Forgotten Three-quels: The Exorcist 3

One last hurrah for William Peter Blatty, Director!  It's a little-known fact that Blatty Directed movies- two of them to be exact.  

As I mentioned in my review of The Ninth Configuration, it all goes back to The Exorcist 2, which annoyed a lot of people with its interpretation.  

While I can't say that it's terrible, a lot of people have said it for me!  Ten years after that film came and went, he decided to Direct a sequel to Exorcist 2, figuring that he can make it more accurate to his own vision.  

Needless to say, the studio was nervous about a one-time Director handling a major franchise, even if his only film won a Golden Globe and he did write the book!

  

After a lot of hassle, the film got made.  Were the results good?  Let's find out.  

Prepare for the random cameos of...

A series of murders is taking place in the city.  A police detective (George C. Scott) is on the case.  It's also been fifteen years since the death of his friend during an exorcism.  Of course, this does not become important until about an hour in.

Do the crimes relate to a crazy person that's been in a Sanitarium for 15 years?  Maybe.  

Does he sound like Chucky?  Yes.

Let's ignore the plot for a five-minute dream sequence.

Does it matter at all to the plot?  Nope.  It does, however, feature a cameo by Fabio.  No, really.  

In addition to that, there's this familiar face...

Samuel L. Jackson- motherf#(!^er!  That's just so amazingly random.  

Never mind that he shares a scene with some midgets carrying a clock.

When we finally return to the plot, Detective Scott realizes that the crazy man is possessed by the demon exorcised in the first film.  

I hope you like this shot, by the way, as it appears more than a Dutch Angle in the Batman show!

The spirit manages to put itself in many bodies.  Why it chooses an old lady to try and kill Scott's family (which is quite young, by the way) is anyone's guess!  

Watch your neck, honey.

 The film ends with a major confrontation in the Sanitarium.  

It's full of symbolism, blood and sacrilege.  

Good to know that the series is consistent.  The End.

Could you just focus a bit, guys?  The plot of this film is interesting, even if it has very little to do with the originals.  It feels like they wrote a murder mystery film, and an exorcism film separately & mixed them together.  It makes me wonder what the novel is like, considering that Blatty adapted it into the Screenplay himself (UPDATE- it's mostly the first thing).  As we know, of course, Blatty was forced to add so much of the latter to appease the Studio, who demanded, naturally, an Exorcism in an Exorcist Film.

So much of this film is just weird and random.  You learn many things about Scott and Father Dyer...none of which are really important.  On top of that, Dyer's death is not shown, merely represented by Scott's weird dream and the Priest showing up in it.  Eventually, when the plot gets more focused, the movie is better for it.  

They try to connect everything together, but it's just a little too late.  

Is The Gemini Killer a neat villain?  Yes.  

Does he have a smaller part than the guy running the Sanitarium?  Yes, actually.  

My other problem is the same one I had with The Ninth Configuration- Blatty is just not a great Director.  Many scenes are shot from a single camera angle and hold longer than they should.  You can move the camera every once in a while, Mr. Blatty!  

I would like to be able to recommend this film more, but I really recommend that you just watch the latter half.  Take us away, Fabio Angel...

Next up, the Highlander series tries to overcome the debacle of Zeist.  With that in mind, they added...magic?  Stay tuned...