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I watched Exorcist II: The Heretic again, and in truth, it still gave me a few chills….but this was a truly flawed movie.
It started out with an interesting enough premise, even adding a little science fiction to the supernatural horror. Being a sci-fi nerd, that much I didn't really mind.Some of the dialogue desperately needed rewritten, and it's really sad that Linda Blair didn't have the nurturing guidance of a good director like William Friedkin, or the “take you under my wing” motherly approach of Ellen Burstyn. She was really kinda left to her own devices and it rreally showed the downward turn it took in her acting.  I really love Linda Blair, and I wished she had been done better by this movie.
The story took a really silly turn in the last half hour of the movie, and I think that is what really crushed it. Up to that point, the movie is actually okay, and then it just nosedives. Whilst Linda Blair was extremely hot and beautiful in this movie, I don't think the sexy demon Regan was a good idea.  It was a little cheesecake from hell.
Ennio Moricone's music is the big highlight of this film. Regan's Theme is so beautiful and evocative. And the rock theme (which I don't think was a Morricone composition) that underscored the theatrical trailer (and was also a part of the end titles for the television cut of the movie) was sorely missed by me in the DVD version.
No one sets out to intentionally make a bad movie. (I think John Boorman really acquitted himself with “Excalibur”). But this is the stuff that makes fanboys/girls utter the question: “How could certain actors justify any faith or belief in this project?”  I ask that question myself, but I'm not a movie analyst.
Max Von Sydow, so distinguished in the previous film, tried to bring a dignity to his reprised role in The Heretic, but you could see he was constrained by the writing of the film.
Kitty Winn's presence in this film, while certainly appreciated by this viewer, was also diminished by the writing.  I thought she had a much better role in the original film. Her presence, regardless, was a nice way to maintain continuity, just like Linda's and Max's.
Aside from the film stock, certain other things truly date this movie. Elements like Richard Burton looking straight into the camera to finish a line of dialogue…that was kind of a bomb out for me.
Overall, I don't mind watching this movie.  It's fun if not taken seriously, but you can also see how it was really a cheap cash in on the superior first film.
LOL! Also, although I don't recall what her job was in the production of the film, there was a film crew member named Carrie White.  Suddenly I started thinking of the Stephen King novel, and the movie with Sissy Spacek. (Now there was another movie that freaked me out as a child.)
Steve,
All good points. I can't sit through the film because it bores me to death. The tin foil lightbulb time transporter thing drives me nuts even though it's in a setting in which it could (not should) occur. All of the actors are great and I can only imagine they were all pissed when they saw the final production. Blair did have a difficult time just for the reasons you gave. Plus, the script was an ever-evolving mess. In the entire franchise, I would venture to say this one is on a level playing field with the disastrous prequels.
Father Bowdern
Thanks, Fr. Bowdern. 🙂
I think the only reason the prequels were disasterous was because of creative differences. Morgan Creek wanted to create a movie that would cater to a less attentive crowd…more blood and guts, and gore.  They didn't like Paul Schraeder's more cerebral take on the film, canned him, brought in Renny Harlin, and created the movie I described above.
I personally enjoyed Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist. It was fairly chilling, although obviously incomplete in post-production. You can definitely tell in the visual effects. The movie's story was completed, but the post production went to hell in a handbasket. At that point, you can see where Schraeder's hands were tied.
I thought Stellan Skarsgaard did a good job in portraying Fr. Merrin. And it was an interesting take on the demon that possessed the crippled boy. 🙂
I paid to see Harlin's version and was disgusted at the writing and pacing along with the sickening special effects that made no sense. The hyenas ripping the little boy apart via the worst CGI on earth added … (oh, never mind, it was supposed to add, uh, nothing). No one could have saved either version. Morgan Creek knows they burned the franchise out by releasing both of these turkeys. Of course, The Exorcist: The End is probably next in order to close the loop. Who knows what that script will entail … maybe bring back Blair and Burstyn for another encore exorcism with Weird Al Yankovic playing the part of the exorcist?
Father Bowdern
LOL!  Weird Al as an exorcist.  Yikes!
I'm glad I didn't pay to see Exorcist: The Beginning in theaters. I was happy to be able to get it as part of the Exorcist Anthology that came out on DVD, since I am sort of a completist. I'll have to revisit that movie, and A/B it with Dominion.Â
Even the therapy room in Heretic was sort of “sci-fi-ish” with the automatic sliding glass doors, moving aside as if one were in a starship. (I know, supermarket doors do that too, but the way it was presented in Heretic was stylized.) 🙂
Steve Dunlap said:
Even the therapy room in Heretic was sort of “sci-fi-ish” with the automatic sliding glass doors, moving aside as if one were in a starship. (I know, supermarket doors do that too, but the way it was presented in Heretic was stylized.) 🙂
I really liked the therapy room. I thought it was neater looking than any doctor's office I ever saw in real life. I also liked Regan and Sharon's apartment because all of the walls and floors looked like mirrors kind of.
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