Exorcist II: The Heretic

Exorcist II: The Heretic
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	John Boorman Uncredited: Rospo Pallenberg
Written by	William Goodhart Uncredited: John Boorman Rospo Pallenberg
Produced by	John Boorman Richard Lederer
Starring	Linda Blair Richard Burton Louise Fletcher Max von Sydow
Narrated by	Director's recut: Richard Burton
Cinematography	William A. Fraker
Edited by	Tom Priestley
Music by	Ennio Morricone
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	June 17, 1977 (1977-06-17)
Running time	118 minutes
Country	Template:Film US
Languages	English French
Box office	$30,749,142 (USA)

Exorcist II: The Heretic is a 1977 American horror film and the sequel to The Exorcist (1973), directed by John Boorman from a screenplay by William Goodhart and starring Linda Blair, Richard Burton, Louise Fletcher, Max von Sydow, James Earl Jones and Kitty Winn. The film is set four years after The Exorcist, and centers on a now 16-year-old Regan MacNeil who is still recovering from her previous demonic possession.

The film was both a critical and commercial failure at the time of its release.

Plot

The movie opens up with Philip Lamont, a priest struggling with his faith, attempting to exorcise a possessed South American girl, who claims to "heal the sick." Afterwards, Lamont is assigned by the Cardinal to investigate the death of Father Lankester Merrin, who had been killed four years prior in the course of exorcising the Assyrian demon Pazuzu from Regan MacNeil. The Cardinal informs Lamont (who has had some experience at exorcism, and has been exposed to Merrin's teachings) that Merrin is up on posthumous heresy charges due to his controversial writings. Apparently, Church authorities are trying to modernize and do not want to acknowledge that Satan as an actual evil entity exists.

Regan, although now seemingly normal and staying with guardian Sharon Spencer in New York, continues to be monitored at a psychiatric institute by Dr. Gene Tuskin. Regan claims she remembers nothing about her plight in Washington, D.C., but Tuskin believes her memories are only buried or repressed. Father Lamont visits the institute but his attempts to question Regan about the circumstances of Father Merrin's death are rebuffed by Dr. Tuskin, believing that Lamont's approach would do Regan more harm than good. In an attempt to plumb her memories of the exorcism, specifically the circumstances in which Merrin died, Dr. Tuskin hypnotizes the girl, to whom she is linked by a "synchronizer"– a biofeedback device used by two people to synchronize their brainwaves. After a guided tour by Sharon of the Georgetown house where the exorcism took place, Lamont returns to be coupled with Regan by synchronizer. The priest is spirited to the past by Pazuzu to observe Father Merrin exorcising a young boy, Kokumo, in Africa. Learning that the boy developed special powers to fight Pazuzu, who appears as a swarm of locusts, Lamont journeys to Africa, defying his superior, to seek help from the adult Kokumo.

Lamont learns that Pazuzu attacks people who all have some form of psychic healing ability. Kokumo has since become a scientist, studying how to prevent grasshoppers from becoming locust swarms. Regan is able to reach telepathically inside the minds of others; she uses this to help an autistic girl to speak, for instance. Father Merrin belonged to a group of theologians who believed that psychic powers were a spiritual gift which would one day be shared by all humanity in a kind of global consciousness; and thought people like Kokumo and Regan were foreshadowers of this new type of humanity. In a vision, Merrin asks Lamont to watch over Regan.

For some reason, this necessitates Lamont and Regan returning to the old house in Georgetown. The pair are followed by Tuskin and Sharon, concerned about Regan's safety. En route, Pazuzu tempts Lamont by offering him unlimited power, appearing as a succubus doppelganger of Regan. Lamont initially succumbs to the demon but is brought back by Regan and attacks the Regan doppelganger while a swarm of locusts deluge the pair and the entire house begins to crumble around them. However, Lamont manages to kill the Regan doppelganger by beating open its chest and pulling out its heart. In the end, Regan banishes the locusts (and Pazuzu) by enacting the same ritual attempted by Kokumo to get rid of locusts in Africa (although he failed and was possessed). Outside the house, Sharon dies from burn injuries after she immolates herself and Tuskin tells Lamont to watch over Regan. Regan and Lamont leave and Tuskin remains at the house to answer the police's questions.

