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Exorcist II - The Heretic

Exorcist II - The Heretic (1977)

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No Reviews Yet...

Release Date: Jan 1, 1977 Wide

audience

28

liked it
Average Rating: 2.3/5
User Ratings: 35,910

My Rating

Movie Info

Four years after her bout of demonic possession, Regan MacNeil seems at peace as she enjoys a privileged but lonely adolescence. Her actress mother, absent on-location, leaves her in the care of her childhood nanny, Sharon, who feels inextricably bound to her young charge despite the terror she endured during the girl's possession. Regan attends frequent counseling sessions with Dr. Gene Tuskin, an unorthodox psychologist who believes Regan remembers more of her ordeal than she admits.

R,

Horror

William Goodhart

Aug 20, 2002

WARNER BROTHERS PICTURES

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All Critics (21) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (4) | Rotten (16) | DVD (10)

In a film that is by no means light on candidates for Worst Single Element, Richard Burton is pretty clearly the very bottom.

September 3, 2012 Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy
Antagony & Ecstasy

A glittering riposte to the original's earthbound viciousness

February 5, 2010 Full Review Source: CinePassion
CinePassion

It may be that the best way to watch The Heretic is to shut off the soundtrack and play a CD of Goblin's Suspiria score as accompaniment.

January 31, 2010 Full Review Source: Kinetofilm
Kinetofilm

Director John Boorman accomplishes dazzling things with his eerie, reflective sets and powerhouse cast including Richard Burton and Louise Fletcher.

May 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid
Combustible Celluloid

Very enjoyable in retrospect, and a big improvement on its source material.

March 19, 2004 | Comments (3)

One fascinating disaster--an anti-Exorcist sequel from a filmmaker openly contemptuous of the original.

August 27, 2003 | Comment (1)
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Not as bad as I was led to believe. Some interesting ideas about the aftermath. But alas, still not a compelling story.

July 14, 2003
About.com

What a shameless, awlful follow-up to one of horror's greatest moments

September 17, 2002
Moviehole

I wish I could tell you what the film was about, but having seen it three times now, I still don't know.

September 8, 2002
Movie Metropolis

Compelling reasons for watching Exorcist II? Well, there's Richard Burton's voice. Then, there's...uh.... Oh, forget it. There are no reasons for watching this film.

September 8, 2002
Movie Metropolis

Just plain silly but has a sort of bad movie charm.

August 8, 2002
KJB
IGN Movies

Possibly the worst film ever made and surely the worst sequel ever made.

August 1, 2002 Full Review Source: Film Freak Central
Film Freak Central

How could such a sure-thing sequel end up so absolutely atrocious? I've no idea.

July 26, 2002
eFilmCritic.com

Audience Reviews for Exorcist II - The Heretic

Awful follow-up to The Exorcist. The film lacks anything that would make this a worthwhile follow-up to one of the greatest classics in horror history. However due to a poor plot, and very poor directing, this sequel doesn't do the original justice whatsoever. What we have here in this sequel is a poor attempt at trying to outdo the original. Unfortunately for this film nothing works. The scares are bland and the acting is boring, uninspired and overall not effective. Considering the cast involved, you'd expect this film to be at least watchable. However due to a bad script, sloppy acting and directing, this is one pointless sequel, one that doesn't deliver the jolts you'd expect. As a fan of The Exorcist, I was very much disappointed with film, and felt it was horrible. Only Exorcist: The Beginning was worst than this. This is a poor horror that I can't recommend to any fans of the genre. As a matter of fact this is one of the worst sequels in a horror franchise and there's absolutely nothing to enjoy about this film. If you've loved The Exorcist, you should pass up on this one, there's nothing to enjoy and the scares are almost nonexistent. They could have done something good here, but the film feels rushed, and unfocused throughout. The Heretic is honestly one of the worst horror sequel in the genre, and if you watch it, you'll understand why.
March 22, 2012
TheDudeLebowski65
Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski

Super Reviewer

Quite like Incubus, The Exorcist II is a huge disaster that falls quite short of any humorous camp value, but quite unlike it, it still holds its own morbid fascination mainly through its relation to the first film and the cultural context that surrounds it. It's also notable because it's such an enormous drop-off in quality from the first film; John Boorman was famously vocal about his dislike for the meanness of the original Exorcist, and what does he do to counter it? This.

No one is giving any sort of effort here. Where William Friedkin's meticulous directing was obvious, in the excellent performances he elicited and his water-tight visuals, Boorman condemns himself to visible incompetence by producing the results that are directly the opposite. Linda Blair is just flat out awful. As a beacon of universal goodness, she's an absolute joke. Meant to radiate peace and positivity, the most she can muster is a nauseating chipmunk-like cuteness. She's like Amanda Bynes' mother. Louise Fletcher is just about the most boring character you can possibly imagine, Richard Burton is not too far behind her, Kitty Winn was obviously stitched into the plot to try and repair the damage Ellen Burstyn's departure caused (and to ridiculous effect! Her role in the ending is almost too awful to be believed), and James Earl Jones...well. A job's a job, I suppose. Worse yet are some of the tableaux they're thrust into. The nadir of it comes fairly early on, in a truly ridiculous battle waged through time and space by Good Regan and Demon Regan over Louise Fletcher's breast as intermediated by two strobe lights. If it sounds like I'm overexaggerating the ludicrousness of the situation, I'm really not.

Regardless of the cast's varying levels of proficiency, it's clear that none of them were comfortable maneuvering through the senseless plot. I could call it a melange of inchoate ideas about New Wave philosophy and the exchange of power between the Christian church and Christian individuals, but that would be far too generous. All this sounds good in theory, and a little background reading suggests that Boorman actually had some pretty interesting ideas in crafting a plot centered around the "world-mind" philosophy. In actuation, it falls apart, hamstrung from all sides - by its attempts to link back to the first film, which had nothing to do with this philosophy; by a group of actors who don't seem to have any understanding of how to tonally support their material; and by just plain poor screenwriting, where all of this fancy theological talk ultimately amounts to Regan swinging her arm in the air to chase away locusts.

Really, a vast majority of people had a problem with The Exorcist II because it just isn't a horror film. It's a fair complaint, to be sure, but it doesn't necessarily impact the quality of the finished product. The product itself handles that more than capably. If you view the first movie and this as a clash between ugliness and light, as Boorman so delusionally viewed it, then this comes out the clear loser. A curiously awful movie, but also a fascinating one, on many different levels.
November 24, 2007
ceWEBrity

Super Reviewer

    1. Regan MacNeil: There's notting wrong with me.
    – Submitted by Jaime A (13 months ago)
    1. Kokumo: If Pazuzu comes for you I will spit a leopard.
    – Submitted by Rocky F (14 months ago)

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Foreign Titles

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  • Exorcist II: The Heretic (UK)
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