Monster
Crap Inductee: The Exorcist II: The Heretic
Unless
The First Film Actually Is Horrible, Never Hire A Director Who Hated The First
Film For A Sequel
1977
In
1973, horror had a huge box office smash with a film called the Exorcist.
Based
on a book by William Peter Blatty, the film dealt with an exorcism of a young
girl named Regan by a priest who was having his own crisis of faith. The book
itself was based off an exorcism of a young boy and it had sold poorly
originally until Blatty ended up on the Dick Cavett Show and intrigued Dick’s
audience when the two talked about whether the devil existed or not. After
that, the book became a huge hit, yet still Hollywood was hesitant on the idea
and eventually agreed to do it, with Blatty making sure that he had a
producer’s credit. Blatty also got the director he wanted on the film in
William Friedkin, who had won Best Director and Best Picture for The French
Connection. And despite trouble casting the film and little faith from Warner
Bros., the film was considered one of the scariest films of all time and made
Warner Bros. a crap ton of money.
So of
course, Warner Bros. saw potentials in a franchise and greenlit a sequel.
Unfortunately, the butting heads of both William Friedkin and William Peter
Blatty on the first film, meant the two really wanted NOTHING to do with the
sequel. So they went to John Boorman (director of films like Deliverance and
Zardoz) who was sought out to direct the first film, but he turned it down
because he thought the story was disgusting. They were able to get Linda Blair
(who played Regan) to return for the sequel, with the specific request that she
did not do any of the prosthetics as it was a pain for her to do in the first
film (they used a double for when she was in the prosthetics). They tried to
get Ellen Burstyn to return to play her mom, but she refused so they got Kitty
Winn (who played Sharon Spencer, a friend of Regan’s mom) to return so she
could be the motherly figure despite not being the actual mother. They were
also able to get Max Von Sydow to return as Father Merrin, but since his
character died in the first film, it could only be scenes that were supposed to
be from the past. For a living priest who could perform the exorcism, they
tried to get William O’Malley (who played Father Joseph Dyer) to return, but he
was busy so they had to get a new actor to play a new priest named Father Phillip
Lamont. They had John Voight (who had been in Midnight Cowboy) originally, but
he bowed out because he had problems with the film so they eventually got legendary
actor Richard Burton. As for the doctor character, they originally wanted a guy
to play the role, but changed it to a woman and were able to get Louise
Fletcher, who had just won the Oscar for Best Actress for her role as the evil
Nurse Ratchet in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.
For the
rest of the cast, they got Paul Henreid (who played Laszlo from Casablanca),
Ned Beatty (who also worked with Boorman in Deliverance and was Jensen in
Network), Barbara Cason (who was Mrs. Johnson in House of Dark Shadows and was
just starting out a role in a TV series Carter Country as Cloris Phebus), Ken
Renard (who was Yenard in True Grit (the original, not the remake)), Hank
Garrett (who was Andrew McCabe in Death Wish), and James Earl Jones (who was
Jack Jefferson in The Great White Hope and the voice of Darth Vader in Star
Wars which came out the same year as this film).
It
Would Only Be Discovered By Most People That James Earl Jones Did The Voice Of
Darth Vader In The Star Wars Holiday Special Because He Was Uncredited In The
First Star Wars Film
We also
have a Monster Crap alumni in Lorry Goldman (who would be the mayor’s aide Gene
(a jab at movie critic Gene Siskel) in the 1998 terrible Godzilla movie) and
George Skaff (who was Stuart Martindale in Frogs)
We have some uncredited Monster Crap alum as well with Phillip Ettington (who was uncredited as a Beachgoer in Jaws: The Revenge and was uncredited as a reporter in Jaws 3).
And
with that out of the way, let’s get this crap out of the way. And yes, I’m not
going to hide that this film is crap since you all know its crap to since I did
a poll that this film won and it won with more than 50% of the vote and it was
my most voted on poll by nearly 20 votes.
We begin
with opening credits.
As the
credits continue, we hear incoherent shrieks and singing….and I guess I should
mention that this is the second time I am doing a movie with the great Ennio
Moricone doing the music.
He Also
Did Music For Orca And Considering I Liked That Music, At Least This Movie’s
Soundtrack Will Be Good
We then
go to an exorcism about to take place where Father Phillip Lamont goes to Latin
America to exorcise a possessed woman who claims she can heal the sick.