Cast

• Linda Blair as Regan MacNeil
• Richard Burton as Father Philip Lamont
• Louise Fletcher as Dr. Gene Tuskin
• Max von Sydow as Father Merrin
• Kitty Winn as Sharon Spencer
• Paul Henreid as The Cardinal
• James Earl Jones as Older Kokumo
• Ned Beatty as Edwards
• Belinda Beatty as Liz
• Rose Portillo as Spanish Girl
• Ken Renard as Abbot
• Barbara Cason as Mrs. Phalor
• Joey Green as Young Kokumo
• Dana Plato as Sandra Phalor (uncredited)
• Karen Knapp as Pazuzu (uncredited)

Production

Development

Exorcist writer/producer William Peter Blatty and director William Friedkin both had no desire to involve themselves in an Exorcist sequel. According to the film's co-producer Richard Lederer, Exorcist II was conceived as a relatively low-budget affair: "What we essentially wanted to do with the sequel was to redo the first movie... Have the central figure, an investigative priest, interview everyone involved with the exorcism, then fade out to unused footage, unused angles from the first movie. A low-budget rehash - about $3 million - of The Exorcist, a rather cynical approach to movie-making, I'll admit. But that was the start."

Playwright William Goodhart was commissioned to write the screenplay, titled The Heretic, and based it around the theories of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (the Jesuit paleontologist/ archaeologist who inspired the character of Father Merrin when Blatty wrote The Exorcist).

British filmmaker John Boorman signed on to direct, stating that "the idea of making a metaphysical thriller greatly appealed to my psyche." Years before, Boorman had been considered by Warner Bros. as a possible director for the first Exorcist movie, but he turned the opportunity down as he found the story "rather repulsive." Boorman, however, was intrigued with the idea of directing a sequel, explaining that "every film has to struggle to find a connection with its audience. Here I saw the chance to make an extremely ambitious film without having to spend the time developing this connection. I could make assumptions and then take the audience on a very adventurous cinematic journey."

Casting

Linda Blair agreed to reprise her role of Regan MacNeil for Exorcist II, but refused to wear demon make-up (a double was used for the brief flashback scenes depicting a demonic Regan). Max von Sydow was persuaded by Boorman to reprise the role of Father Merrin; von Sydow was initially reluctant to return because of his concerns over the negative impact of the first Exorcist film. Kitty Winn signed on to reprise the role of Sharon Spencer for Exorcist II after Ellen Burstyn flatly refused to return as Chris MacNeil.

John Boorman contacted William O'Malley to reprise his role as Father Joseph Dyer from the first film. However, O'Malley was busy and could not take up the part, and the character of Father Dyer was changed to Father Philip Lamont. Jon Voight, David Carradine, Jack Nicholson and Christopher Walken all were considered or offered the part of Father Lamont, who John Boorman initially conceived as a younger priest in awe of Father Merrin's writings. Eventually the choice was made to age the character, and Richard Burton was signed for the role.

The role of Dr. Gene Tuskin was originally written for a man, with Chris Sarandon and George Segal both considered. When the gender of the character was changed, both Ann-Margret and Jane Fonda were under consideration. Louise Fletcher, who had just won the Academy Award for Best Actress for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), accepted the part.

Screenplay and filming

Principal photography began May 1976, at a budget of $12.5 million (the film ultimately cost $14 million to make). 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. Even the MacNeil house in Georgetown had to be replicated in the studio, as the filmmakers were refused permission to film at the original house. The filmmakers also had to replicate the infamous "Hitchcock Steps" adjacent to the MacNeil house, as they were refused permission by Washington city officials to shoot scenes by the real steps. A key scene of a sleepwalking Regan about to wander off a rooftop was filmed in New York atop 666 Fifth Avenue (where Warner Bros. offices were then located). With no stunt person and no special effects, the shot showed Linda Blair's feet on the edge of the building with Fifth Avenue down below.

Boorman was unhappy with William Goodhart's script, and asked Goodhart to do a rewrite, incorporating ideas from Rospo Pallenberg. Goodhart refused, and so the script was subsequently rewritten by Pallenberg and Boorman. Goodhart's script was being constantly rewritten as the film was shooting, with the filmmakers uncertain as to how the story should end. Actress Linda Blair recalls "It was a really good script at first. Then after everybody signed on they rewrote it five times and it ended up nothing like the same movie."

Exorcist II was beset by numerous problems during production. Boorman himself contracted a dose of San Joaquin Valley Fever (a respiratory fungal infection), which cancelled production for over a month (a costly delay). Other problems included footage being over-saturated and necessitating re-shoots, the rapid deaths of locusts imported from England for the film’s climactic scenes (2500 locusts were shipped in, and died at a rate of 100 a day); original film editor John Merritt quitting the production (replaced by Tom Priestley); and stars Kitty Winn and Louise Fletcher both suffering from gall bladder infections.

