CaptainHowdy.com The #1 Exorcist Fansite Since 1999
- This topic has 12 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 16 years, 6 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
I’m old enough to remember just how badly “Exorcist II” flopped. It really was a scandal & even in the days before internet people were talking. My partner & I watched it on late night cable recently and his angry response to the pic surprised me. He was mad when he saw it years ago & after all this time it still pissed him off that it was even made. “A desecration”, he called it. Me, I’m used to it and more forgiving of its’ MANY flaws. It still deserves better as a film with that kind of pedigree. A lot of high profile failures of the era (Phantom of the Paradise, Blow Out, come to mind) have been dumped unceremoneously on the shelves despite a genuine interest from fans who collect or remember.
I’ve grown a nostalgic attachment to the film, I’m able to happily sit through it, admire Linda Blair and all her beauty and look past the flaws. That is, of course, when I choose to put it on…
The Exorcist II: The Heretic went through so many changes that John Boorman didn’t know whether to scratch his watch or wind his butt. Follow ups to the infamous original have all been miserable financial failures. The premise of The Exorcist II: The Heretic did piss a lot of folks off because it was a ripoff of the work that Friedkin and Blatty created. The four-year follow-up film was just plain stupid and had absolutely no relation to its original. It was just a money game much like all the Jaws follow up films.
I was fortunate enough to watch it on cable. Blair’s tap dancing and overacting was a dreadful centerpiece of that film. To put icing on the cake is the stupid blinking light hypnosis contraption made of tin foil and two light bulbs. Blair and Fletcher looked like they were ready for the electric chair with those cheap devices strapped to their heads. At one point, I was praying the locust swarm would eat the cast.
WB, and now Morgan Creek, have been cashing in on the first film since its debut … without luck. However, The Exorcist II: The Heretic is not a top ten flop in terms of financial losses:
These are!
Thanks, Cap. I’m surprised that Ishtar, Heaven’s Gate, and Water World didn’t make the list. I’m guessing they didn’t do a date adjusted cost analysis.
Hi, FatherB, was wondering if “Exorcist III” really was such a miserable financial failure. I remember it opening strong at #1 with a headline reading “Exorcist III sends heads spinning at the box office” and while business dropped more than 50% during week 2 of its’ release, it must have made 25 mil in 14 days. As great looking a movie as “EIII” was, it never struck me as being a hugely budgeted production & so I’m thinking it was moderately successful even without taking into account video & dvd sales & overseas revenue. Probably tho’, it did not perform up to studio expectations.
Friends,
I’ve always struggled with this film. I hate it, but I do sometimes wonder would it be alright if it were not “Exorcist”-themed? As in, just another horror film. Also, compared to the prequels, I am not sure which is the worst. I really don’t. I suppose this one, but I still watch this from time to time. I must like pain… lol
Cheers & God Bless
Benjamin Szumskyj
Editor, AMERICAN EXORCISTBenjamin,
As you might have guessed from my user name, I am a Heretic fan. I think divorcing it from the Dominion – Exorcist – Legion “continuity” might make it more acceptable to hardcore fans in retrospect, and would allow for “sequels” of sorts based on the loony Teilhardian metaphysics of evil attacking psychic ‘saints’, and a world telepathic convergence.
No matter what though, whether you bill it as part of the Exorcist franchise or not, Heretic will never be “just another horror film.” It’s too original and different for that. Exorcist the Beginning is “just another horror film,” to me.
Personally, I don’t care, and can enjoy the film on its own without worrying about its place in the franchise.
Aside from the obvious flaws that are in this film, and the list is endless, it does touch upon something I have been hearing about in the last couple of years called, “remote viewing”.It also seems to be a pre-cursor to the film that the late Natalie Wood was working on when she died called, “Brainstorm” in 1981.It’s probably no coincidence that Louise Fletcher also starred in that particular film as a doctor promoting a device in which a person could explore someone else’s dreams.
BadLocust77,
You should write an article on the film. You seem passionate about it and I think it would be a most interesting read…
Cheers & God Bless
Benjamin Szumskyj
Editor, AMERICAN EXORCIST
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.