Unfortunately
this exorcism goes terribly wrong when the possessed woman escapes her bindings
(aka a bunch of women just holding her (which should really be on them instead
of the priest)) and she sets herself ablaze.
I Guess
I Should Probably Sing “This Girl Is On Fire”
Anyway,
we move on to Regan McNeil from the first Exorcist movie who is now a teenager and
is practicing some dancing while a nice young man is playing on the trumpet.
Then we
meet Dr. Gene Tuskin working with a deaf girl to try and help her hear.
Yeah,
Hearing Aids Were Not As Easy To Use Until The 1990s.
Apparently,
Regan is at some strange looking psychiatric institute and why do I say that?
Does
Anyone Know A Psychiatric Institute That Looks Like This???
She has
a session with Dr. Tuskin where Tuskin wants to talk about maybe some repressed
memories about what happened in Washington (which Regan doesn’t remember) and
Regan would rather talk about the troubles with her mother dealing with a
divorce and why she is now living with her guardian Sharon Spencer. Tuskin has
a machine that can put people in a state of deep hypnosis and wants to use it
on Regan, but she would need to get her consent first.
Meanwhile,
Father Lamont is meeting with the cardinal, who does not have good news. The cardinal
wants Father Lamont to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of
Father Merrin. The cardinal informs Lamont that Merrin’s reputation is in
jeopardy and because the church doesn’t want to hear about the devil, his
writings may caused Father Merrin to be found guilty of heresy posthumously. Father
Lamont sadly has suffered a crisis of faith because of what happened in Latin
America, but the cardinal insists he investigate Merrin’s last exorcism.
Do
It….And Don’t Get Drunk While Doing It.
Back at
the psychiatric institute, Father Lamont looks on as people are doing tests and
meets with Dr. Tuskin. Regan passes by and is curious about what the priest
wants. She asks Liz about it and Liz doesn’t know.
By The
Way, Liz Is Played By Ned Beatty’s Wife Belinda, Which Along With Deliverance
Was Another Reason Ned Beatty Worked On This Film.
Lamont
wants to question Regan about the exorcism as the coroner’s report and
witnesses don’t really do much to explain Merrin’s death. You might also know
that only two people witnesses were really in the room when Merrin died and
they are Regan (who doesn’t remember much about the exorcism due to repression
of her memories) and Father Karras, who won’t be much help as he got possessed
and jumped to his death, falling down those legendary Georgetown stairs that
are actually a historical landmark in Washington DC.
No Seriously….They
Were Made A Landmark In 2015
Anyway,
Tuskin doesn’t know if this is a good idea as three people died during the
exorcism and the trauma of it may have been so great that Regan has repressed
it and she doesn’t want her to self-punish herself from shock and guilt. She
definitely couldn’t rule out suicide and as a doctor of the psychiatry kind,
that would be basically malpractice if you did something like this and suicide
happens because of it. Lamont is insistent as he really wants to find out about
the evil that possessed Regan on that day. Regan comes in and decides that she
actually wants to try the hypnotism machine after all and she is okay if the
priest stays as it happens. They set up the hypnotism try for tomorrow and
Father Lamont may help if he wishes to, which he agrees to.
We cut
then to Regan talking to her guardian Sharon.
Regan
tricked Sharon into believing she bent a spoon except she just used two spoons
to make her believe she bent a spoon.
We go
to the next day and Regan is hooked up to the machine.
The
hypnosis begins and Tuskin wants to see how Regan remembers her room in DC as
this is a duel machine that can do duel put people on the same brain
wavelength, I think. I’ve done plenty of psychiatry as a patient myself and I
honestly don’t understand how this works too much.
Father
Lamont asks about Father Merrin and tries to have Regan remember him just
before he died. She tells him that Father Merrin is praying and is in pain. Liz
stops the hypnotism because while Regan doesn’t say too much afterwards, Tuskin
is feeling the experience and it is not pleasant. Regan is out of the hypnosis,
but because Tuskin is still having heart issues, Liz wants Regan to go back in
to get her out. Lamont goes instead. Lamont is under hypnosis and he sees the
possessed Regan from the past.
Although
Like I Mentioned, This Is A Double Of Linda Blair Because She Refused To Do The
Makeup Again.
