Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

The Worst Film Ever

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Trying to get on with her life, a teenager in a home for special children after battling the demons finds that her previous encounter with the being is returning when another priest arrives to figure out what happened previously and that it takes both of their powers to defeat the demon.One of the most maligned films in history, this does have a few bright spots to help it out. One of the most obvious is its complete cheesiness as everything in here is mistakenly bad, but it's still a fun watch. It's fun to see how everything comes together, not only with the returning characters but the idea of having the spirit as well is a novel idea and much fun can be had from seeing just how it goes through events. The idea of the hypnosis machine triggering the different visions of the demon's previous encounters throughout history that gives this plenty to like in the first half. It's got a silly quality which the original didn't have in that everything in here is so over-the-top with the revelations showing the fighter braving the various terrains or fighting off the deadly swarm of locusts ravaging their camp which is absolutely reveling in cheese that few films have. It's great to see how this plays out, and really sets up the finale that really has a great impact to it being a huge action set-piece. This is the high point of the film involving the battle to get home and the battle inside the house that leaves the entire place in ruins with all the different tricks and tactics employed throughout here to get the upper hand. There are several things about this that didn't really work. The main issue is that the film really goes on far longer than it should and contains a lot of useless moments. The Africa scenes are twice as long as they should be, the sequences in the hospital are equally overlong and in general, there are scenes in here that are there for pretty much no real reason. That just makes it more hopeful when something will happen, only for more dialog to take place. The other main issue here is the complete disregard for comprehension in here. It makes no sense at all and has a feeling that it enjoys being that way. Going through everything in here that makes no sense at all is a task that's far too hard to try to explain and get out of the way, and it feels like that's what the feel was going in, as there's no way that something this incomprehensive was by fault. Some of it can make a headache causing time, the wrong feeling when trying to explain something that was really hard to understand the first time around. These are the main things wrong with it, but they do count for a lot.Rated R: Violence, Language and Brief Nudity.

This movie shares a lot in common with Blair Witch 2: a greedy studio wants to cash in a popular horror film but the original director wants no part in it, so they get someone who despised the first movie expecting something marketable only to watch in horror as the new director sends them back a confusing, pretentious mess that wouldn't entertain a toddler, let alone a grown adult.I didn't really like the original movie, it wasn't my thing. But this movie is so offensively awful to all of the senses a movie can influence that it isn't anyone's thing.In the span of about two hours, this movie gives us: - A magical dream machine that can look into your mind - A priest riding a giant bumble bee - Linda Blair curing a young girl's autism by smiling at her - Linda Blair walking on the air - James Earl Jones in a locust costume - Characters giving corny monologues about "hope" and "light" that really mean nothing - Sexy Linda Blair clone trying to seduce a priest before turning into a spooky zombie monsterThis movie is a long, painful slog of boring nonsense and bad writing and it's all managed by a really bad director who's just a really dumb person in general.Legend has it, this film was so bad that the only audience that didn't laugh it off the screen chased the producers down the street. You ask me? They were all far too nice.Exorcist II: The Heretic is bedeviled by the horror of a 1/10. It is one of my Top 5 worst movies of all time.

this is what you get if you don't respect the source material by letting an different director having total control by not recapturing the brilliance of the previous film and not staying faithful in continuity and getting lost in the visuals where there was no narrative what so ever during the third act where they turned an 16 year old into a seductive madam of Sodom and Gomorrah that is off putting by seeing an vicar molesting an minor that felt insulting and the whole story and plot of this film felt flat from start to finish there is no redeeming quality about this film and this truly demonstrate of not respecting the source material or its fans of the original cult classic that's why my lower rating of 5 out of 10 .FRANKIE HOLTZMANN SMALESALIENBUGSTOMPERFAN

Probably one of the most despised sequels in movie history, this bizarrity is worth a look if you've been avoiding it. Although overlong and sometimes dull, there are plenty of memorable images in this film which stand out. The film ventures into art territory many times, making it hard to sit through for more conventional viewers, but there are also some creepy/disturbing scenes to savour. The fact that I didn't really get into it is more a flaw with myself than with the film, and with the right attention I'm sure there are things to be gained from this. I didn't like it very much though.The plot starts off typically, with Regan in therapy and the demon threatening to rear its ugly head again. A new priest gets involved in the case and hooks himself up in a mental link - via a machine called a synchroniser (you heard me right) - with Regan. From then on we're subjected to lots of scenes of natives singing and a recurring nightmare of a swarm of locusts descending out of the sky. The priest, Lamont, travels to Africa, but is shunned by the natives who stone him, believing him to be a devil-worshipping. He gradually becomes sucked in by the evil force which lies dominant and wills him to kill Regan. Finally, he fights back, and all hell breaks loose.The visual composition of the film is more important than the actual storyline here, and so characters come and go as time goes on. Max Von Sydow, from the first film, appears in flashback as Father Merrin, exorcising a young boy healer in Africa. Ned Beatty appears as a pilot with a gigantic cross on his back, while James Earl Jones has the duel role of a native dressed as a giant locust - a god perhaps - and a kindly doctor. Linda Blair returns to the role which propelled her into stardom, and she has by now nearly reached adulthood - as can be clearly seen. Blair is fine as the investigative, inquiring girl, but is really given a supporting role, as is the good Louise Fletcher. The film belongs to Richard Burton - an ageing, profusely sweating actor who goes on a moral crusade from A to B and back again as the doubtful priest who fights Pazuzu to prove himself. On the way there's lots of mumbo jumbo.Events pick up for an over-the-top climax, but by then we don't really care what happens anymore. There is some minor gore (hearts being torn out, spikes penetrating feet) but nothing comes close to the nauseating, sickening power of the original classic, although the scary demon makeup is used briefly a couple of times. If an effort is made to like this film, then I'm sure it will appear underrated, but it's an effort which I just simply wasn't willing to give - I felt both cheated and disappointed in this film, which was something I just wasn't expecting. Not bad; good on an artistic level... but as a horror film, it just doesn't work, as it's just TOO unconventional and, it has to be said, pretentious. Oh, there's a good score from Ennio Morricone which makes things a bit more bearable, on the plus side.