Review

Good Lord trying to decipher the plot of this movie is a job of work in itself. Trying here, Father Lamont has failed in his latest attempted exorcism and is left questioning his abilities to his superiors in Vatican City. He is tasked with investigated Father Merrin's ill fated Georgetown shenanigans in order to clear Merrin, who in some quarters is being viewed as something of a Satanist. Don't rock the boat baby, keep the boat steady. Father Lamont soon runs down Regan MacNeil and is immediately immersed in the pseudo science of Doctor Dr Gene Tuskin. Seems Dr Gene has a machine that allows two people to be simultaneously hypnotised and to then enter each other's subconscious, uhmm, at least I think that's what's happening.

As Father Lamont is increasingly dragged into the surreal he discovers Regan still harbours Pazuzu, the demon who possessed her in the original movie, and is seduced into Pazuzu's bad locust thing. Don't ask me, there are lots of locusts in this movie, some of which are good locusts apparently. In a plot that bounces off various walls Lamont travels to Africa to meet Kokumo, who holds the secret of how to defeat Pazuzu, but comes further under the spell of the demonic locust master. Things heat up, or take wing, or something and everything comes to a head in a house in Georgetown that is meant to be the one from the original movie but which has very little similarity to it. Seems someone has been renovating in Georgetown, maybe they could have also renovated one of the truly awful sequences to a major movie.

It's no secret John Boorman was angered by The Exorcist, which kind of makes you wonder why he would do a sequel to that movie, not trying to prey off the built in support surely! Boorman must have wondered what exactly went wrong when The Heretic crashed and burned amid hurricanes of laughter from both Critics and what audience did bother showing up to see how anyone could possibly bomb a sequel to one of the most successful movies of the 1970s. Boorman's answer was to state "I created this arena, and I just didn't throw enough Christians into it". This statement in and of itself may explain the shortcomings of The Heretic, and to be honest those shortcomings are legion.

Firstly Boorman didn't respect his audience, you get the feeling the Director has a very low opinion of horror fans, and hence wasn't about to simply make a horror movie for the great unwashed! Which is just as well as he completely fails in this aspect. Boorman seems to think throwing on a few makeup evil Regan scenes on screen should be enough without releasing you actually need things like tension and atmosphere. Furthermore the opinionated Director somehow came to the conclusion that adding art to the mix might be a good idea without realising The Exorcist had already achieved that, all within the confines of being a horror movie. What Boorman failed to realise is that The Exorcist works beyond the peasoup and other manifestations of bodily functions not because of them, heisted on his own ego comes to mind.

The second major issue with The Heretic was the two leads Boorman allowed to take the major roles. Linda Blair simply wasn't right for the role of a teenage Regan, sure she has developed a rack since 1973, as demonstrated by the bra-less and totally unfortunate "Lullaby of Broadway" tap dancing practice session, but she simply doesn't have the acting chops to pull off what is remarkably a complex role. Equally Richard Burton (Father Lamont) turns in the most wooden performance I've seen since the last Asylum movie I watched. Burton spends the whole movie with either a blank expression while sweating profusely or hamming it up in manic displays of over acting hysteria. Neither of these thespians could pull off their roles hence The Heretic simply descends into a morass of poorly conducted scenes.

How you could seriously make a dog's breakfast of a sequel to a horror classic remains one of life's greatest mysteries

Of course not helping the situation is a script that was apparently concocted by a number of scribes, including Boorman, who clearly can't leave well enough alone this movie. Besides some of the more preposterous dialogue you are ever likely to run across in your movie watching experience, how the hell did this script get beyond the Editors, the actual plot runs into a surrealist mess that mixes in everything bar what the movie should have focused on, you know like a full blown exorcism or three.

We are seriously talking some fracked up ideas here that should have been jettison from the first draft of the script. Besides "the Synchroniser", which allows two minds to meld and produces Demons from the past - or some such, we have the awesome sight of James Earl Jones in a locust suit - yes I'm still pissing myself laughing, and the thing isn't done there we have bad locusts and good locusts. With elements like this cluttering up the house you really are left wondering whether or not the movie is some sort of spoof.

While the original movie focuses on good versus evil and the battle for souls this sequel dispenses with that straight forward display. Besides some mumbling about a universal mind we have the intriguing notion of good attracting evil, which would have rocked except it gets lost in a morass of other half baked ideas. Not helping matters is Burton going manic at regularly interludes while proving to be pretty much ineffectual while doing so. If Burton is the face of good then evil can take this prize fight with one hand tied behind its back.

The problem is Boorman while trying to make an art movie, far beyond the ghetto of horror, has simply turned in a dogs breakfast that completely pisses on the first movie. The demon was cast out of Regan finally by Father Karras' sacrifice, the idea that somehow Pazuzu is lingering in some sort of mental basement that Regan hasn't tapped into yet simply doesn't work in concept or execution. While the cinematography reaches some quite stunning heights it's handled in such a surreal bollocks fashion that you are left face palming rather than succumbing to the movie's magic. I'm not even going to go near the score by Ennio Morricone.

One of the biggest disappointments in the history of the horror genre, Exorcist II: The Heretic proves to be a wholly substandard sequel to one of the great horror classics. Boorman completely fails on any level to realise just how the genre works, worse yet snubs his nose at the audience, and then proves he has no idea how to develop the ideas and themes from the previous movie. No recommendation on this movie, Boorman not only fails to make a solid horror movie he also fails on all levels to make anything like an actual movie. I actually get this half grin happening when I watch the movie, but then I've never been known to not watch a schlock filled "B" outing either. Come to think of it The Heretic fails in comparison to most Asylum movies.