Thursday 19 March 2020

EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC (1977)

EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC (1977)

In 1973 director William Friedkin shocked the world with THE EXORCIST. Four years later, John Boorman had the same effect but for all the wrong reasons.
EXORCIST II is even worse on a re-view than back in the 80s. The script is sparse and ultra-dumb, and is a total waste of the talents of Louise Fletcher, Ennio Morricone and Richard Burton, who to his credit gives his clunky-as-a-bag-of-spanners dialogue every ounce of the gravitas of which it's not worthy. Linda Blair also must have wondered if 'better the devil you know' was a viable teenage career move.
The editing is suspiciously abrupt at times, giving credibility to the story that Boorman tried at least three attempts to re-edit the ending after one of the worst premieres in movie history. (According to Friedkin, this showing was received with such legendary bad grace that an audience member got up at the end and shouted to the crowd: "The people who made this piece of shit are IN THIS ROOM!!"

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