We see
Possessed Regan and Father Merrin (all new footage not in the original film). Regan
in the real world begs Father Lamont to bring Tuskin back. With weird effects,
it seems that Past Possessed Regan is grabbing at Tuskin’s heart as she is
Father Merrin. Father Lamont is too shocked for most of this before finally
snapping out of his shock and finally making the image go away. At Regan’s
insistence, Lamont tells Tuskin that she will not remember any of what she just
saw and both are snapped out of the hypnosis. Tuskin asks what happened and Liz
tells her that her was having issues and Lamont had to get her out of the
trance. I know this is all confusing to read and trust me, it is confusing
writing. Bottom line is neither Regan nor Tuskin remember what they saw during
the hypnosis, but Father Lamont does as he saw how Regan from the past killed
Father Merrin via a Jedi like stopping of the heart trick.
Regan
works with children at the institute and draws a face for a kid while Tuskin
talks with Lamont. Tuskin asks if Lamont saw what he needed to see and Lamont explains
that the demon that possessed Regan killed Father Merrin. Tuskin tries to
explain that it all could have just been a dream and not what really happened. Liz
says that Regan drew a picture of Lamont and here is what it is.
The
fire is eventually extinguished and because both breathed in some smoke, they
had to get oxygen help from portable oxygen tanks when the fire department
arrives to get it out. Despite this premonition moment and moment with the
hypnosis machine, Tuskin just sees it as coincidence as Lamont sees it that the
demon is still inside Regan, even though if anyone watched the Exorcist, that
demon transferred into Karras, who killed himself. Lamont wants to now sync with
Regan so he can deal with the demon inside her and Tuskin doesn’t know if she
wants to let him do this.
We then
go to Regan sleeping that night when a voice calls for Regan (that voice being
the demon that possessed her). In her dream, we go to Africa as people are just
looking at the camera. We then see that the camera is the view of a locust.
Regan
wakes up, but goes back to sleep. Back in the dream, we see a child being
carried by others.
Also,
they are dealing with a giant locust swarm that is coming.
The kid
that the others were carrying swings around some string thing (I don’t know
what it is called) and it sends the locusts away. Regan is now in a sleep
walking trance and she walks outside, which is not the greatest to do while
sleepwalking since she is on an upper floor of a high rise building.
Doves
actually end up waking up Regan from her sleepwalking and she screams as she is
on the edge and nearly falls. Sharon comes in looking for Regan and finds her
outside with the doves. Sharon tells Regan that she might not be home when she
gets back from school today (as Sharon needs to go back to DC to do some things
Regan’s mom didn’t finish before she left) so Regan will need to let herself
in.
We cut
to DC on a rainy day as Sharon looks over those now historical stairs.
Oh And
For Some Reason, Lamont Is There As Well
Sharon
says that she is here because Regan would want her to help any way she could
with Father Merrin and she believes he gave his life for Regan.
Am I
Seriously Chopped Liver Here?
Sharon
wonders if they will make Merrin a saint and Lamont says the world doesn’t want
any more saints (which is incorrect since I counted and since 1977, there have
been 25 people who have been named saints). They actually go inside the house
that the McNeils used to live in and where the exorcism from the first film
took place. Lamont asks if Merrin ever have a name of the demon and Sharon says
no, but the demon did know who Father Merrin was. It also seemed like the demon
was actually expecting Father Merrin and Sharon thinks it feared him. They then
go to the room where it happened and when Lamont enters, there is a locust that
isn’t really there.
Hey,
I’m Just As Confused As You Are Why I’m Here
Lamont
prays for the soul of Father Merrin, who died in that room. We then cut to
Lamont immediately back in New York and meeting once again with Tuskin. We
learn that Tuskin has 2 children of her own, but unfortunately she is divorced.
It is now back to the hypnosis machine as Regan and Father Lamont are now
synced into it.
I
Really Need A Drink
You may
think that joke was rather cruel, but it wasn’t. Just like the last movie I did
with an Ennio Morricone score, the top male actor in this film also decided to
get drunk during the filming of this film and this can be confirmed by Linda
Blair, who said while Richard Burton started to be sober, he got progressively
drunk as days went on into shooting this film. But unlike Richard Harris in
Orca, I cannot explain why Richard Burton was this way and Richard Burton
didn’t try to do his own stunts in hopes that one of those stunts might kill
him.
