Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
Having not seen this in years with the overall feeling that it was rather poor i decided to re-evaluate it the other night.
I rather enjoyed it.
Linda Blair returns four years later as 16-year-old Regan MacNeil who is undergoing psychiatric monitoring following her ordeal in D.C. Claiming not to remember any of it, her doctor, as played by Louise Fletcher, feels she's repressing her memories.
Enter Richard Burton as Father Lamont who wants to get inside Regan's head and get to the bottom of the notion that she still may be under the influence of the Assyrian demon Pazuzu and exorcising it once and for all.
There's too much tribal mysticism which constantly took me out of pivotal scenes as the film reached it's heart stopping climax but on the whole it's less of a mess than i remembered. Linda Blair is pretty good and Richard Burton teeters on the edge of OTT-ness with a performance that is never less than watchable. Director John Boorman almost ruins the films structure with his obsession with tribal dancing but also provides a few memorable roof top moments that teeter on the edge in a different way.
Although not a patch on the first film, nor as good as the third, Exorcist II: The Heretic isn't anywhere near as terrible as the critics say nor as bad as i thought. So much so as i'd now class it as flawed but interesting.
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