Exorcist II: The Heretic
It has been four years since the incident at the house on Prospect Street in Georgetown, the affluent suburb of Washington DC where Chris MacNeil lived with her daughter Regan which left three people dead in strange and unexplained circumstances, Burke Dennings, Father Lankester Merrin and Father Damien Karras, Regan now sixteen years old and living in New York where she is in training as a dancer.
Watched over by her mother’s friend Sharon Spencer, she is also in the care of Doctor Gene Tuskin who cares for a variety of children and teenagers with developmental issues, Regan believing she is simply in counselling to help her cope with her parents’ divorce and the frequent absence of her mother through the professional obligations of a world famous actor, “that time in Washington” a fuzzy memory rather than the horror which Sharon experienced.
The Catholic Church moving to investigate the circumstances of the alleged exorcism of Regan by Father Merrin, his former friend and colleague Father Philip Lamont is given the task of ascertaining after the fact whether Regan was indeed possessed, the church to then decide how deep it will bury his findings, his own background including a similarly tragic incident where a young woman died during his own attempt to exorcise her, a man in a crisis of faith as was Damien Karras before him.
A film with a troubled production with William Goodhart’s script in constant revision by Rospo Pallenberg and director John Boorman himself even as the cameras were rolling, with budgetary limitations and permissions issues preventing planned location shooting in Ethiopia, the Vatican and even the less ambitious location of Georgetown, and Boorman and two lead actors, Louise Fletcher and Kitty Winn (Doctor Tuskin and Sharon) suffering debilitating illness during the shoot, it was perhaps inevitable that Exorcist II: The Heretic would not live up to expectation.
It’s predecessor, The Exorcist, released in late 1973 and directed by William Friedkin from a script by William Peter Blatty based on his own novel, having grossed over $400 million worldwide on a budget of $12 million, The Heretic took less than a tenth of that total, offering audiences a confused mishmash of pseudoscience, mysticism and revisionism which sullied the original even as it failed to match it, a taint so profound it impacted the “true” sequel, the near-masterpiece of Blatty’s own Exorcist III, before it was even released.
Regan MacNeil having gone through exhaustive and distressing medical tests which found no physical disorder to explain the changes in her behaviour and personality before her mother in desperation turned to religion, Doctor Tuskin’s “brain synchronisation” machine undermines the foundation of realism of Friedkin’s almost documentary original and replaces it with a foundation of bunkum, while Linda Blair, returning to the role which brought her fame, struggles to make Regan believable, not helped by the shifting sands on which her central role is built, blithely jazz-tapping her way almost off a rooftop; in hindsight, a teenager less privileged and more troubled would have been more interesting.
The Exorcist less Regan’s story than that of terrified Chris MacNeil, with Ellen Burstyn having refused to participate in the sequel Regan is now in a vacuum; Sharon only having played a minor role in the original and not appearing until midway through The Heretic, she cares for Regan but is not her mother, and Doctor Tuskin is cold, a detached scientist who does not allow herself to become close to her patients, though the brief interlude with her own children shows this compartmentalisation is a professional choice, and while only a supporting role James Earl Jones and Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack are by far the most notable things about the film, both offering a duality which ties with the themes of an individual possessed by an external force.
Presented on Blu-ray in both the 118 minute “premiere” and 103 minute “international” versions, the new edition of Exorcist II: The Heretic from Arrow is supported with two new and three archive commentaries, one by John Boorman himself, interviews including Linda Blair who recalls her enthusiasm for the script as written diminishing as it mutated into an obligation to reluctantly seduce Richard Burton’s surly Father Lamont on a bouncing bed (“It was very odd!”) and a video essay which offers a synopsis of a more idealised version of the film, one which might have been a less frustrating and disappointing reality.
Exorcist II: The Heretic will be available on Blu-ray from Arrow from Monday 7th October
