For decades now, the cultural consensus has persisted that William Friedkin’s 1975 adaptation of William Peter Blatty’s novel, The Exorcist, is one of the greatest horror films of all time. This is correct. In equal measure, though, the cultural consensus has remained for just as long that John Boorman’s sequel to that film, the 1977 film, The Exorcist II: The Heretic, is among the most disappointing horror films and worst horror sequels of all time.
This is very much not correct. And at long last, the now ninety-three-year-old John Boorman is getting to tell his side of the story about what happened behind the scenes of his much-maligned sequel in the new documentary film, Boorman and the Devil, which just got its debut trailer.
If you’re unfamiliar with the work of John Boorman, you should do what you can to rectify that. From 1967’s Point Blank to 1972’s Deliverance to 1981’s Excalibur, the man has delivered numerous all-timers over the course of several decades. And in the mid- to late ‘70s, he was still very much riding high off of the success of Deliverance, which was nominated for both Best Picture and Best Director at the Academy Awards and was an outright audience sensation. So when searching for someone to helm a follow-up to the record-smashing instant classic that was The Exorcist after Friedkin made it clear he wasn’t interested in returning (he was off making another banger, Sorcerer), they could’ve done much worse than Boorman.
Boorman and the Devil’s trailer teases how the documentary will explore the tumultuous production of the film, the ways in which the success of the first film clearly weighed on the creation of this sequel, and how audiences and critics alike roundly rejected it upon release. The documentary features interviews with people involved in the film, such as Boorman himself and star Linda Blair, as well as discussions with modern filmmakers, such as Mike Flanagan, who just wrapped production on a new Exorcist film. As such, the film promises to not only explore the making of Exorcist II but also the re-evaluation that has occurred in the years since.
Hopefully, the documentary can incite an even greater re-evaluation, because I’ll go on the record and fucking say it; Exorcist II: The Heretic absolutely rules. It’s a go-for-broke gonzo horror sequel that is hugely ambitious and remarkably accomplished. The film’s toxic reputation had kept me away from it for years until a few years back when it happened to be on a streaming service. I haphazardly threw it on, half expecting to only watch a portion of it due to morbid curiosity, and was absolutely riveted from start to finish. It is insane that in an age of horror sequels, which often played things too safe, simply replicating the original film instead of embracing new ideas, a sequel as utterly bombastic and lunacy-driven as this was given the moniker of "worst horror sequel."
Boorman’s Exorcist II absolutely fucking rips, and Boorman and the Devil looks to dig into the making of the film in spectacular fashion while also encouraging viewers to reconsider their opinions on it or maybe even revisit the film for the first time in decades. I’ll be here waiting when everyone’s ready to admit that Exorcist II is actually kind of phenomenal, an opinion that people like Bill Hader and Martin Scorsese share with me.
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