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Well Blatty didn’t exactly get “His” Film to the Screen the way he intended, Morgan Creek Wanted Reshoots, additional creepy and Scary Scenes, an Exorcism, and of course “Exorcist 3” as the title.
I think Blatty finally deciding to direct the film himself – despite what anyone may have read anywhere – was a last resort decision. Had he found the right director I think he would have happily placed the film under their guidance; which is exactly what happened with The Exorcist. He fought tooth and nail to ensure Friedkin directed.
*Sigh* If only Friedkin were keen on Exorcist III at the time.
It’s unfortunate that any film coming after The Exorcist that shares its name will always pale in comparison. No matter how hard any filmmaker, writer or studio tries – The Exorcist will always remain a one-of-kind that is unmatchable. They struck a chord in 1972/3 while filming The Exorcist that could never be taught. Things just ‘clicked’ and the result was the greatest horror film of all time.
All the others are just blue-print attempts that never really re-capture that magic.
JAWS is another good example of this when looking and the masterpiece that is the original, and then the sequels which followed.
It can’t be explained – universally, the timing of release, the social status at the time, youth, government, etc (society in general) WILL know when they have a classic film on their hands – no one can plan for that.
Yeah, it would have been nice to have the Blatty-Friedkin duo again on Ex3 Legion. Friedkin could have refined and expanded his terrifying techniques for E3 Legion. He could have made it an extremely jarring film, trimmed away the show-stopping grotesqueries, and made it a truly worthy sequel to the first movie. Sure, as you say, the original film is unmatchable, but with Blatty-Friedkin at the helm of E3 Legion, an at least comparable film could have been made.
Do you recall the specifics re: why Friedkin wasn’t keen to work on E3 Legion? Did he think that he had exhausted his horror armamentarium on The Exorcist…?
We can only assume he may have realized it was only ever going to be a studio-driven money making attempt. Never ‘art’.
Blatty had originally asked John Carpenter to direct it, in which Carpenter at first was interested, but later turned it down.
James Robinson Reminds me of the Infamous Producer’s of Highlander, Peter Davis and Bill Panzer, Theve run that franchise into the ground, I Loved the original Highlander movie and Liked the tv series very much, but they ruind the sequels and especially the lates movie, HIGHLANDER:THE SOURCE, they havent had a so called official release of it yet, they say they are still “Re-Editing” the movie to please Lionsgate Films.
But for some unkown reason it got an Official DVD release in Russia last month, it’s the Producers original cut they submitid to Liosngate in October.
Highlander Fans started ordering it from Russia, I was one of them of course.
Most of whos seen it are very dissapointed if not apalled by it.
I feel the same about it as I do ETB, Many agree it’s the Last Nail into the coffin of an already dead franchise.
James Robinson must bee Very good Friends with those producers.As long as there’s no TV series (though a mini-series I could live with; and one directed and/or written by Blatty, I could ENJOY living with!).
A weekly TV series would be the final nail, in my opinion. As a sequel, that might work; but I’m betting a weekly would instead be essentially a remake of the film — set in the modern day (because set in the 1970s would require too much thought) — with Kinderman and Karras investigating and fist-fighting the supernatural. Think GHOSTBUSTERS, but with an ex-boxer and aging police detective. Oh yeah, and demonic possession would be but one reality for our two heroes; ghosts, goblins, and aliens would appear as well. Oh yeah, and it’d still be called “THE EXORCIST”, despite the exorcist never even appearing until the unfilmed, final episode (whenever that is or would have been — you see, it’d get canceled well in advance of such). I dunno… just speculating.
M.I.K.E.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the Legion film – including the much-booed Morning and exorcism scenes. I even liked Miss Clelia’s ceiling-walk.
But the film is much different in tone from the Legion novel- not to mention the original Exorcist novel and film.
The Legion novel’s tone, like The Exorcist, is ultra-serious and sombre. Friedkin’s direction of the original film reflected this gritty, suspenseful grimness and constant sense of dread. Humor appears but rarely, and always in its proper place. The look and feel is stark, documentary, and the opposite of surreal and “winking” at the audience.
Not so Blatty’s direction of Legion. Even deleting the Morgan Creek tack-on Morning character and exorcism, Blatty’s version still fails in too many of the areas in which Friedkin’s film succeeds.
Far from a documentary feel, Legion immediately gives us a “what the hell?” dreamlike world, putatively from the dead Karras’ POV. Pathetic mental patients and wandering street people become objects of menace rather than compassion (compare the marginalized folks in Legion to the “old altar boy” in The Exorcist). They also are used as stock-schlock horror cliche throw-away props.
Compare Legion’s flakey oddball characters like the head nurse and Dr Temple to the dead-serious and realistic medical people in The Exorcist. Even Temple in the Legion novel is _not_ the nutcase he becomes in the film. He’s intense, know-it-all, and nasty, but he doesn’t collect old science articles, chain-smoke and then obsessive-compulsively grind out cigarettes, and have occult/porn images on his office walls.
Compare the “doesn’t miss a clue” Kinderman from the first novel and film with GC Scott’s Kinderman – who waits for an elevator directly next to a decapitated Christ statue – and misses this huge clue. Note the strained hospital dialogue between Kinderman and Dyer – the “brother Eddy” stuff is embarrassing to the point of obnoxiouness. Mother India is calling you, indeed.
Also contrast the obvious sweetness of Lee J Cobb’s Kinderman with Scott’s gruff, short-tempered, and insulting Kinderman (“Go home – go home and talk about Wops”). In my view there is no excuse for Scott’s Kinderman – even in the Legion novel, he is still the loveable, suffering soul that he was in the original novel. But the screenplay, combined with Scott’s Pattonesque reading, creates a largely unsympathetic, grating character.
The Legion film is also too packed with esoteric in-jokes which don’t resonate with general audiences: references to Billy Burke, Phil Rizzuto (sp?), and to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh are far too cutesy and make it look like it is Blatty, not Kinderman, who is “padding the job”.
With all the elements of true horror in the novel – a crucified, mutilated child, a decapitated priest, a desanguinated Dyer, a resurrected Karras, Blatty had a bountiful palette from which to create a truly shocking film with the documentary feel of the original iconic masterpiece. Why he missed all these cues – failed to take full advantage of his own excellent novelistic ideas and characters – continues to baffle me.
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