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ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - June 17th

"EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC" released in 1977

This sequel to The Exorcist,  set four years later, centers on a now 16-year-old Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) who is still recovering from her previous demonic possession. This time she is aided by Father Philip Lamont (Richard Burton), a priest struggling with his own faith.

When his attempts to exorcise a possessed South American girl who claims to "heal the sick", goes horribly wrong and the girl dies (lit candle sets fire to the girl's dress, killing her), Father Lamont is assigned by the Cardinal (Paul Henreid) to investigate the death of Father Lankester Merrin (Max Von Sydow in a cameo role), who had been killed four years prior in the course of exorcising the Assyrian demon Pazuzu. Meanwhile Reagan is now seemingly normal and staying with guardian Sharon Spencer (Kitty Winn) in New York, although she continues to be monitored at a psychiatric institute by Dr. Gene Tuskin (Louise Fletcher); Regan claims she remembers nothing about her ordeal in Washington, D.C., but Tuskin believes her memories are only repressed. Through Lamont's investigations, he joins with Reagan and discovers why Pazuzu was attracted to Reagan and people like her, including an African scientist, Kokumo (played by James Earl Jones) and was the same boy Merrin saved from Pazuzu years before. Lamont and Reagan must now return to the dreaded house in Georgetown to once again face the demon and banish him forever!

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Neither William Peter Blatty nor William Friedkin - the writer/producer and the director, respectively, of the original Exorcist - had any desire to involve themselves in the sequel. According to the film's co-producer Richard Lederer, the original plan for Exorcist II was to have an investigative priest interviewing people which then cuts to unused footage and angles from the first film, "a rather cynical approach to movie-making, I'll admit. But that was the start." - see an example of this approach in the video clip below. Playwright William Goodhart expanded on the idea and added a more metaphysical and intellectual approach compared to the original film; British filmmaker Boorman (who was originally approached to direct the first Exorcist) signed on to direct, stating that "the idea of making a metaphysical thriller greatly appealed to my psyche".

Blair agreed to reprise her role of Regan MacNeil for Exorcist II, but refused to be subjected to the makeup she wore in the first film (in flashback scenes, the possessed Regan was played by a double). Winn signed on to reprise the role of Sharon Spencer for the film after Ellen Burstyn flatly refused to return as Reagan's mother Chris MacNeil. Also returning for a small role was Max Von Sydow, convinced to play the part of Father Merrin again by Boorman - Von Sydow  was initially reluctant to return because of his concerns over the negative impact of the first Exorcist film. Newcomers to the cast was Academy Award winning Actress Louise Fletcher who was cast as the psychiatrist Dr. Gene Tuskin, and Shakespearean actor Richard Burton for the role of Father Lamont - other choices for the part having been Jon Voight, David Carradine, Jack Nicholson and Christopher Walken.

Watch the Exorcist II Trailer on our Facebook page

Although Boorman wanted to film the majority of the film on location (including Ethiopia and The Vatican), many of Boorman's plans proved to be impossible, resulting in key exterior scenes having to be filmed set-bound at the Warner Bros. backlot. Dissatisfied with Goodhart's script as they were filming, rewrites were done on set by Boorman with Rospo Pallenberg. In fact, according to Blair in one interview, Pallenberg actually directed a lot of the film, as well as doing the re-writes, credited as the second unit director and a "creative associate". An inconsistant script was just one of the many problems plaguing the production; 2500 locusts shipped to England that were required for the climactic scene were dying at a rate of 100 per day, Linda Blair has said that Richard Burton started out sober, but frequently became drunk during the middle and end of filming (Blair herself was already in the midst of her own drug habits and constantly turned up late to shooting), and an outbreak of illnesses affecting the cast and filmmakers - Boorman contracted a dose of San Joaquin Valley Fever (a respiratory fungal infection) delaying filming for over a month, and stars Kitty Winn and Louise Fletcher both suffering from gall bladder infections.

Upon it's intial release director John Boorman pulled the film out of theaters twice to do some more editing - although the alternate versions fared no better. Troubles about the film began the very night of the premiere when the movie was literally laughed off the screen when the "synchronizer" machine was introduced - William Peter Blatty reportedly had to stifle his own laughter upon viewing the film at the premiere - while other audiences actually threw things at the screen to express their disgust when it was over. Original director William Friedkin later stated that this sequel diminished the value of the original and called it "one of the worst films I've ever seen". Critics agreed with Friedkin's assessment with the Exorcist II becoming a commercial disappointment and a critical failure. The New York Times writing "Given the huge box-office success of the William Peter Blatty-William Friedkin production of The Exorcist, there had to be a sequel, but did it have to be this desperate concoction!"

In a 2005 interview, John Boorman remarked, "... I think that audiences, in hindsight, were right. I denied them what they wanted and they were pissed off about it – quite rightly, I knew I wasn't giving them what they wanted and it was a really foolish choice." Although it is often regarded as not only the worst film in the series but also one of the worst sequels ever made and one of the worst movies ever made in general, Exorcist II: The Heretic has over the years it has developed a cult following especially among fans of John Boorman (Martin Scorsese apparently loved this movie!). Perhaps in part to correct the elements he felt were lacking in Exorcist II, William Peter Blatty would eventually write and direct the Exorcist III (1990) based on his own novel Legion (1983). The events of Exorcist III ignore those of Exorcist II and features the return of Jason Miller in the role of Damien Karras. The next film in the Exorcist series was a prequel shot in 2003 and directed by Paul Schrader, Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (limited release in 2005); only for the entire project to be re-filmed by director Renny Harlin, released as Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) - both versions starred Stellan Skarsgård as the younger Lankester Merrin.

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