{"id":22720,"date":"2016-10-13T09:17:40","date_gmt":"2016-10-13T13:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=22720"},"modified":"2016-10-13T09:20:14","modified_gmt":"2016-10-13T13:20:14","slug":"exorcist-ii-the-heretic-1977","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/13\/exorcist-ii-the-heretic-1977\/","title":{"rendered":"Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"exorcist_2\"<\/a>In 1977, James Earl Jones co-starred in what is arguably one of the greatest movies ever made, and what is arguably one of the worst movies ever made. \u201cExorcist II: The Heretic\u201d is a fine example of what could have happened if the original \u201cThe Exorcist\u201d ended as an ill-conceived pseudo-spiritual mess. A bad idea from beginning to end, it\u2019s one of the iconic bad sequels that is famously recollected by its producers as the movie that literally got them chased out of a theater by angry movie goers. Four years after being victimized by a demon, Regan MacNeil has somehow managed to put her life back together and live some semblance of normality. Sadly after the demonic possession, everyone\u2019s life was just about ruined, and Regan\u2019s life remained basically the same, as her mother Chris is frequently out of town. Does a girl have to get possessed again to get your attention, Chris?<\/p>\n

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Regan attends a children\u2019s center where she meets with Dr. Gene Tuskin, (Louise Fletcher standing in for Ellen Burstyn) a psychiatrist who wants to, for some reason, allow Regan to remember everything that happened when she was possessed. Regan, inexplicably, doesn\u2019t remember anything about what occurred beyond nightmares and darkness. Tuskin conveniently has a magical hypnotic machine that allows her to psychologically join with Regan, and this begins to open up memories about the possession and the death of Father Merrin. This is where the narrative rides off the rails immediately, since we\u2019re reduced to really poorly filmed flashback with a terrible stand in for Blair, evoking a demonic voice that sounds almost nothing like Mercedes McCambridge. Richard Burton is brutally stilted as Father Lamont, a priest who is investigating the death of Father Merrin and wants to find out of Merrin died from a demon or was murdered.<\/p>\n

Oddly the church doesn\u2019t want to take advantage of Merrin\u2019s death, and is insistent on learning a more realistic consequence of his dealings with Regan. From there we\u2019re exposed to a lot of pseudo-spiritual nonsense that makes no sense and rambles on for almost two hours, and all for the sake of giving us the origin of the demon that possessed Regan. I don\u2019t know why we had to know everything about the demon Pazusu, but we get its back story. From there the writers retcon a lot of what happened in the original film. We sadly get to see when the demon killed Merrin, eliminating the original film\u2019s most shocking moment, and there\u2019s the implication the demon possessed Regan because she\u2019s some mystical healer type person who can communicate with lost souls. It wasn\u2019t a result of a demon exploiting a family\u2019s misery, no Regan is some kind of superhero, and the demon took advantage of her to murder Merrin.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of call backs to the original film, including a visit to the old Georgetown house, the long haunting staircase, and Max Von Sydow even has a walk on role as a young Merrin, but none of it amounts to an entertaining movie; especially with that truly heinous score. That said, Blair is really the only interesting aspect of the film, salvaging the film with helping Regan grow, and she\u2019s insanely beautiful during the movie, so much so that it\u2019s pretty distracting. However, if you\u2019re anxious to see what it\u2019s like to travel on the back of a locust, want to know what it\u2019s like to fight a fire with crutches, are interested in Regan\u2019s horrible art work, or want to see a talented cast trying their best to make due with such a lousy script and convoluted premise, \u201cThe Heretic\u201d is good fodder, if a truly lousy movie.<\/p>\n