Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) – MOVIE REVIEW

By Geno McGahee

In 1973, one of the most influential and terrifying horror movies, THE EXORCIST came out and immediately impacted the public. People were reported to be fleeing the cinemas in fear, and so when a sequel to the film came out, people were eager to see it. I have waited this long to see it because everyone has told me it was terrible, but I decided, finally, to judge for myself.

Regan (Linda Blair) is living among slow people and others with problems and is working with a psychologist to overcome her past. Hypnotherapy is being used to do so, but it has awoken the demon that used to possess her….well, sort of. I initially enjoyed this movie…for about 10 minutes.

A priest, Father Lamont (Richard Burton) is dispatched to Regan to find out what happened at the exorcist that ended with death, and he quickly figures out that a demon named “Pazuzu” is still linked to Regan and he hopes to save her, including jumping into a seat across from her during hypnotherapy and linking directly to her. The psychologist apparently had no issue with this and considering that Lamont didn’t know what he was doing, it didn’t seem like a good idea to me. It was ridiculous and funny.

The movie that started out with promise shifts over to a hunt in Africa for Kokumo (James Earl Jones), a man that knows how to stop demons and the movie nosedives quickly. We get some strange grasshopper obsession throughout the rest. They were really impressed with the close up flying grasshopper special effect and used it over and over again.

The shifting focus from Regan to Kokumo ruined the movie. Realistically, there is almost no possession in this movie. It wasn’t scary and became very difficult to get through. As much as Blair and Burton were very good in their roles, the script was just terrible. That was the biggest issue. The film was very good visually with some neat shots and interesting imagery, but it was missing the most valuable element: a good story.

EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC is as bad as advertised. It started with a lot of promise but quickly loses any momentum it has and becomes a huge mess without any resemblance to the first entry. This was a major disappointment.

Rating: 2/10.