What better day than Halloween to review a sequel to perhaps the greatest horror film of all time. No, I am not talking about Halloween and its myriad endless follow-ups, but rather 1973’s The Exorcistwhich with 10 nominations including Best Picture (and two wins) is still the most nominated horror film of all time at the Oscars (and no, I don’t consider The Silence of the Lambs a horror movie) and style the greatest. In retrospect it probably shouldn’t have been touched by sequel fever, but Hollywood at the time saw how The Godfather Part II did, and then Jaws, and just couldn’t resist.
In 1977, they Exorcist director William Friedkin’s personal horror, Warner Bros convinced filmmaker John Boorman to take on the task of a sequel, Exorcist II: The Heretic, which would continue the tale of the possessed young Regan, now older and fighting new demons. Linda Blair reportedly got a fortune to return, but Ellen Burstyn wisely stayed away. A new documentary, Boorman and the Devil, premiered in a prestige slot at September’s Venice Film Festival and has since been hoping to get a distributor so it can be widely seen.
The fact no one has picked up this exceptional docu from director David Kittredge is baffling, leading me to think somehow it is cursed, much the same way the original Exorcist was thought to be while in production. Not only is this docu entertaining, it is also a great primer on the film business, then and now, and is easily one of the best movies about the making — and unmaking — of a movie I have ever seen. If it can’t land a theatrical deal, certainly a streamer, or better yet Turner Classic Movies, should have a go at it and allow people to see this movie about a movie no one wanted to see (at least at the time). Give Boorman the break he deserves on this.
Kittredge anchors it all with a fascinating and insightful interview with the title star himself, John Boorman who is now 92 but sat down for it seven years ago. Not only will we get the inside story of Exorcist II: The Heretic, but also a view of many other films in his impressive career which started with 1965’s Dave Clark 5 black and white musical, Catch Us If You Can (aka (Having A Wild Weekend) which failed after being poorly compared to the Beatles and A Hard Days Night. He quickly scored with a cult favorite, Point Blank with Lee Marvin, then movies like Hell In The Pacific, with Marvin and Toshiro Mifune, and Zardozanother cult hit with Sean Connery in a loin cloth. He won Oscar recognition in 1972 for Deliverance, a brilliant film that was released a year before The Exorcist, and later in the 80’s would return to the Oscars again with his WWII memoir, Hope And Glory. But nestled inbetween was The Exorcist II in 1977, an ambitious and technically complicated film he says was misbegotten due to its title, that it really was a movie that simply should have been called The Heretic. The problem with that was Warners wanted the connection, was paying Blair a lot of money, and would market it skewer out of their sequel to their original cash cow.
With a script credited to William Goodhart, but rewritten constantly during production by Rospo Pallenberg, it starred Blair, Richard Burton as a priest investigating the death of original exorcist Max Von Sydow, Louise Fletcher, hot off her Oscar win for One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, and James Earl Jones dressed up as a locust named Kokumo. Blair appears with some smart thoughts about the movie and why she was in it (her Regan tap dancing tale is amusing), and Fletcher (who died last year) is also very amusing in an interview in which she says she didn’t really understand the script but went along with it anyway. This docu represents one of her last appearances in film and it is dedicated to her.
It’s no wonder she had a hard time figuring it out as a major part of her participation is dealing with a silly contraption placed around Blair’s head (and prominently in the ads) called the Synchronizer (don’t ask), and a battle with the Pazuzu (really don’t ask). Filmmakers Mike Flanagan and Karyn Kusama are among other interviewees liberally used, and actually defend the movie which has grown to have its admirers in the past half century since it was unleashed, er, released. I have to confess I never went to see Exorcist II: The Heretic when it came out because the word was soooooo bad I just skipped it – and I was a guy who saw everything.
Boorman is the key to this docu’s success with a terrific recall of all events surrounding the film, his hopes for it, and especially his deep disappointments in the aftermath. It was cursed a bit during production when sand blew into his face and he had to be hospitalized with a major fever. The film shut down for several weeks due to it. The best anecdote is one about the film’s sneak preview in Pasadena where the audience expected another Exorcist started laughing uncontrollably at what was on screen and then got wind that the studio execs were sitting in the back, and as the suits tried to leave unnoticed were then chased down the block by the upset ticket buyers (!)
Boorman attended the first – sold out – show at the Village Westwood theater on opening day and saw for himself this movie was not working with the crowd Warner’s marketing campaign had brought in. People would leave one show and tell people in line for the next one to stay away. Boorman decided to recut the movie while it was in release, taking several minutes out of the running time and tightening it to make more sense. It was not available. Exorcist II: The Heretic was a disaster released in the shadow of the unexpected blockbuster success of Star Wars just a few weeks earlier. Bad timing, but bad movie? Since its release there have been more Exorcist movies, related and not related to the original. Apparently the sad fate of Exorcist II: The Heretic did not deter other filmmakers to venture into the fray. The most recent was the 2023 disappointment, Exorcist: Believer which lured Burstyn back, but don’t look for any sequels for that even though they were apparently planned.
It seems this first 1977 sequel is being reassessed by some admirers of what Boorman set out to do (a Time Magazine critic interviewed is a fan) and is available with both versions, original and director’s recut, on blu ray. David Kittredge’s Boorman And The Devil is the perfect companion if you want to binge them all, so hopefully it will soon find a large audience with the right buyer. It is a gem.
Title: Boorman and the Devil
Festival: Venice (Classics)
Director: David Kittredge
Cast: John Boorman, Linda Blair, Louise Fletcher, Mike Flanagan, Karyn Kusama, Joe Dante
Sales agent: WTFilms
Running time: 1 hour 52 minutes
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