However,
this time it is not at the exorcism and instead it is in Africa where Father
Merrin is. In Father Merrin’s own words, he is there to look at a boy has a
gift of driving the locusts away, but the boy may also be the reason as to why
the locusts also come. Oh and we see Max Van Sydow when he was not in old guy
makeup like he was in most of The Exorcist.
Merrin
watches as the boy drives away the locusts and when the boy falls, he sees that
the boy is possessed.
We then
hear the demon’s voice (which is the same demon as that took over Regan) and we
hear the demon call himself Pazuzu. Yep…..the well known fact that Regan was
possessed by Pazuzu was not even mentioned in the first film, but it was
revealed in this film. And I actually looked this up to see if this was some
bullshit name that someone came up with…..and Pazuzu is actually a real demon. Also,
this was also in the novel that the demon possessing Regan was Pazuzu so I
guess Boorman had at least read the damn book of the first one before doing
this shitty sequel.
We then
see Merrin exorcising Pazuzu out of the boy on the side of a cliff.
Which
That Seems Unnecessarily Dangerous
And of
course it is there are people working with Father Merrin on this exorcism that
fall to their death.
Again….Why
Are We Doing This On The Side Of A Cliff
Then we
see them continuing the exorcism inside a temple as it seems even the people in
this movie realize that doing an exorcism on the side of a cliff is an
incredibly stupid idea. Anyway, the exorcism works and we find out the name of
this child that was possessed and saved was Kokumo. In the trance, Merrin also
finds out that Kokumo is still in Africa as an adult and now has powers to fight
Pazuzu.
And Is
Now James Earl Jones, Who Can Roar Like A Leopard To Scare Your Ass Away
So this
whole scene was kind of a pain in the ass to do as the locusts used in this film
were imported from England and they rapidly died during filming (of the 2500
locusts that were imported, 100 would die every day). But that wasn’t all the
problems that this film caused because I should mention that while filming
these scenes in the California deserts (they never filmed in Africa), director
John Boorman developed a respiratory fungal infection known as San Joaquin
Valley Fever, which was serious enough to keep his ass out action for a
freaking month and caused production to be cancelled for that month.
But the
problems did not end after they got out of the California desert as the
original film editor quit this film and had to be replaced while it was going
on. Both Louise Fletcher (who played Tuskin) and Kitty Winn (who played Sharon)
suffered gall bladder infections. Now I know I have heard of cursed film
productions, but this is definitely one of them and considering the result of
all of this, I don’t know if anyone had fun making this film. Now that I think
of it, the headache of this film could be why Richard Burton decided to start
opening up the bottle and drinking his way through this film.
But I
need to get back to this movie (which by the way, I’m not even an hour into
this mess yet). The session ends with both of them out of the trance and both
Lamont and Regan (who wasn’t supposed to remember anything) realize they were
in Africa. Lamont tells Tuskin after Regan leaves that he may need to head to
Africa and find Kokumo, as he might be able to help him beat Pazuzu.
Meanwhile,
Regan is talking to a young autistic girl….and wait a minute.
Regan
has a conversation with the little girl (whose name is Sandra) and tells her
she got possessed by a demon. She also talks to her mother who is shocked that
she is talking now and of course this makes the mother very happy. Because yes,
a very bad form of autism (I should know…I was at that stage when I was 3 and
still sometimes have trouble with remembering words) can take away your ability
to have the ability to speak and sometimes you need speech therapy to
eventually get you to the point where you can carry on a normal conversation
(if that even happens).
Oh….Mrs.
Phalor Is More Than Happy To Hear Her Daughter Talk
Tuskin
and Lamont come in and hear what happened. They are both shocked by this
development. Regan is hopeful that she can start helping some of the other kids
to with their issues and Tuskin says that while that was great what she did,
please don’t try that again as it may make things work with other kids. After
Regan leaves with Sharon, Lamont tells Tuskin he believes the demon Pazuzu was
behind this and they need to get the demon out. Tuskin storms off and tells
Lamont to stay away from Regan.
Lamont
goes to a museum and somehow runs into Regan there. They have a conversation and
they see what looks like the temple where Father Merrin fought Pazuzu. Lamont
finds out that this temple is in Ethiopia and decides he needs to go there. He
goes to the Vatican to tell the cardinal about his need to head to Africa
because if he can find Kokumo, he can prove the exorcisms were valid and he
might be able to beat Pazuzu, who believes is still in Regan. The cardinal is
not pleased that Lamont is doing more than merely investigating the exorcisms. The
cardinal tells him that he is off the investigation and to not have anything
more to do with this case. He will also go on retreat to calm down.
