Exorcist II: The Heretic (A smudged masterpiece!)

Is there anyone out there who's a fan of "Exorcist II: The Heretic"? I'm going to go out on a limb and say that "The Heretic" is probably my favorite horror film of all time! I know that the original "The Exorcist" is the acknowledged all-time classic, but I actually like this first sequel a little bit more. It stars Linda Blair as the now-teenaged Regan McNeil and Richard Burton as Father Philip Lamont, a friend and disciple of Max von Sydow's Father Lankester Merrin. It was released in the summer of 1977 (at around the same time as "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope," in fact!), and was directed by John Boorman, the man responsible for "Point Blank," "Deliverance," "Excalibur," "The Emerald Forest," "Hope and Glory," and "The General," among others.
I think "Exorcist II: The Heretic" is a terribly underrated film, and when it came out it was disastrously received by critics and audiences alike. Audiences coming to see it were probably primed and pumped up for something that would be even more horrific and grotesque than William Friedkin's 1973 original, and they felt thwarted and cheated when it didn't really live up to their expectations. In terms of acting and storytelling, the original "Exorcist" is far superior, I'll be the first to admit. But I just find "The Heretic" so much more fascinating in terms of its...well, for lack of a better descriptive, its metaphysical trippiness, and just on a purely visual level. Yeah, it's a weird, misshapen oddity of a film, and I understand totally why most people don't connect with it, but that doesn't mean it doesn't deserve another look or an attempt at re-evaluation of the virtues it does possess. Warts and all, it's still my favorite horror film of all time! I suppose "smudged masterpiece" would be a fair assessment of "The Heretic."
BTW, I have a really fascinating book called "The Making of Exorcist II: The Heretic" by Barbara Pallenberg. (She was the wife of creative consultant Rospo Pallenberg. Rospo also collaborated with director John Boorman on the screenplays for "Excalibur" and "The Emerald Forest.") This "Making Of" book goes into rather withering detail about the many trials, tribulations, and real-life horrors that went into the making of "The Heretic." After reading this book, I think that it's no small miracle that the film has any kind of flow or cohesion to it at all! Not surprisingly, the book is out of print. (I got it at a used bookstore.) Also out of print, unfortunately, is "John Boorman," a book about the director and his films written by French critic Michel Ciment (who also did a really good book about Stanley Kubrick). It's from 1986, so it's pretty dated, but it contains very detailed analyses of all Boorman's work up to and including "The Emerald Forest"! More recently, Boorman published an autobiographical memoir entitled "Adventures of a Suburban Boy," which is also a fascinating read and contains some wonderful and amusing anecdotes from his many years in "the biz"!

 

I think Exorcist III should have gotten more praise.

But I didn't like Heretic.

 

As far as William Peter Blatty's "Exorcist III" is concerned, I thought it was good, but it could have been so much better if Blatty had been allowed to make a more faithful adaptation of his 1983 novel "Legion," on which it's based. The studio insisted that Blatty film an exorcism scene for the climax, so he cast Nicol Williamson (Merlin, of course, from Boorman's "Excalibur"--small world!) in the role of Father Morning and had his character perform an exorcism on Damien Karras (Jason Miller) in his cell in the Disturbed Ward of Georgetown Hospital where much of the film is set. It doesn't completely wreck the movie, but it does feel tonally out of sync with everything that came before. If Blatty had been allowed to make "Legion" instead of "The Exorcist III," he probably would have made a cinematic masterpiece equal to his own "The Ninth Configuration" from 1979.

 

Ive heard that there was a cult following to the film but Ive never actually met anyone who liked it until now. That said I agree with you on the films behind the scenes pedigree and can definetely see why it would be appreciated on a cult level but I really thought it was just a bad movie. Boorman movies are really hit and miss like that and different for everybody as far as interpretation. He was obviously tripping on something during the entire shoot of Heretic and probably the rest of the cast and crew if Im a judge of such things. Maybe thats why I didnt like it - a lack of acid or mescaline at the time of viewing. Your definetely entitled to your opinion and its made me want to watch it again ( I havent seen the film in years ). Getting released at the same time as SW could definetely have had something to do with its negative reception. The world pretty much stopped for a good six months when SW was released and Lucas was right over the past weekend - were probably never going to have a theater experience like SW, E.T., or Titan