Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) Warner Bros./Horror RT: 117 minutes Rated R (some language and violence, disturbing images, brief nudity, suggestive material) Director: John Boorman Screenplay: William Goodhart Music: Ennio Morricone Cinematography: William A. Fraker Release date: June 17, 1977 (US) Cast: Linda Blair, Richard Burton, Louise Fletcher, Max von Sydow, Kitty Winn, Paul Henreid, James Earl Jones, Ned Beatty, Belinha Beatty, Rose Portillo, Barbara Cason, Hank Garrett, Richard Paul, Shane Butterworth, Joely Adams, Dana Plato (uncredited). Box Office: $30.7 million (US)
Rating: ***
Not only is Exorcist II: The Heretic regarded as the worst sequel of all time, it’s regarded as one of the worst movies of all time. Audiences scared by the first movie laughed derisively at it. Some actually threw stuff at the screen when it was over. Reportedly, Warner Bros. execs were chased down the street by angry theater patrons ten minutes into its first public screening (not sure if this is actually true). Director John Boorman (Excalibur) pulled it and recut it not once but twice to no avail. If anything, he made it worse. It wasn’t the sequel the public wanted and they made their feelings clear in no uncertain terms. While it ultimately turned a small profit, it wasn’t a blockbuster hit like its predecessor.
I’ll make it simple. I like Exorcist II: The Heretic. Now let me qualify that statement. There are two version of it floating around. I like the longer 117-minute cut NOT the shorter 104-minute version. For some reason, that extra 13 minutes makes all the difference.
That being said, I’ll now tell you about my conflicting feelings for Exorcist II: The Heretic. Part of me thinks it’s absolutely brilliant. I like that Boorman chooses NOT to take the sequel in the expected direction with Linda Blair’s character getting repossessed and having to undergo another exorcism. Instead, he takes the story in a more cerebral direction by explaining why the demon Pazuzu chose to possess Regan. The reason is uncovered during an investigation into the death of Father Merrin. Boorman’s approach to the sequel is certainly original and even intelligent.
HOWEVER, I cannot deny that Exorcist II: The Heretic is, at the same time, a bad movie. At times, it’s laughably bad. Richard Burton (Cleopatra) turns in an especially hammy performance as Father Philip Lamont, the priest tasked by the Vatican to look into the circumstances surrounding Merrin’s death while performing Regan’s exorcism. He gets such choice lines as “Evil is a spiritual being, alive and living, perverted and perverting, weaving its way insidiously into the very fabric of life.” This is just one example of this movie’s atrocious dialogue.
Exorcist II: The Heretic frequently veers into the realm of the ludicrous by introducing such plot elements as a machine (a “synchronizer”) that allows one user to examine the dreams of another by synchronizing their brainwaves. This is achieved through hypnosis by a flashing strobe light. Then there’s this badly choreographed tap dance sequence that’s already a disaster before Pazuzu decides to get into the act. At times (many times, actually), Exorcist II: The Heretic qualifies as an unintentional comedy. I LOVE it’s brilliant and bad at the same time.
Set four years after the events of The Exorcist, Regan is a seemingly normal 16 YO girl; that is, normal for somebody who was once possessed by a demon. She lives in a luxurious New York apartment with her legal guardian Sharon (Winn, reprising her role from the first movie). She continues to be monitored by a psychiatrist, Dr. Gene Tuskin (Fletcher, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), at an institute for troubled kids.
When Lamont asks to speak with Regan, Tuskin doesn’t allow it as dredging up repressed memories (or so Regan claims) won’t do her patient any good. However, she does allow him to synch with her on the device which results in the memories and Pazuzu coming back. Lamont has to find a way to defeat the demon once and for all. To do that, he needs to travel to Africa to speak with Kokumo (Jones, Conan the Barbarian), a locust expert who was possessed by Pazuzu as a child. He’s the one that Merrin exorcised in the past. While Lamont searches for Kokumo, Regan starts behaving strangely again only this time without the obscenities, crucifix-defiling, head-spinning and pea soup-spewing.
Now for the $64,000 question; do I tell you why Pazuzu possessed (and continues to plague) Regan? Okay, sure, why not? Here it comes, MAJOR SPOILER ALERT!!! Regan has the power to psychically heal people. In one scene, she helps an autistic girl (Plato, Diff’rent Strokes) speak. Kokumo is similarly gifted. As a child, he helped rid his village of a plague of locusts.
Locusts play a big role in Exorcist II: The Heretic. This will take some explaining. Lamont discovers that Merrin belonged to a secret theological society that believes psychic powers are a gift from God and will one day be shared by all people. This notion of universal thought is similar to a locust swarm. When their wings brush against each other, they become agitated and destructive. However, there’s always a “good locust” capable of calming down the entire swarm. Regan is a “good locust”. Pazuzu often manifests himself as a giant locust which explains why Lamont says he flew someplace once before “on the wings of a demon”. The idea of Regan being a healer is brilliant; the whole bit about locusts is somewhere between smart and silly.
The acting in Exorcist II: The Heretic is heinous. I’ve already mentioned Burton’s overacting; it’s a highlight. Blair, looking older and chubbier, was in the midst of drug addiction when she made this movie. She does fine until the movie’s climax when the script calls for her to play “good Regan” and “bad Regan”, a slutty temptress who tries to win Lamont over to the dark side. This scene takes place in the Georgetown house where Regan lived at the time of her original demonic affliction. It also features a huge swarm of locusts descending on Washington DC. Her portrayal of “bad Regan” is like a cartoon floozy albeit an R-rated one. Fletcher manages to retain her dignity in the face of all the theological silliness. Max von Sydow reprises his role as Father Merrin in a few flashback sequences in case you’re wondering how they brought him back.
The scenes in Africa look like they were shot on a studio backlot which they actually were since they couldn’t afford to shoot Exorcist II: The Heretic on location. The makers couldn’t even get permission to film in the original Georgetown house or on the infamous steps. The movie has a cheap look to it. The special effects are shoddy. There’s not much to say about the demonic makeup since Blair refused to wear it this time. The screenplay is a mess of good and dumb ideas. The movie’s one shining element is Ennio Morricone’s score. It augments the tone of the movie. It’s a moody piece and decidedly not for everybody. It’s not the least bit scary.
Exorcist II: The Heretic is a very underrated movie. I get why most people hate it. I did at first but then I saw the longer cut and it all started to make sense. It’s just one of those movies that either you get or you don’t.
SPECIAL NOTE: The first time I saw Exorcist II: The Heretic, it was as a late movie (shown after the 11pm news) on one of the regular channels in a less than two-hour time slot (summer 1983). It was chopped to hell, had a ton of commercials and made no sense. Of course I hated it on my first viewing.
