THE EXORCIST III (1990)

Call it a hunch, but I think at one point there might have been a good movie hidden somewhere in here.  Unfortunately, that good movie didn't make it to the screen.  What did make it to the screen is a promising idea that's garbled all up and nowhere near as graphic or shocking as it should have been.

Fifteen years ago there was a serial killer haunting Georgetown and killing people in gruesome ways.  He was caught and executed.  Now suddenly the killings start up again and the killer is using the same unpublished techniques that the original killer used.  Police Lieutenant George C. Scott, who worked on the original case, is extremely shook up.  Then, when his best friend is tortured to death in a local hospital he takes it personally.  What does all of this have to do with the original Exorcist film you ask?  Not a whole hell of a lot until towards the end of the film they awkwardly shoehorn in a supernatural storyline featuring ol' Pazuzu as the killer!  What the f?

There are a few good moments of suspense (the hallway scene, the dining room scene), but for the most part, THE EXORCIST III looks like it was the victim of too much studio involvement.  Overall, it's still a good 90's movie that's worth checking out.  It'll probably be a disappointment to the majority of horror fans, but hey, it's still better than Part 2.

Original trilogy
Part 1 - The Exorcist (1973)
Part 2 - Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

Prequel films
Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005)

Sequel trilogy
Sequel 1 - The Exorcist: Believer (2023)

EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC (1977)

"It was horrible, utterly horrible... and fascinating!"

I have a feeling that the makers of EXORCIST II had no idea what the public wanted.  If they had, they damn sure wouldn't have made this mess!

A few years after the events of the original film, Regan is in therapy and the Vatican wants to know why Father Merrin died.  So they send in Father Richard Burton to investigate.  He meets Regan and her therapist and even sits in on a session where they use a "synchronizer" that connects two people's brainwaves (...it's all very silly) and low and behold Pazuzu shows up!  Burton has a vision of a younger Father Merrin fighting Pazuzu in Ethiopia, so he travels there for answers.  Does he get them?  I have no idea, because by this time my eyes had already rolled back in my head six hundred and sixty-six times and I was getting dizzy.

I'm sure the filmmakers had they hearts in the right place, but unfortunately they didn't have their brains in the right place, cause if they had they would have just made another film just like the original except make it even more violent and more perverse!  The original shocked the money out of audiences pocketbooks with a creepy atmospheric buildup that boiled over into a final act exploding with blasphemy, perversion and sickness.  None of that happens in the sequel.  The closest we get is at the end when Regan goes back to the house and wears some yellow contacts.  Wow.

Every film has it's fans and I'm sure E2TH is no different, but from a horror standpoint this film is a complete waste of time that's full of metaphysical baloney, absurd dialogue, Richard Burton putting out a roaring fire with a crutch(!!!) and dreamy imaginary instead of gooey demon makeup, crucifix fucking and projectile vomit.

Not a bad film but the fans deserved better.  Worth watching for the curiosity factor alone.

Original trilogy
Part 1 - The Exorcist (1973)
Part 3 - Exorcist III (1990)

Prequel films
Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005)

Sequel trilogy
Sequel 1 - The Exorcist: Believer (2023)