Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

There's no need to elaborate on the why's or how's: The Exorcist II The Heretic is just the beginning of what would plague the cinemas for years to come: unoriginal, money-driven heaps that pay no mind to the originators & creators of the source material. Take every nonsense trope from your typical 70's soap opera or sci-fi and throw in Linda Blair and you get well.. to be honest I completely forgot what even happens in the film. I remember a POV of a locust (?) and a possessed native African man speaking English "I AM PAZUZU." ... um are you serious? God what a heap. It's like General Hospital with an exorcism theme and a few million dollars to blow. I honestly wish this project never existed. Fortunately, most people don't even know it exists.

If "The Exorcist" is one of the best horror films ever, this sequel can be one of the worst. The story seeks to give logical continuity to the first film but ends up losing all logic. Linda Blair retakes the character who made her famous, but she's so stupid and shallow that we just do not recognize her. Next to her comes the veteran Richard Burton, in the role of an unconvincing Catholic priest. In fact, he was already drowned in alcoholism in the same way that Blair might no longer be unknown to drugs. There is no merit in the support cast, no use talking. The script should have been used as toilet paper before the movie was shot. Everything that could be stuck in the film ended up appearing, invariably ridiculous, forced and pitiful: from obvious allusions to the hippies (watch costumes, for example) to an absurd story involving an African tribe, not to mention that box with strobe lights which left the person hypnotized. To make the salad more complete only the aliens and medieval knights were lacking. Can we offer this film to Pazuzu, to see if he takes the movie away for good?

I have all the respect in the world for John Boorman--his 'Point Blank' and 'Deliverance' are excellent--but this sequel to one of the greatest horror movies ever made simply falls listless and flat. Of course, the script is extremely talky and lifeless--as if it had been 'exorcised' of all the wonder and shock that William Friedkin's vision of the battle of good vs. evil would entail. Yes, Sir Richard Burton was a great actor--yet when shoehorned with a crappy script and with his more irritating peccadilloes left unrestrained, he can be such a chore and bore to watch. Though I have not seen the two more recent 'prequels' for the 'Exorcist' franchise, I can safely say that while 'Exorcist II' is not the worst horror movie ever made (that, by the way, never seemed its intention), it's certainly the worst of the original trilogy--and by a country mile. This is a work that would probably bore the demons so much, they would decide to get out of Regan MacNeil's body, and perhaps even leave Earth's plane altogether, never even wanting a return ticket.

a strange film. for its splendid cinematography and the rediscover of a Babylonian demon. for the performance of Richard Burton. for the fascinating ideas presented in not the most inspired manner. for the error to define it as the second part of the Exorcist. and for the sin of director to use that mistake . a film of the force of the good side of a person, it is an interesting religious film. not a horror but a trip in the heart of old believes and the need to redefine the truth. a film about seduction of evil and need to understand it. and that does the Heretic a real good film. not the exorcism, not the search of father Lamond to analyze an exorcism case. but the desire to assume the truth. for save a soul as part of personal salvation. the message and few extraordinary images. and a subtle message. ingredients who defines a film who, in a special manner, could be define as better by the Exorcist.