One of the key elements of Exorcist II: The Heretic is Father Merrin's exorcism of a young boy named "Kokumo" in Africa. This exorcism is first referenced in the original film The Exorcist, and actually illustrated with flashbacks in Exorcist II: The Heretic. Although this same exorcism becomes the central plot line for the most recent Exorcist movies Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist and Exorcist: The Beginning, little effort was made to keep the stories consistent. The boy is not named Kokomu, the locations and circumstances of the exorcism do not resemble Exorcist II: the Heretic even remotely. Ultimately we learn that the African boy is not the one actually afflicted, it turns out to be another character entirely that is possessed.

According to Linda Blair, Pallenberg directed a lot of the film.

Reception

Exorcist II: The Heretic was a major disappointment at the box-office and received generally negative response. Reports indicated that the film inspired audience laughter at its premiere in New York. William Peter Blatty claimed to have been the first person to start laughing at the theatre at which he saw the film, only to be followed by the other patrons (“You’d think we were watching The Producers”)

Leslie Halliwell described the film as a “highly unsatisfactory psychic melodrama which...falls flat on its face along some wayward path of metaphysical and religious fancy. It was released in two versions and is unintelligible in either.” Leonard Maltin described the film as a “preposterous sequel...Special effects are the only virtue in this turkey.” Danny Peary dismissed Exorcist II as “absurd.”

However Pauline Kael greatly preferred Boorman's sequel to the original, writing in her review in The New Yorker that Exorcist II "had more visual magic than a dozen movies." Kim Newman commented that "[Exorcist II] doesn't work in all sorts of ways... However, like Ennio Morricone's mix of tribal and liturgical music, it does manage to be very interesting." Director Martin Scorsese asserted, "The picture asks: Does great goodness bring upon itself great evil? This goes back to the Book of Job; it's God testing the good. In this sense, Regan (Linda Blair) is a modern-day saint — like Ingrid Bergman in Europa '51, and in a way, like Charlie in Mean Streets. I like the first Exorcist, because of the Catholic guilt I have, and because it scared the hell out of me; but The Heretic surpasses it. Maybe Boorman failed to execute the material, but the movie still deserved better than it got."

Author Bob McCabe's book The Exorcist: Out of the Shadows contains a chapter on the film in which Linda Blair said the movie "was one of the big disappointments of my career," and John Boorman confessed that “The sin I committed was not giving the audience what it wanted in terms of horror...There’s this wild beast out there which is the audience. I created this arena and I just didn’t throw enough Christians into it.” McCabe himself offered no one answer as to why Exorcist II failed: "Who knows where the blame ultimately lies. Boorman's illness and constant revising of the script can't have helped, but these events alone are not enough to explain the film's almighty failure. Boorman has certainly gone on to produce some fine work subsequently... When a list was compiled for The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made, Exorcist II: The Heretic came in at number two. It was beaten only by Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space, a film that generally receives a warmer response from its audience than this terribly misjudged sequel."

In a 2005 interview, John Boorman remarked:

"it all comes down to audience expectations. The film that I made, I saw as a kind of riposte to the ugliness and darkness of The Exorcist–I wanted a film about journeys that was positive, about good, essentially. And 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. The film itself, I think, is an interesting one–there's some good work in it–but when they came to me with it I told John Calley, who was running Warner Bros. then, that I didn't want it. "Look," I said, "I have daughters, I don't want to make a film about torturing a child," which is how I saw the original film. But then I read a three-page treatment for a sequel written by a man named William Goodhart and I was really intrigued by it because it was about goodness. I saw it then as a chance to film a riposte to the first picture. But it had one of the most disastrous openings ever–there were riots! And we recut the actual prints in the theatres, about six a day, but it didn't help of course and I couldn't bear to talk about it, or look at it, for years."

Director's recut

Shortly after its premiere, John Boorman went back to re-cut the film in response to poor audience reactions, although this version fared no better. Boorman shortened and changed the order of certain scenes; deleted lines of dialogue; changed some musical cues; and added an introduction with narration by Richard Burton including an alternative ending in which Burton's character dies. The plot, though, is not significantly different between the two versions of the film. The original, completely uncut 118-minute release is available on DVD, while the 110-minute re-edit still exist only on VHS and 16MM prints.

Other sources

• The Exorcist: Out of the shadows–the full story of the film. Bob McCabe, London, Omnibus Press, 1999.

External links

• Exorcist II: The Heretic at IMDb
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