All of this begins to tie back to the demonic activity that happened nearly two decades ago during the first film. Scott) who’s in the middle of a murder investigation that bears an eerie resemblance to a serial killer case of his from fifteen years back. The basic plot of Legion/Exorcist III revolves around Lieutenant Kinderman ( George C. Blatty instead turned Legion into a novel from his screenplay, but then, when Exorcist II was a massive misfire, Morgan Creek Productions turned back to Blatty with the hopes that he’d be interested in turning his Legion novel back into a screenplay and directing it for them (although at one point John Carpenter was in consideration to direct, which would have been extremely interesting). Friedkin passed on directing the film and the unfortunate Exorcist II: Heretic would eventually later go into production instead. William Peter Blatty originally wrote the screenplay for a film that was called Legion right after the release of The Exorcist. With how effective and powerful this film is, it’s easy to see why it’s held to such a high regard and with it now nearly thirty years old it holds up even better than ever. While Friedkin’s original film is obviously a classic, there are many that argue that Blatty’s sequel is in some ways even better. Fortunately, Exorcist III has since gone on to earn an admirable cult reputation and scrub away any stink from its initial release. ![]() ![]() It’s taken several decades for The Exorcist III to be properly appreciated and it’s been even longer for Blatty’s original version of the film to be properly realized. This results in a very powerful, frightening film, albeit not a conventional movie that many people were expecting (although it resonated strongly for some, like Jeffrey Dahmer, who considers it to be his favorite movie). It mixes a Fincher-esque serial killer narrative that has noir sensibilities with a stark spiritual story about faith and turning one’s back on religion. William Peter Blatty, the screenwriter of the original film and the novel of which it’s based upon, returns for Exorcist III and is able to course correct from The Heretic’s mistakes due to how it’s such an atypical horror film. The Exorcist II lost a lot of the goodwill and burnt out audiences with its melancholy rematch between Reagan and Pazuzu and Exorcist III largely has a bad reputation simply because Exorcist II is such a bust (one can also debate that Blatty’s The Ninth Configuration is actually the true stealth Exorcist II, but that’s a debate for another time). ![]() Sometimes the prospect of financial and commercial success can weigh out artistic integrity and even though The Exorcist requires no follow-up, of course, The Exorcist II: The Heretic happened. ![]() William Friedkin’s The Exorcist isn’t just considered to be one of the scariest and greatest horror movies, but it’s also seen as one of the best films of all time, period. Sequels are always a hard prospect in general, but they’re even more of a daunting task when the original film that they follow is a masterpiece and has a legendary reputation. William Peter Blatty’s misunderstood and maligned Exorcist sequel came out almost 30 years ago and is frightening people now more than ever.
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