A girl once possessed by a demon finds that it still lurks within her. Meanwhile, a priest investigates the death of the girl’s exorcist.
How do you ruin a perfect Horror film that terrified millions and caused world wide hysteria? Well you wait 4 years and release not only one of the worst sequels ever but also one of the worst made Horror films ever. Yep I’m talking about “Exorcist II: The Heretic”
Believe it or not John Boorman had been offered the chance to direct the films predecessor but he declined because he felt the storyline was “cruel towards children”. He soon changed his tune when the first film exploded worldwide he leaped at the chance to get his hands on the sequel, but hey, wouldn’t we all have done the same thing?! Honestly, I’m glad he did this film instead of the first one, that could’ve been a disaster!
Despite the trashing this film gets, there is a fantastic film screaming out from behind the muddled mess we see on screen. I’ve only noticed this after repeated viewings (Don’t ask me why). You can just feel that there is a huge pile of potential wanting to burst out but the screenplay is just truly horrendous, it’s hard to believe that this film is done by the same person who produced the classic “Deliverance”.
Apparently there was a-lot of conflict behind the scenes, Linda Blair flat out refused to be subjected to the make-up she wore in the first film so for the flashback scenes of the possessed Regan there was a double hired to play her, which wasn’t convincing at all, additionally star Richard Burton was known for turning up drunk. Also John Boorman wasn’t first choice for the directors job, Stanley Kubrick was offered the job (another person who got turned down for “The Exorcist”) but turned down the offer. I think if he had of got the job this film could have been saved and may have become a worthy sequel. The original cast and crew of the first film were originally very much opposed to a sequel. William Friedkin and William Peter Blatty actually met to discuss ideas at one point, but when they failed to develop a suitable premise, they abandoned the project.
As much as it pains me to say it, Linda Blair’s acting in this feature was awful. Now don’t get me wrong I love the lady and have enjoyed her other work but she just seems to appear uninterested and very amateur. She has evidently grown up and bloomed into a beautiful woman from the little girl we all felt sympathy for in the first feature but her beauty doesn’t hide the fact that she put in a terrible performance. Also let’s not forget what happened in her personal life around this time. Both Linda Blair and Ellen Burstyn turned down repeated offers by the studio, though Blair eventually agreed to return when presented with what she considered a good script. However, according to Blair, due to various rewrites the script ended up a total mess. By that point, however, she was contractually bound to a sequel, and unable to drop out of the project.
The film truly was a bomb, on the night of the premiere, the movie was literally laughed off the screen. Things were tolerable until the “synchronizer” machine was introduced, and it went straight downhill from there. The original, opening night version of this film was so poorly received that the audience at a theatre on Hollywood Blvd. actually threw things at the screen to express their disgust when it was over. If you haven’t watched this then don’t, you can do better things with 2 hours of your life and you won’t be missing out on anything.
Miscellaneous facts about the film:
During the filming, director John Boorman contracted San Joaquin Valley Fever (a respiratory fungal infection), which caused filming to be suspended for five weeks. It was determined to be caused from the dust used in the African sets from the film.
In one scene (lasting eight minutes and ten seconds), the camera cuts to close-ups of Lamont in which he’s neither moving nor speaking, twenty six times (not counting genuine reaction shots).
Jon Voight originally agreed to play Father Lamont before dropping out over concerns with the screenplay. David Carradine and Jack Nicholson were considered to play the part: the studio rejected Carradine due to an ongoing dispute with him over the Kung Fu TV series, while Nicholson’s salary demands were deemed too high.
Christopher Walken was also considered to play Father Lamont, but the studio management was opposed to his casting.
Originally, the script had a major role for Lee J. Cobb’s character of “Lieutenant Kinderman” from the first film, but upon his death the entire film was reworked. The script for “The Heretic” apparently bore no resemblance to William Peter Blatty’s “Legion”, which was later made into “Exorcist III” and featured “Lieutenant Kinderman” (then played by George C. Scott) in a starring role.
When the role of Dr. Tuskin was still written as male, Chris Sarandon, George Segal, and David Carradine were considered. John Boorman passed on Sarandon, and George Segal’s salary demands were too high. When the decision was made to make Dr. Tuskin a woman, the screenwriter suggested Jane Fonda or Ann-Margret before Boorman decided upon casting Louise Fletcher.
Linda Blair has stated in interviews that she and Richard Burton got along beautifully and that he would often come around her quoting Shakespeare.
The swarms of locusts were realized by painting a few thousand Styrofoam packing peanuts brown and shooting them out of a large air blower. Director John Boorman had experimented with a number of techniques to get actual grasshoppers to swarm around (including clipping their legs off so they couldn’t land!), but none were convincing enough for him, so they used the peanuts (nicknamed “Larrys” by the crew).
Linda Blair has said that Richard Burton started out sober, but frequently became drunk during the middle and end of filming. She also says that tensions were high among the cast.
In one of the last scenes, when the house is shaking and the bed rolling, Linda Blair fell off of the bed into a crack in the floor. Viewing dailies showed this to be a superior way of dealing with Blair’s character, but a stage hand jumped into the scene to rescue Blair from injury and the shot was unusable.
At the time of its release, this was the most expensive film produced by Warner Bros.
The role of Dr. Gene Tuskin was originally written for a man.
Although widely regarded as a flop, the film was in actuality the only one of the sequels/prequels to show a profit on its theatrical release despite being a major underperformer and a critical embarrassment to the studio. However, the films reception was so bad that plans for a second sequel were promptly dropped.
Paul Henreid’s last film.
John Boorman’s autobiography recalls an anecdote in which he claims Linda Blair came up to him one day during the beleaguered shoot and perkily announced, “without irony,” “Did they tell you? I was only ten minutes late this morning!”
Richard Burton only agreed to make the film in return for Columbia producers casting him as Dr. Martin Dysart in Equus, which he had played on stage.
Due to the box office disappointment of the film, Exorcist 2 actually appeared on cable in 1978, well before the cable premiere of The Exorcist.
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