After
Father Lamont leaves, we see Regan looking once again from her high rise
building that she resides in. We then see that Lamont is in Ethiopia and is
climbing the cliff with others and goes to the temple. He receives what looks
like communion. Back in New York, Tuskin comes by looking for Regan and Sharon
says she is on the roof. Tuskin goes to the roof and Regan says she wished the
doctor would help Father Lamont by allowing her to use the hypnosis machine to
synch with the priest. We see that Regan has been missing appointments with
Tuskin because she is upset that she is not allowed to be with the priest. Tuskin
says she cant because she has to do what she believes is best for the patient.
Back in
Ethiopia, Lamont asks if anyone remembers Father Merrin and a guide says that
the abbot might remember. He takes him to the abbot.
HEY
ABBOT…. (He Might Hate Me For Doing That)
Oh Come
On, You Know I Had To Do That Robin Hood: Men In Tights Joke
The
abbot says he knew Father Merrin as a holy man. He also knew the boy that he
brought to the exorcism and that a monk fell to his death because of a “devil
wind”.
Anyway,
they never found the monk’s body. So Lamont decides to go down the cliff and
show him where the body is (since he saw what happened in his vision). We go
back to New York and Regan is doing her dance number.
No I
Will Not Be Doing Another Mel Brookes Joke (This Time In The Blazing Saddles
Film)….Although I Really Want To.
We go
back to Ethiopia and he shows where the body is, which was wedged between
rocks.
Damn….It
Really Got Wedged In There
They
now think Lamont is a devil worshipper and chase him away while rocks, which
Regan can somehow feel all the way in New York. Regan goes into a fit and has
to be taken to Tuskin, who drugs her so she can go to sleep. Lamont tries to
find where Kokumo is at a convent, but they have no clue. A plane comes by with
a cross this convent ordered and the pilot of that plane is named Edwards.
Hi, Ned
Beatty
Edwards
in fact knows what city Lamont is looking for and offers to take him there,
which Lamont accepts. During the plane ride, they see planes spraying DDT in
hopes of getting rid of the locusts that have been plaguing the area. While
Lamont is searching for Kokumo at the village, Regan is resting in bed at the
institute and later takes out the IV keeping her drugged. Some of the villagers
think Lamont is looking for hooker and take him to one. And I will not show you
the supposed hooker, but I will say she is nice looking and Father Lamont
(being a priest) declines.
Regan
and Lamont are in sync somehow and she leads him to Kokumo. Kokumo is of course
wearing a locust outfit.
Don't Tell Me How Stupid I Look?
Kokumo
is told of the situation and yet believes Lamont has lost his faith which was
why he had Pazuzu’s help to locate him. Kokumo tells him to prove it by coming
to him, which involves walking through a floor of nails.
He then
spits out a small apple.
What Is
The Point In This? No Idea…
He
steps on the nail, which obviously hurts and it looks like he is about to fall
into the nails when they suddenly turn into a regular floor. He is now in a
different room and Kokumo looks a bit different now.
Huh? Well, That Was All Pointless!
Anyway,
Kokumo tells him all that stuff with the town was just the heat getting to him.
Lamont tells him once again about Father Merrin and we see now that Kokumo has
become a scientist who is researching locusts. It is basically a case where
they are trying to breed the harmful side of locusts out of the species.
Lamont
goes back to New York as Regan leaves the hospital on her own, without
authorization. Tuskin is bathing her two kids when she gets a call that Regan
has left. Sharon then gets a phone call that Regan has run away and it is at
this moment Lamont rings the doorbell. Sharon is not happy with Lamont as she
thinks he is causing all these issues with Regan and tells the priest to leave
them alone. Lamont then finds Regan….at the museum.
Makes
Sense To Me…(Not Really, But I Just Want To Get This Over With)
She
asks if Kokumo told him how to fight Pazuzu and Lamont says that Kokumo told
him that good and evil are fighting inside of her. She brought the hypnosis
machine that she seems to have stolen so they can sync together while Tuskin
goes to find Regan herself. Regan and Lamont go to a seedy apartment to do the
hypnosis syncing. They do the syncing and we see possessed Regan from the past
telling Father Merrin that he is dying. We then go back to Africa in the
visions where we see Kokumo as a child once again chasing the locusts away.
