I am not the Devil, I am you.

EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

After the horrific success of "The Exorcist," Linda Blair made a career of playing brutalized victims in such films as "Born Innocent" and "Sweet Hostage," not to mention the mediocre if still somewhat entertaining "Airport '75." But it was in 1977 that her career became cursed, to say the least. She starred in what was sure to be a classy production called "Exorcist II: The Heretic." There were big name talented stars such as Richard Burton (nominated the same year for Best Actor for "Equus") and Louise Fletcher (who won an Oscar the previous year for "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"), and an admired director named John Boorman, who helmed the brilliant "Deliverance." What could have gone wrong? The absence of writer William Peter Blatty? Yes, that's one factor, and he later wrote and directed the significantly better "The Exorcist III."

"Exorcist II" begins a few years later after the events of the first film. Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) is now living in a high-rise New York apartment building with her nanny/tutor Sharon (short-haired Kitty Winn returning from the original). Chris MacNeil (Regan's mother) is conspicuously absent, apparently shooting a film in Europe. Probably Ellen Burstyn refused to be in it after seeing the script. Regan now sees a psychiatrist (Louise Fletcher) who tries to uncover her memories from that fateful exorcism. Of course, Regan doesn't remember anything - she's still a happy-go-lucky kid who tap-dances badly to the mental patients in the hospital. Enter Father Lamont (Richard Burton, giving new definition to the term stoic) who knows a thing or two about exorcisms and Pazuzu from his travels in Africa. He asks the diocese to investigate Father Merrin's death, and seeks Regan who may have the clues. Father Lamont indulges in telepathic communication with Regan through the miracles of hypnosis by using a clunky-looking head strap, a blinking light with an ominous tone, and some wires. Poor Louise Fletcher watches them like a gaping idiot - there are endless stares throughout this film. Lamont later discovers that an African high priest named Kokumo (James Earl Jones) has the answers to Pazuzu's whereabouts, courtesy of a big African bug and some locusts.

At least, that is what I made of the plot but it is as confusing as Ned Beatty's brief appearance as a helicopter pilot. During its sneak previews and recutting for a re-release, "Exorcist II" was laughed off the screen both times and bombed badly at the box-office. No amount of recutting could do justice to it. The dialogue is full of unnatural, unintentionally funny lines such as, "Don't feel bad. I was possessed by the Devil once. I am okay now," or so Linda Blair should think. I also love Burton's classic delivery of a line he shouts to the bus driver, "NOW, GO!" Or how about the biggest howler when Ms. Fletcher asks Lamont: "Have you ever been with a woman, Father?" Lamont's response: "No," he says with a stupefying stare.

 People and events are depicted in "Exorcist II" so carelessly that we have no clue who or where people are in relation to a given setting. Burton seems to go back to Africa, Georgetown and New York so often that I was convinced he was a migrating Mephistopheles. At one odd moment, James Earl Jones is a high priest who turns out to be...an entomologist! I am still not clear how Lamont knows of Merrin's death or how he finds the MacNeils or why he would want to get close to Regan in the first place - she isn't possessed by Pazuzu in the entire film! And none of this makes Lamont a heretic since he embraces the dogma of the church, not oppose it. The ludicrous hypnosis scenes seem to go on forever and are akin to Ed Wood's territory, along with absurd close-ups of a moth approaching the screen as it flies around Africa looking very much like Mothra attacking Godzilla. The special-effects have been described as superb yet none is more ridiculous than Sharon's death by fire using obvious superimpositions, or the destruction of the MacNeil house that looks more ethereal than hellish using obvious matte shots. I can understand why Mr. Blatty laughed and snickered when he saw this with an audience in Georgetown.

None of this would matter if "Exorcist II" was at least scary, but it isn't. It's all boring spiritual mumbo-jumbo with affectless performances and incompetent direction and writing. What's amazing is that everyone in this laughable production took it so seriously. The demon's voice sounds like a soft-spoken female Reverend with none of the vocal power evident from Mercedes McCambridge in the original - she must have seen the script, too. And pity poor Linda Blair with plumpish cheeks, who at one point sees a whorish demonic double of herself. Chills and thrills begin to accumulate and, for a moment, you begin to think that director Boorman is finally getting it right. Too bad that it is at the end of the film.