NNDB
This is a beta version of NNDB
Search: for
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).

NameOccupationBirthDeathKnown for
Ned Beatty
Actor
6-Jul-1937   Deliverance
Linda Blair
Actor
22-Jan-1959   Head spins in Exorcist
Richard Burton
Actor
10-Nov-1925 5-Aug-1984 Nineteen Eighty Four
Louise Fletcher
Actor
22-Jul-1934   Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Paul Henreid
Actor
10-Jan-1908 29-Mar-1992 Casablanca
James Earl Jones
Actor
17-Jan-1931   Voice of Darth Vader and CNN
Richard Paul
Actor
6-Jun-1940 25-Dec-1998 Born to play Jerry Falwell
Max von Sydow
Actor
10-Apr-1929   The Exorcist

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.)


Have you seen this film? We would love to see your review.
Submit your review for this film


Do you know something we don't?
Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile



Copyright ©2019 Soylent Communications