Exorcist 2: The Heretic
In the ongoing discussion of horror sequels, it often seems that the best strategy is to take the story and (any recurring) characters in a new direction while still retaining the SPIRIT of the original, but what if the decision was made at the creative level not just to use a different story, but to completely change the style and tone that had made the original so legendary? That is what appears to be the case here with this 1977 follow up to the Hall Of Fame Horror Movie, The Exorcist, a Best Picture nominee that worked beautifully thanks to its slow build leading up to its slam bang highlights imbued with the overtones of how true Christian faith can overcome pure evil whereas the sequel opted to take a more esoteric, cerebral approach, possibly going for something a bit more poetic in nature but just completely failing in such utterly miserable fashion that the preview and premiere screenings saw such sights as the audience literally chasing the producers down the street while demanding their money back, garbage being liberally thrown at the screen as the credits rolled, and loudly audible peals of laughter heard coming from audiences at even the most high end venues where it played. Nonetheless, the studio very much wanted to get this film made, and they were willing to do almost anything to finally get it rolling. First off, they brought in original writer and director William Peter Blatty and William Friedkin to see what they could possibly come up with, and after a couple of months, they both declared that not a thing could come to mind at the moment (although Blatty would later write the novel Legion which became the basis for his directorial effort, Exorcist 3). Then renowned writer William Goodhart was commissioned to come up with his own script and story that so impressed Linda Blair (who at that point had turned down any and all overtures to reprise her signature role) that she finally signed on as the first returning cast member, but Blair would later claim that the script would then go through so many extensive rewrites that it wound up destroying the fabric of the story that she had agreed to be a part of, but alas, since she had already signed on, there was now no backing out. Those rewrites were pretty much a result of the director that was brought aboard in the form of John Boorman (still riding high on the crest of the wave that was his own Best Picture Nominee, Deliverance) who decided to combine Goodhart’s ideas with that of his own in less than spectacular fashion. Other returning stars included Max Von Sydow’s Father Merrin (who had DIED in the first film), reduced here to flashbacks (where Von Sydow merely removes his old age makeup to play young Merrin, a concept later used for the fourth movies), and as kind of a pseudo ghost / guide figure for the living characters, along with Kitty Winn as the nanny Sharon, being given here almost a creepy, overprotective shade when it comes to Blair’s Regan (and also being her de facto guardian now since Ellen Burstyn had declined to come back to play her mother, with the character being written off as said to be off working on another movie). The newcomers here include Ned Beatty in a nothing supporting role, James Earl Jones on the crest of becoming a true household name after voicing Darth Vader in Star Wars, Louise Fletcher stiff as a board and making a fool of herself as a new age child psychiatrist, and best of all (or worst), Richard Burton (one of the true premier actors of the 20th Century who was also prone to doing some quick paycheck roles, as he publically ADMITTED to doing so here) as the “new” exorcist character, a former student of Merrin’s assigned to investigate the events of the first movie (never a good idea for a sequel storyline) due to Merrin’s reputation having been dragged through the mud since his death, but the real fun is in watching Burton in any given scene and wondering whether or not he was either drunk, sober, or just hung over during that particular shooting day. The film starts off rather disturbingly, with Burton attempting an exorcism in a third world country on a possessed girl, only to watch her set herself on fire and him being too horrified to stop it. It all goes downhill from here, with the now teenage Blair (who at least brings a bubbly, sexy enthusiasm to the table) now paying visits to Fletcher at her special clinic fully equipped with ALL GLASS WALLS (the better to see what all the kids are doing I guess as one wonders if the bathrooms are like this too), and when Burton arrives having been sent on his investigation by a Cardinal played by Paul Henreid (Casablanca’s Victor Laszlo), Fletcher whips out with a device called “The Synchronizer”, which is really little more than two flashing lights on each side with two subjects being hooked up with electrodes on their heads so that they can actually read each other’s thoughts, and when Burton jumps on to match wits with Blair (with whom I guess just asking a few questions of was too much trouble for him), the two wind up becoming telepathically linked of sorts without even using the device. As we then get treated to one dream / hallucination sequence after another, it quite suddenly dawns on us just how incredibly ponderous and BORING all of this really is (despite the occasional cool visuals we get), with the main plot points here being basically laid out and explained clearly for us, including how Merrin (and others) believed that one day the world will become completely of one conscious, collective mind, with all thoughts and feelings shared by everybody (kind of like The Borg), that those who possess qualities of great goodness will always naturally draw equally strong if not stronger forces of evil who will then try to destroy them, and of course the idea that the demon (Pazuzu) who possessed Blair in the original was never actually driven out completely but instead lies dormant within her which is why she still has some demonic “residue” so to speak, causing her to have nightmares and the occasional psychotic episode. Of course, this comes off as being somewhat disrespectful towards the efforts of Jason Miller’s Father Karras in the original, although he is never actually mentioned by name here. The REAL kicker though, is the notion put forth that Pazuzu has ever only possessed those with the literal power of faith healing ability, that being people who can magically cure the sick with the power of touch or (in Blair’s case) their own personality, as we get to witness when Blair “cures” a withdrawn autistic girl (tragic future Diffrent Strokes star Dana Plato) by doing little else than striking up a conversation with her. This is an idea that has little to no continuity or traction with the other films in the series, including the first one (where it was made clear that Blair was merely BAIT and that the demon’s actual desired targets were either Karras or Merrin) and that along with the (again explicitly stated) metaphor of Blair being the one so called “good locust” (as locusts play a prominent role in the narrative) whose qualities of pureness can actually offset all of the “bad locusts” in the world is enough to make one roll their eyes and throw in the proverbial towel if they can somehow manage to stay awake throughout the entire running time. While some of the hallucinatory images (and occasional bits of decent gore) will keep some far out types actively engaged, there’s really little good on display here save for Ennio Morricone’s haunting theme music that’s distinctly different from the original and Part 3’s Tubular Bells, and then of course there’s Burton going off the deep end in the last 20 minutes which might entertain those who have enjoyed a number of his other hammy, overwrought performances (just keep in mind that the man DID score 7 Best Actor Oscar Nominations without winning, second all time behind Peter O’Toole) as he winds up going into a complete trance and leads Blair onto a train bound for Washington D.C. and then a bus heading for her old house in Georgetown (hilariously barking at the conductor and the driver along the way) with Fletcher and Winn in hot pursuit, only to encounter Blair’s demonic (and super sexy) doppelganger in the flesh, nearly seducing Burton before the real life infamous womanizer is able to find his faith and with the help of the locusts manages to both destroy the demon and the house once and for all, thus bringing down a ridiculous conclusion to an unfathomably stupid film that still to this day has its own little pocket of bad movie fans, but is otherwise easily dismissed by both horror hounds and by those who enjoyed The Exorcist in and of itself…
4/10