Serial Possession

On The Best Jump Scare, Lynch's Good Twin, and Exorcist III

This is part of a series of essays about my favourite horror sequels. Read the introduction here, and the full archive here. Subscribe for free to have it delivered to your inbox every other day in October. If you're enjoying it, you can show your appreciation by buying me a coffee or sharing it with friends.

Spoilers: I try my best not to spoil the films I discuss, but if spoilers ruin your viewing experience, it might be safer to watch the films before reading.

Exorcist III (1990) Dir. William Peter Blatty

Plot Summary: Father Dyer and Lieutenant Kinderman, brought together by the shared trauma of the events of The Exorcist, begin to suspect that a dead serial murderer known as The Gemini Killer is back.

"This, I believe in: I believe in death. I believe in disease. I believe in injustice and inhumanity, torture and anger and hate. I believe in murder. I believe in pain. I believe in cruelty and infidelity. I believe in slime and stink and every crawling, putrid thing... every possible ugliness and corruption, you son of a bitch. I believe... in you." - Kinderman

How do you follow one of the most critically and financially successful horror films of all time?

The Exorcist was a global, cultural phenomenon in 1973. It released on December 26th and remains the second highest Christmas week box office ever (second only to Titanic in 1997.) It stayed in the cinemas for 105 weeks (the fifth longest run, with only The Rocky Horror Show, Gone With The Wind, Star Wars: A New Hope and the Sound of Music lasting longer.) Los Angeles Theatre owner Harry Francis, in a 1974 issue of Time Magazine estimated that each performance of the film enacted a toll of four blackouts, half a dozen bouts of vomiting and multiple walkouts. Roger Ebert said of it in his review at the time:

"I am not sure exactly what reasons people will have for seeing this movie; surely enjoyment won't be one ... Are people so numb they need movies of this intensity in order to feel anything at all?" - Roger Ebert

Pauline Kael opined:

"How does one exorcise the effects of a movie like this? There is no way. The movie industry is such that men of no taste and no imagination can have an incalculable influence." - Pauline Kael

Even when she's wrong, she's right. Kael also described the film as "the biggest recruiting poster the Catholic Church has had." Regardless, The Exorcist was nominated for 10 Oscars, won two (Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sound), and is now regarded as one of, if not the finest horror film of all time. It spawned a whole host of spiritual Godaganda and supernatural films like The Omen, The Amityville Horror, Burnt Offerings, and The Sentinel (among others.) Mark Kermode calls it the best film ever made and produced a documentary - The Fear of God - to celebrate it's 25th Anniversary.

So how do you follow that up? Because make no mistake: a film made for $11 million, that goes on to make $430 million, is getting a sequel.

British director John Boorman's answer with The Exorcist II: The Heretic was to replace the existential questions of good vs evil and belief vs doubt with a sort of metaphysical exploration of technology vs religion. I think. I'm not entirely sure what the film is doing if I'm being completely honest. At one point Richard Burton - there in the film in body, if not in spirit - rides to Africa (the film doesn't bother to name which country in the continent) on the wings of a locust. William Friedkin, director of the original, was not impressed:

"I was at Technicolor and a guy said 'We just finished a print of Exorcist II, do you wanna have a look at it?' And I looked at half an hour of it, and I thought it was as bad as seeing a traffic accident in the street. It was horrible. It's just a stupid mess made by a dumb guy - John Boorman by name, somebody who should be nameless, but in this case should be named. Scurrilous. A horrible picture." - William Friedkin

Nor was Mark Kermode:

"Exorcist II is demonstrably the worst film ever made. It took the greatest film ever made and trashed it in a way that was on one level farcically stupid and on another level absolutely unforgivable. Everyone involved in this, apart from Linda Blair, should be ashamed for all eternity." - Mark Kermode

I'm quoting a lot of people in this post, far too many quotes I know, but I think I just find all of the salty passion contained in any Exorcist discourse kind of delightful? We should all be so lucky to create a work of art that makes people this intense.

For my part, knowing how much people hate the sequel, I found myself watching it for the first time this month and appreciating certain parts of it. I think Boorman creates some interesting visuals in it - especially when Regan and Pazuzu, via something called a synchroniser, fight over Father Lamont's heart in an optical in-camera effect. The film is nonsense, but visually compelling nonsense. I certainly don't think it's the worst film I've ever seen. It also stars Louise Fletcher who most people might recognise as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, but to me will always be Kai Winn from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

I haven't been able to catch it yet, but there's a documentary about the making of Exorcist II in cinemas right now. Boorman and the Devil by David Kittredge might even be playing near you as I type (if you're in the UK.) It looks really interesting.

As a result of their distaste for Exorcist II, William Peter Blatty - writer of the novel The Exorcist was based on (and the screenplay) - started developing a sequel idea with Friedkin. Friedkin eventually fell away from the project and Blatty instead developed the script into a novel - Legion - in 1983. Legion would go on to be a bestseller and gave Blatty the leverage he needed to insist he directed the film adaptation, though John Carpenter was briefly considered:

"I met with Blatty over the course of a week, perhaps a week and a half. He had director approval, so he was testing and probing me to find out who I was and how smart I was and whether or not I should direct [the film]. I was ambivalent about the script, primarily because it didn't have an exorcism [...] I kept suggesting a third-act exorcism and pushing the both of us to come up with some new, exciting, and grotesque devil gags. Blatty was resistant [...] I respected Blatty, figured out that he really wanted badly to direct the picture, and felt that I couldn't get what I needed. So I withdrew." - John Carpenter

In the end, the studio would get that third act exorcism. The film was released as The Exorcist III instead of the originally planned Legion, and had extensive reshoots.

