This may cause me ridicule for years to come and my Film Reviewer's licence might be revoked but I must confess - I love EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC!
There! I've said it! I love EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC. A lot. I think it is brilliant and I often look forward to rewatching it for weeks at a stretch before finally allowing myself the two hour indulgence that is EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC. I'm a fan! Really! I'm not kidding. I'm not in the Pauline Kael camp claiming it to be better that the original film but I can stand with Kim Newman who said "Exorcist II doesn't work in all sorts of ways... However, like Ennio Morricone's mix of tribal and liturgical music, it does manage to be very interesting." And it IS very interesting which may be why I find it so damned fascinating.
Am I alone here in the wide wonderful world of blogger-dom? Are there any other fans of this movie? Although it is often listed as one of the worst films of all time surely there are others who find it as mesmerising as I.
6 comments:
I was about 13 when I saw this for the first (and only) time. I don't remember too much about it but I certainly remember it being very different from the first film. It's a movie I've been meaning to revisit for many years now (particularly since I found out it has a Morricone score), maybe I'll stick it on my Christmas list.
Have you seen the US blu ray? It doesn't seem to be available here in the UK.
It's a well photographed film for one. I understand why people don't like it. People who claim it to be one of the worst movies clearly haven't seen many.
Mark - I have the Blu-Ray but haven't watched it yet. I'm just thrilled that I own EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC on Blu! I plan to watch it again soon and I'll report on the disc.
Nice write-up. I've always liked this and am always defending it. With that being said however., I can totally understand why people hate it. The new blu-ray looks OK - you can tell Warners didn't spend dime one on it. I still have my old Beta tape of Boorman's re-cut. Would love to see a nice deluxe blu with both cuts and participation by Blair and Boorman.
I don't know that I've ever seen the re-cut. I watched the film on its DVD release and a cable screening but could not tell you if they were different.
After the film's first screenings and scathing reviews, Boorman went back and re-edited it down to a run time of 110 min. It got some different stuff - Burton dies fighting Regan's double, Sharon's demise is kind of left up in the air, there's some narration by Burton, musical cues are changed around and sequences are cut different. I saw this version in the theatre and it was released on the first VHS/Beta release. All the later VHS/DVD/Blu releases restored Boorman's original 118 min cut. The longer cut works better IMO, but it would be cool to have both of them. Video Watchdog # 171 has a in-depth article on the different versions.
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