You might be wondering why I'm not looking into The Exorcist II before getting to III. It can be summed up in this excerpt from the Wikipedia article for the film under the "Critical Reception" section: "Reports indicated that the film inspired derisive audience laughter at its premiere in New York City. William Peter Blatty claimed to have been the first person to start laughing at the theater in which he saw the film, only to be followed by the other patrons ("You'd think we were watching The Producers"). William Friedkin, director of The Exorcist, recalled hearing a story in which angry audience members at Exorcist II's first public performance began chasing Warner Bros. executives down the street within the first ten minutes of the screening. Friedkin saw half an hour of the film: "I was at Technicolor and a guy said 'We just finished a print of Exorcist II, do you wanna have a look at it?' And I looked at half an hour of it and I thought it was as bad as seeing a traffic accident in the street. It was horrible. It's just a stupid mess made by a dumb guy – John Boorman by name, somebody who should be nameless, but in this case should be named. Scurrilous. A horrible picture". Friedkin later said that this sequel diminished the value of the original and called it "the worst piece of crap I've ever seen" and "a freaking disgrace." The film was also so bad they took it out of theatres. I haven't seen the film in its entirety, only a review that tried it's best to summarize the plot which is completely nonsensical from start to finish.
Now that we've got that out of the way, let's talk about the real Exorcist II, Exorcist III. Based on original author William Peter Beatty's spinoff "Legion," he took the directoral reins to assure that it wouldn't be another colossal fuckup like the first sequel. The protagonist this time is that of Lieutenant Kinderman (George C. Scott), the police officer who was investigating the Regan possession in the first film and was friends with Father Karras before he died in the first movie. When a murderer begins killing with the M.O. of the "Gemini Killer," a serial killer who was executed 15 years ago, he goes to the Georgetown psychiatric unit where the head nurse says a patient who has been catatonic for 15 years has awoken and claims to be the Gemini Killer. Going to interrogate him, the Gemini Killer, who shifts from the killer to Father Karras, explains that he is being aided by a "Master" who was furious at being exorcised by Karras, and is exacting its revenge by using Karras' body as a conduit for the Gemini Killer to continue his killing spree. Each evening, the soul of the Gemini leaves the body of Karras and possesses the other patients elsewhere in the hospital, using them to commit the murders. At the last minute saving his daughter from a possessed patient, he goes to the cell where a botched exorcism has taken place, and in a supernatural struggle, gets his gun and kills Father Karras, who gets a proper burial.
This was George C. Scott last great film role, essentially retiring afterword before passing away from a heart attack in 1999. He was a titan of the screen, and as always has an authoritative and commanding screen presence. He conveys through just facial tics (i.e. bulging forehead veins) that he is working with a bunch of idiots, and tried to hide an overwhelming feeling that he is dealing with elements far out of his depth. Although Brad Dourif comes out of nowhere to try and steal the show with psychotic monologues that leave you entranced by the energy he is giving (check poster above), Scott is carrying the show on his shoulders (although Fabio, Patrick Ewing, and Samuel L. Jackson make appearances as angels in a hallucinatory dream sequence.)
The film is not scary in the traditional sense, except for one extremely startling jump scare (nurses are doing routine work when someone in a white sheet comes out of nowhere with garden shears to chop her head off; check poster above). The suggestive nature of violence makes it meditative, but more than anything, unsettling. There is a scene where a priest is giving confession and an old lady, completely in the pitch black dark, is describing heinous crimes in a scraggly voice. There's no blood, no violence, no music, nothing to beef it up, but it is extremely creepy nonetheless. The Gemini Killer describing his crimes is unnerving as well, especially because although he is sometimes screaming with distorted audio, the matter of factness of his descriptions get under your skin. It is also the richest film in the franchise in terms of visuals, with a scared Jesus on a crucifix standing out memorably. It has amazing cinematography to boot, with harsh shadows in the isolation cell where most of the film takes place, and a heavy fog over the proceedings. The plot is slightly convoluted, with the connection between Father Karras and The Gemini Killer coming off as a bit vague in how it works, and the climax includes a forced exorcism at the studios insistence (Can't have an Exorcist movie without an Exorcism, duh!). As it was all at the studio's behest in forcing Blatty to do it, I can't blame the author. But none of it takes away from a great supernatural horror film that serves as a great companion piece to the first.
Rating:
The Exorcist II: No Stars
The Exorcist III: ***1/2 out of 4
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