Blatty's directorial style in Exorcist III is fairly traditional and almost old-fashioned in its approach. The film seems to be aware of that, with frequent nods to old classics like the two protagonists going to see It's A Wonderful Life, a dream sequence that references A Matter of Life and Death, and a prominent poster of Here Comes Mr. Jordan that presages the events of the film. The camera often remains still, letting your eye follow characters around a space and lulling you into a false sense of security. As a viewer you feel almost frustrated that you can't see a scene from different angles. It creates a constrictive, claustrophobic atmosphere that reminded me, oddly, of playing the first couple of Resident Evil games before they were remade. Fixed camera angles that would hide scares in corners you didn't expect. This is most effectively used in the Nurse Station scene which might be one of the finest uses of a jump scare ever filmed. Fittingly, it feels like a Val Lewton gag who was also, like Blatty, strangely coy about showing violence or the result of violence on screen for a producer of horror.

Blatty's old fashioned approach to directing also gives the dialogue more space to take precedence in scenes. Which is great because the dialogue in Exorcist III is an absolute treat.

"You wouldn't want to live forever." - Father Dyer

"Yes, I would." - Kinderman

"No, you wouldn't. You'd get bored." - Father Dyer

"I have hobbies." - Kinderman

The early scenes between Kinderman and Father Dyer are genuinely funny. Top level screwball comedy banter. Which is appropriate for Blatty whose career had started out in comedy. He'd written six or seven comedy films and several comedy books before The Exorcist. His deadpan Preston Sturges style rat-a-tat dialogue for the grumpy priest and detective duo makes their relationship feel lived in. I particularly loved the way both men believed they were doing the other a favour by meeting up on the anniversary of Father Karras' death. Both of them unable to admit - out loud - to themselves or the other that their trauma-bond was deeply important to them.

"Jesus loves you, everyone else thinks you're an asshole." - Father Dyer

Having these two older men as the protagonists of the film also reframes the series away from the societal horror/fear of children that the original Exorcist is concerned with. It's a more grown up film in that respect. Dealing with the idea that maybe God does exist, but that might mean he's abandoned us. The weary Kinderman has seen too much of the world to believe in a God that cares about humanity. While the studio mandated final act exorcism is clearly part of a different film, Blatty still writes the shit out of it, with Kinderman admitting that, if nothing else, he believes in the Devil.

Film critic Ralph Novak once described Blatty as "David Lynch's good twin." Honestly, I think Lynch is Lynch's good twin. But regardless, I can see the comparison. One of the crossover actors in this film is the superb Brad Dourif who was in Lynch's Dune and Blue Velvet. But of course, I know him best as the voice of Chucky. Just kidding, he is, and will always remain Lon Suder from Star Trek: Voyager, to me.

Dourif plays the deceased spirit of the Gemini Killer inhabiting the body of Father Karras. His scenes with Kinderman call to mind the sort of detective vs serial killer tête à têtes that would become obligatory in crime thrillers in the wake of Silence of the Lambs. In the same way that Silence gave birth to a very '90s serial killer sub-genre, I think you can credit Exorcist III with being similarly influential in the possessed by a serial killer sub-sub-genre. My favourite of those? I think the underrated Fallen, thanks so much for asking.

"I begged them when they were considering titles not to name it Exorcist anything -- because Exorcist II was a disaster beyond imagination. You can't call it Exorcist III, because people will shun the box office. But they went and named it Exorcist III. Then they called me after the third week when we were beginning to fade at the box office and they said 'We'll tell you the reason: it's gonna hurt, you're not gonna like this – the reason is Exorcist II'. I couldn't believe it! They had total amnesia about my warnings!" - William Peter Blatty

The film didn't do well in the box office despite a fairly warm critical reception. Now, I think it's well regarded, with it being seen as the third in Blatty's unofficial "Trilogy of Faith" (along with The Exorcist and The Ninth Configuration.) A "Legion" cut now exists which tried to recreate Blatty's original intention for the film - without the exorcism ending - using VHS rushes and various other footage that were once believed to be lost.

Whether you watch that version or the theatrical one, I recommend seeking it out. It's a genuinely creepy, smart, and fascinating horror that heightens, rather than diminishes, the power of the original while standing on its own. That's all you can really ask for from a sequel.

Exhumed Contents

• Mark Kermode talking about Exorcist III and the Legion cut.
• In going through Brad Dourif's wikipedia while writing this, I only just realised he popped up in The Pitt playing the father of his real-life daughter Dr. Cassie McKay!
• I also just want to make sure that I acknowledge somewhere in this post that Samuel L Jackson makes a brief non-speaking appearance in the dream sequence!
• Some vintage interviews with Blatty and others about Exorcist III.
• Another instance of me doing the DiCaprio pointing at the TV meme for 1990s sci-fi TV stars: Principal Flutie is in Exorcist III.
• The trailer for Mike Flanagan's Exorcist: Martyrs - which feels heavily inspired by Blatty's Legion featuring, as it does, the Mark 5:9 biblical quote ("my name is Legion, for we are many") and serial killers. Once again, a film I'm not sure needs to exist, but I trust Flanagan at this point and religious themes always seem to bring out his best work (see Midnight Mass.)
• If you fancy a physical copy of Exorcist III with the Legion cut, there's an Arrow Films sale on right now and you can nab the 4k for £15.