Exorcist II: The Heretic (17-Jun-1977)
Director: John Boorman Writer: William Goodhart Music Composed and Conducted by: Ennio Morricone Producers: John Boorman; Richard Lederer Keywords: Horror, Possession, Exorcism First sequel to The Exorcist (1973).
CAST Linda Blair | ... Regan | Richard Burton | ... Fr. Lamont | Louise Fletcher | ... Dr. Gene Tuskin | Max von Sydow | ... Fr. Merrin | | Starring | Kitty Winn | ... Sharon | Paul Henreid | ... The Cardinal | James Earl Jones | ... Older Kokumo | | with | Ned Beatty | ... Edwards | Belinha Beatty | ... Liz | Rose Portillo | ... Spanish Girl | Barbara Cason | ... Mrs. Phalor | Joey Green | ... Young Kokumo | Tiffany Kinney | ... Deaf Girl | Charles Parks | ... | Lorry Goldman | ... Accident Victim | Richard Paul | ... Man on Airplane | Robert Lussier | ... | George Skaff | ... | | Fiseha Dimetros | ... Young Monk | Ken Renard | ... Abbot | Hank Garrett | ... Conductor | George Skaff | ... | Bill Grant | ... Taxi Driver | Shane Butterworth | ... Tuskin Child | Joey Lauren Adams | ... Tuskin Child |
REVIEWS Review by anonymous (posted on 27-Aug-2005) "Exorcist II: The
Heretic" has always been seen as a terrible movie, a disastrous
abomination that ruined the concept of sequels for all time. Is it so?
No. Well, yes and no. As a horror film, "Exorcist II" is certainly a
failure. There is no horror, simple as that. But director John Boorman
didn't set out to make a horror film, at least it seems extremely
unlikely that he did. Instead, "Exorcist II" is an avant-garde fantasy,
bordering on dada, that owes much more to the seminal works of Jean
Cocteau and Maya Deren than anything or anyone else. On this level, the
film is brilliant, even a masterpiece. It is unfortuanate that the
audiences that have seen and will see this movie have little if any
knowledge or understanding of the avant-garde; thus, the horror buffs
who view this film will be put off by the seemingly random flights of
surreal symbolism that the film takes off in. And since there is no
horror, that will seal their opinion of the movie as one big
pretentious bore, albeit a beautifully filmed one. A tremendous pity
indeed. If this was marketed right, and the audiences that enjoy this
sort of thing had the chance to see it, "Exorcist II" would have a
complete overhaul of it's reputation. But one has to question the logic
of placing the sequel to perhaps the greatest horror film ever made in
such an abstract setting in the first place. It's almost as if Boorman
was attempting to redefine the horror genre itself, by completely
eschewing it. Who knows, really, what he was thinking. Or what poor
Linda Blair must have thought when this undoubtably heroic effort was
so negatively received; she was still a teenager at the time, could not
have really been aware of what the film meant, only that her headline
role crashed and burned and took along her future as a major star. Seen
today by fans of the "Exorcist" series, or horror fans in general, it
is unlikely that "Exorcist II: The Heretic" will be any more
appreciated than it was in 1977. But that still doesn't take away from
it's inherent beauty, in fact it's lush DVD restoration only adds to
the film's dazzling aura. But this movie MUST be seen by those who
understand avant-garde cinema. (Maybe for fans of psychedelia-- but
that is neither here nor there.)
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