We hear
from Merrin that Lamont must take his place in dealing with exorcisms and
taking care of Regan. The alarm sounds and they both wake out of the hypnosis. They
leave the seedy apartment room and go to a train station although Lamont seems
to be in a trance. Regan sees an issue and goes to the telephone to call Tuskin
for help. We find out that Lamont is going to DC and the house where the first
film took place. Tuskin tells her not to go with him, but Regan says she has to
because it is her fault they are in this mess. Regan hangs up and goes with
Lamont to DC. Tuskin decides that she is also going to DC as well and Sharon is
coming with her.
In the
train, Regan tries to wake Lamont out of a trance and the conductor thinks she
is trying to steal from him. When he is thinking of taking her away, Father
Lamont says the conductor should leave her alone as she belongs to him. Tuskin
and Sharon are stopped at a car crash as someone needs a doctor and Tuskin
(being a doctor) goes to help. On the train, Lamont talks about the demon
getting nearer and we see Tuskin and Sharon on a plane, hoping to beat them to
DC.
They
both get to DC around the same time and while Lamont and Regan are easily able
to get on a bus, Tuskin and Sharon have problems with getting a cab because of
assholes. The bus obviously gets there first as the priest and the teen take
the stairs. Lamont enters the house with Regan not far behind. Lamont enters Regan’s
old room and locusts swarm out of it.
Oh
Boy….Someone’s Gotta Call The Exterminator.
Not
That Kind!!!!
The cab
loses control and crashes through the gate.
Alright….Pazuzu,
I’m Gonna Need You To Hand Over Your License Because You Obviously Are
Suspended From Driving
Sharon gets
out while the cab driver is dead. Tuskin asks for Sharon’s help to get her out,
but Sharon makes Tuskin say that she needs to help Regan fight Pazuzu. Lamont
falls down from the locust swarm and is able to point Regan to her room. Regan
enters the room and sees her possessed younger self.
Tuskin
is eventually able to get out of the cab, but for some reason, Sharon will not
allow her to enter the house. Inside, Lamont restrains Regan and is about to
give her to the possessed younger Regan (who we will now just call Pazuzu), but
Lamont is stopped when Regan tells him to remember Father Merrin. Pazuzu tries
to tell Lamont that Pazuzu’s Regan is the only Regan and Lamont starts making
out with Pazuzu.
I Would
Thank God It Isn’t An Alter Boy, But Since Regan Is Still Meant To Be A
Teenager….I Don’t Think This Is Any Better.
Pazuzu
tells Lamont to kill Regan as Sharon gets possessed and sets herself on fire.
Lamont
attacks Regan, but Kokumo speaks through Regan to remind Lamont about the good
locust. That doesn’t work so she says “Por Que” which reminds him of the woman
he could not save from the beginning and that breaks him out of this trance. He
attacks Pazuzu as Tuskin checks on Sharon. Meanwhile, a locust is coming.
But
that locust and other locusts break a window in an attempt to attack Lamont. The
house starts breaking apart as Pazuzu tries to fly away, but Lamont keeps her
to the ground. Lamont rips Pazuzu’s heart out.
Confused
Yet…..Because I Sure As Shit Am
Pazuzu
falls over dead and Regan does the same thing a young Kokumo did to chase away
the locusts, which banishes the actual Pazuzu as well.
Both
Lamont and Regan come out of the destroyed house as Tuskin is holding the dying
Sharon. Lamont performs the Last Rites on Sharon and she dies. Regan is sad
that her guardian has now died as Lamont and Tuskin go over to her. Tuskin
apologizes and says she understands now, but the world won’t. Tuskin tells the
two to go and tells Lamont to watch over Regan. Regan and Lamont leave as the
police arrive and neighbors arrive, wondering what happened. And with the
awesome music by Ennio Morricone, we go to credits and end this movie.
