Be Honest: Who Likes This Better Than the Original?

I love both films. I don't really compare the two, just like I don't compare the first "Blair Witch Project" and its sequel. Both are great IN THEIR OWN WAYS.

I disliked "Exorcist II" when I first saw it as a kid, mainly because back then sequels were supposed to be like the originals.
But I like it now, as an adult. It could have been edited better for sure, but I loved the reasoning behind Regan's possession. The music & cinematography is creepy definitely.



"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."

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One of my all-time favorite films. Seriously.

Here is my IMDb comment:

Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

"Does great goodness draw evil upon itself?"

23 January 2009 - 6 out of 9 users found this review helpful.

William Peter Blatty, author of THE EXORCIST, based the character of Father Lankester Merrin on the Jesuit scholar and mystic Teilhard De Chardin. In books such as The Phenomenon of Man and The Divine Milieu, De Chardin theorized a metaphysical concept he called the World Mind, which sees all minds as joined and gradually evolving into a full awareness of Being as a single consciousness akin to the New Thought idea of Christ Consciousness--the "only begotten" extension of Universal Mind, or God. This idea, a synthesis of Christian and Asian religious concepts, is resonant with many unorthodox spiritual teachings from Theosophy to the psychology of Carl Jung. After De Chardin's death his papers were suppressed by the Vatican and his work was investigated on charges of heresy (his ideas being judged heretical by the standards of the Roman Catholic Church).

When Blatty declined to write Warner Bros.' sequel, John Boorman and his creative associate Rospo Pallenberg developed an original script from a treatment by playwright William Goodhart, the credited screenwriter. Boorman accepted the project as a means to artistically express metaphysical ideas in which he was absorbed. The link to Teilhard De Chardin provided an ideal venue. The story of Father Lamont's spiritual odyssey is specifically a meditation on the Grail Quest theme, derived from Celtic mysticism and Arthurian legend, which underlie a thematically-related sequence in Boorman's early work: DELIVERANCE, ZARDOZ, EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC, EXCALIBUR and THE EMERALD FOREST, comprising an important cinematic exploration of the Quest as Initiatory path.

In EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC, the late Father Merrin's reputation has fallen into disrepute and Father Lamont (Richard Burton), suffering a crisis of faith, is ordered by the Cardinal to investigate "the circumstances surrounding the death of Father Merrin" and the legitimacy of the exorcism of Regan McNeil before Merrin's papers (his life's work) can be released.

The title character of THE EXORCIST was that of Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow); this role then passed to the younger priest, Father Karras (Jason Miller). Just so, the heretic in EXORCIST II is initially Merrin until, through young Regan (Linda Blair), Father Lamont makes contact with the mind of Merrin and in that psychic joining shares his vision. Thus Lamont's descent into (and beyond) heresy is an initiatory quest which deepens as he goes against the Church's orders and ultimately calls upon the demon for guidance to the "evil heart" of the mystery.

In the scene at the Natural History Museum, the attentively listening viewer will discover (in the full 117-minute version) that Father Lamont tells Regan about Teilhard de Chardin and briefly explains the World Mind theory. The science-fictional device called the Synchronizer allows the World Mind concept to be expressed in cinematic images. (Among the many differences between this film and THE EXORCIST is that the original's emphasis is strongly verbal whereas THE HERETIC expresses its complex ideas almost entirely in visual and symbolic terms.) A distinction is drawn between the peace and unity of the World Mind and the insanity ("evil") and corruption of its opposite, the ego: a state of separation from consciousness which mimics the One-Mindedness of God or the Universe.

In THE HERETIC, this imitation or false Christ is personified by Pazuzu, the Babylonian genie and locust god--one of many "heathen" idols demonized in the Judeo-Christian tradition. (The demon was named in Blatty's novel but not in the original film.) Its activity of separation masked as joining is symbolized by the locust swarm which forms a single-mindlessness ("a Locust Mind, if you will") in mockery of Whole (Holy) Consciousness (Spirit). The resulting psychic fragmentation is reflected in the mirror images which permeate the film. Regan represents an evolutionary step toward the "Omega Point", the healing of the separation; a forerunner of Kubrick's Star Child.

John Boorman's film doesn't spell itself out for the viewer any more than does Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and there is no Arthur C. Clarke novel to "explain it all for us". Boorman intends THE HERETIC to stimulate intelligent and imaginative thought and speculation. Where Kubrick and Clarke's ideas (initially met with great perplexity) have long been sanctioned as worthy of consideration, Boorman's somehow flew over the heads of a viewer-ship which, threatened by the film's non-dualistic subversion of the original's simplistic "good vs. evil" formula, has for almost forty years ridiculed a misunderstood artwork.

The original mass audience which condemned the film on first release was fresh from making the relatively ghastly Italian EXORCIST imitation BEYOND THE DOOR a huge box office success because it gave them what they wanted and only what they wanted: puke, puke and more puke. And so like the swarming locusts, the mundane Philistine mentality mindlessly repeats the hypnotic chant: "worst film, worst sequel, worst..."

During the disastrous initial release, Warner Bros. hastily issued instructions to theaters to remove specified sections of the film which had drawn audience hostility, without consulting the director. Under extreme pressure, Boorman subsequently prepared a third, more carefully edited version for the international release. The re-editing rendered a difficult and highly symbolic film incomprehensible to the horror-show expectations of the audience. The most significant deletion was the discussion of Teilhard De Chardin's World Mind theory, the central focus of the film.

This bastardized version debuted on cable in the United States and for a decade the film was available exclusively in this distorted form. John Boorman's official cut, the full-length 117-minute Theatrical version, unseen since the early weeks of the initial release, was eventually restored for home video and is currently available on DVD. Mercifully, the Butcher's Cut has been permanently withdrawn.

Given his experience with the film, it is unlikely that Boorman would involve himself in a new Director's Cut edition. Given the disrespect shown the film, he seems to have washed his hands of it and its detractors.

Rating: 10/10 ***** EXTRAORDINARY.

By the way: the O.P. asked who likes THE HERETIC "better" than THE EXORCIST. I take this to imply preference rather than opinion.

I regard both films as genuine cinematic masterworks in their own, different ways, and I like and admire both enormously. EXORCIST II is more meaningful to me personally and thus has the edge. (And don't think that the 1% lock-step received public opinion hasn't changed over nearly 40 years.)

Doctor Mabuse, Evil Genius, King of Crime

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I like it better than The Exorcist. I rather disliked the first movie for a long time. As I was growing up, I watched hundreds of horror movies. And many, if not most, kids I knew repeated to me for years that The Exorcist was unsurpassed in horror, fright, and dread. When I finally got around to watching it, I was severely underwhelmed! I thought it was ok. But not very scary nor interesting. My guess was that it might be scary for Christian people, based upon their beliefs. For example, compare this with Santeria rituals, where possession is considered a normal, desirable thing! I couldn't relate to what the fuss was about.

Then I saw Exorcist II: The Heretic, and was surprised that the story was more interesting and involved. I didn't find the sequel scary either, but it drew me in as a well-made move with a kind of phantasmagorical wonder about it. Flawed, in some ways, but an interesting effort.

My opinions have become a bit more charitable to The Exorcist, since then. I watched it again in IIRC 2002 and felt that it was well written. and staged very well in the style of a classic horror movie production. It's a nicely crafted movie, and 15 years or so afforded me the perspective to appreciate the scope of the story beyond the sensational "lewd devil girl" aspects.

But, for all of that, Exorcist II: The Heretic is still more on the wavelength of my personal experience.

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I much prefer Exorcist 2 to the original.

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