first film, only to be retooled into an Exorcist sequel, that would feel plausible.
As Father Lamont and Dr. Tuskin have differing ideas regarding Reagan's psychic abilities, there is potential for these opposing figures to mirror a clash of ideologies between faith and science. However, such ideas feel underutilized in favour of a truly bizarre approach that leaves you with more questions. Why is there so much about locusts? Who believed that the teenager playing a sixteen-year-old should portray a seducer in the third-act? The mind boggles with how little actually works.
Shining brightest amidst this work is Ennio Morricone's score, eclipsing the film in a way that only such a master of scoring could do. Yet, that can only go so far with a work whose reputation precedes it like Exorcist II: The Heretic. However, if you are to seek this film out, this Arrow Video release is the version work watching, whether you are an Exorcist completionist, or just curious about this baffling sequel.
Exorcist II: The Heretic is now available on Blu-Ray from Arrow Video
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