So how
did this film do, you may ask? Well, the 1970s were a different time and when I
say that, I mean….most movies don’t come out everywhere at once so to be a
movie that makes money for weeks and weeks, you need to have good word of mouth
so while Exorcist II did make over two times its budget with a $30.7 million
box office against a $14 million budget, it didn’t even come close to the $112.3
million box office the first film made (and that’s before you get into
re-releases) so definitely not what Warner Bros. wanted. It was hated by
critics and both Blatty and Friedkin. It was also not well liked by even the
people behind it as Linda Blair called it an embarrassment and John Boorman
also thought he didn’t make a good film. But eventually, there was an Exorcist
III (although it wasn’t originally meant to be called that) directed by the
original author of the Exorcist book William Peter Blatty, which is good
(despite only having a 59% Rotten Tomatoes rating) and made 4 times its budget.
The series would then do a prequel that was such a mess that two different
versions of that prequel were released and then Universal paid a crap ton of
money for the Exorcist rights so they could make Exorcist: Believer…..which
bombed a lot.
Everyone
had their big breaks already or they were coming except for Dana Plato, who a
year after this movie came out, would get the role of Kimberly Drummond on Diff’rent
Strokes, but after that…had trouble finding work, getting into trouble, and her
most notable roles after Diff’rent Strokes were Bikini Beach Race, Desperation
Boulevard, and a video game that was highlighted when the government went after
video games….
The
Sega CD Game Known As Night Trap
Oh and
Richard Paul (while decently known by those in the industry) also got his
biggest role in 1996 with The People vs. Larry Flynt where he played the real
life asshole known as Reverend Jerry Falwell.
Fuck Jerry
Falwell
Now we
sadly have to talk about the people who are since no longer with us. Richard
Burton’s (who played Father Lamont) drinking sadly didn’t get any better as his
health was failing him (he had bursitis, arthritis, cirrhosis of the liver,
dermatitis, kidney disease, and was developing a limp) and in 1984, he died
from a intracerebral hemorrhage at the age of 58. Barbara Cason (who played
Mrs. Phalor) died in 1990 at the age of 61 from a heart attack. Paul Henreid
(who played The Cardinal) died in 1992 at the age of 84 from pneumonia. Ken
Renard (who played the Abbot) passed away in 1993 at the age of 77. George
Skaff (who also had an unnamed minor role) died in 1995 at the age of 65.
Richard Paul (who was a man on the plane Tuskin and Sharon flew to get to DC)
died in 1998 at the age of 58 from cancer. Raven Grey Eagle (who played an
uncredited role as a Native) passed away in 1998 at the age of 70. Dana Plato
(who had the uncredited role of Sandra Phalor) never got over her drug abuse
problems and in 1999, she killed herself via a drug overdose. Robert Lussier
(who had an unmentioned minor role) left this mortal coil in 2019 at the age of
84. Max Von Sydow (who played Father Merrin) left this mortal coil in 2020
(before COVID lockdown began) at the age of 90. Ennio Morricone (the film’s
composer) had a fall in 2020 that causes injuries to his femur and he died from
those injuries at the age of 91. Ned Beatty (who played Edwards) passed away in
2022 at the age of 83 from natural causes. Louise Fletcher (who played Dr. Gene
Tuskin) passed away in 2022 at the age of 88 from natural causes. James Earl
Jones (who played the older Kokumo) left this mortal coil more than a month ago
in 2024 at the age of 93.
Now
time for my thoughts and the only good thing I can say about this movie is it’s
soundtrack thanks to Mr. Morricone. All of the good actors in this film could
not save what was just a mess, as the story for the most part made no freaking
sense and it wasn’t at all scary. You may have been at times confused as to
what was going on reading this should know I was just as confused explaining it
to you and sometimes had to go to other people to explain to me what happened. I
remember watching this after watching the original Exorcist on Monstervision
back in the day and I feel asleep through this film (which was really sad as I
missed the next film Exorcist III, which was also part of that marathon). John
Boorman was definitely the wrong director for this film and its why I have
always said to NEVER hire a director for a sequel who didn’t like the original
film if the original film was good on its own.
Now for
the next induction which would have gone to the winner of the March Madness
pool done in March and what do you know, I won it so I get to pick the film.
Originally, I was going to pick a film I wanted to feature and maybe enjoy as I
induct it, but I decided to actually throw you the readers all a bone and pick
a film that has been on my Monster Crap Induction polls for quite a while and I
was getting complaints about it never winning so here you go. My next Monster
Crap induction will be 2006’s Night Of The Living Dead 3D.
Don’t
Tell Me I Don’t Do Anything For You Guys And Gals.
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