CaptainHowdy.com The #1 Exorcist Fansite Since 1999
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Carpenter pretty clearly established Myers & Loomis died at the end of “Halloween II” and part III backed it up. I was not a fan of “Halloween IV” & while the later “H2O” was good, the whole point was that “Laurie” would finally kill myers off. Enter; “Ressurrection”. With Zombies’ “Halloween” one gets the distinct impression Myers is dead at the end. Is that the case? Ant sequels in the works.
“The Birds” is an immaculately directed, perfect film. I had friends oner one day and “Marnie” was playing quietly on the tube. Everyones eyes were drawn to it first for the beauty of star Tippi but soon they were captivated by the story. Not my favorite personally but the response from the group to an older pic they might not have ordinarily considered watching proves Hitchcock is The Master. “Frenzy” is grotesque & violent and twistedly funny. Probably the silent films he made in the 1920s are his least interesting but historians or completists may disagree.
A fantastic actor whether garotting prostitutes in de Palmas’ “Blow Out” or stammering;”b-b-b-but, Mary!” in “3rd Rock”. And who could forget his cross-dressing pics? I’d pay to see it.
I think “Exorcist II: The Heretic” is a terrible sequel but in terms of film-making is quite brilliant and fascinating. A reviewer named Pauline Kael decribed it as having enough movie magic for 12 movies and I tend to agree. People who love “The Exorcist” tend to hate “The Heretic” and it’s easy to see why. Blattys’ “The Exorcist III” is slightly flawed but it’s smart and scary and perfectly cast & expertly directed. I love them both. It’s that noisy, edited-in-a-blender “Exorcist: The Beginning” which should be vilified. I still can’t believe the studio shat all over Schraders’ “Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist” in favor of that twaddle.
Quite enjoyed “Dominion” and couldn’t agree more that Francis was annoying. Forgave many of the fx as my understanding was the studio bailed on the project at some stage of production and Schraders’ vision was never fully put on screen. I thought it was tasteful and respectful of the original and wondered if the shots of intrusive surgury or rotting baby were inserted by the studio. Not a fan of “The Beginning” although Harlin did manage to braethe some life into the climactic exorcism.
I think “The Heretic” is a complete zero by comparrison to “The Exorcist”, “The Ninth Configuration” (perfect films). It scores quite highly in technique and Boormans’ direction. Blattys’ “The Exorcist III” scores an 8 1/2 of 10 and is aging very well. “Dominion” is a 6 1/2 of 10 while the least interesting pic; “The Beginning” gets a 3.
“Exorcist III” sent heads spinning with a very respectable $20,000,000.00+ take on its’ opening weekend & while biz dropped off significantly afterwards, taking into account VHS and later DVD, overseas box office tv station rental, etc…it probably didn’t bomb.
“Exorcist II: The Heretic” suffers greatly for the studio mandated inclusion of the Merrin charactor neccessitating that time-travel lightbulb thingy. The entire project collapses around that one device.
Was listening to audio commentary on my fabulous new box set of “Space:1999” and mention was made of a connection thematically between “Exorcist II: The Heretic” and “Quatermass and the Pit” and having watched both since, “EII” does seem to borrow concepts on a scale that seems far from co-incidental. The locust motif, a thought-transferance thingy, possession by demonic grasshoppers, implosions and city-wide destruction featuring a giant grasshopper invading the city. Even the relationship between the 2 lead investigators in both films is similar. Any thoughts?
In the classic “The End of Eternity” of “Space:1999” a sexual-sadist invades “Moonbase: Alpha” with the intent of making them his toys. This tall, black-robed figure painted an image of a tortured man with nails driven into his head. Fairly rough stuff for 1975! On the commentary track there is some speculation as to whether a young brittish lad named Clive Barker may have been watching this ITC production. And whether this episode may have served as the springboard for the later “Hellraiser” charactor of pinhead.
Mineo was known about Hollywood as being gay & Kinderman knew his stuff when it came to Hollywood. Maybe it was a playful gay slur. Also John Garfield was an A-list headliner with his name high up on the marquee while Sal never was much of a star & is now remembered mostly for the unsavory manner of his death.
My fav is the Juliet Mills Italion rip-off “Beyond the Door”. There may have been litigation over its’ release given how much it ‘borrows’
There was always that allusion to the father and his split with Chris as being a psychological motivation for the child to be acting out as opposed to being truely possessed by a demonic entity. While the scene with Chris freaking out at the opperator sort of implies dysfuntion between her & her ex there is nothing I can recall from the film or novel to back that up. He was simply unreachable as Chris herself must have been, working as she did. The girl began to seriously act out at the party Chris held for her high powered friends and she continued to draw attention to herself throughout her possession. While there was clearly a demonic possession at work here, just as with “The Omen” the intension of the filmmakers was always to allow for doubt when it came to the supernatural elements.
