NOTE: this DVD is part of Warner’s recently-released Exorcist bundle. The package also includes the previously-released DVD’s of The Exorcist: The Version You Haven’t Seen and The Exorcist III. This review covers both the original stand-alone and bundled versions of The Exorcist II.

Four years after evil was expelled from her body by two Catholic priests, Regan MacNeal is a grown-up teenager (her giant breasts don't leave much doubt about the miracle of life! :-P) trying her best to lead a normal life. She still has nightmares fraught with odd visions, but doesn’t remember what happened to her when she was a little girl. A mental health specialist (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’s Louise Fletcher) is trying to tap into Regan’s subconscious with a hypnotic machine called ‘Synchronizer’ that can allow for both women’s psyche to be locked into the same wavelength (say what??!!). Regan’s mother Chris is nowhere to be found (Ellen Burstyn turned down the chance to reprise her role), so Regan has to confide on her mother’s housekeeper/assistant Sharon (Kitty Winn) while living with her repressed memories in a posh New York City apartment.

While Regan’s trying to deal with her demons (no pun intended, really) the Catholic Church is still mopping up after the ’73 incident that took away their best exorcist priest, Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow). A sort-of private investigating priest, Father Lamont (Richard Burton), is assigned by the Vatican to investigate Merrin’s background as well as his exorcism of Regan. This leads Lamont on a trip to Africa in search of a young boy named Kokumo that Merrin exorcised when he was a young priest (the basis for the main plot of the new Exorcist: The Beginning flick). After having visions of lots of weird things (a ‘synchronizer’ induced vision of Regan killing father Merrin, Lamont himself flying on the wings of a demon, etc.) the priest finally puts everything together after meeting the grown-up Kokumo (James Earl Jones, partially seen wearing a giant locust outfit!). Evil still exists, dormant but gradually awakening, within Regan. And it’s coming out unless Father Lamont (with Regan tagging along) confronts it where it all started: the bedroom of the Georgetown home where Regan’s exorcism took place.

Directed by John Boorman (Deliverance, Beyond Rangoon) from a script by William Goodheart, Exorcist II: The Heretic is a once-in-a-lifetime cinematic experience one can’t help to either despise or treasure for all the wrong reasons. Viewers unfamiliar with this sequel coming into it cold turkey after seeing William Friedkin’s original Exorcist for the first time are in for a shock when they find this to be an unintenional comedy rather than a horror flick. There isn’t a single shock, scary moment, disgusting gory sight or likable character (save for Max Von Sydow’s Merrin character via flashbacks) in the whole movie. Africa is shown either with aerial stock footage (a cameo appearance by Deliverance veteran Ned Beatty doesn’t help) or indoor sets that look nothing like the real deal. The explanation that a demon named Pazuzu specifically targeted Regan for possession negates the random tragedy motive of the prequel. Why are Regan and Father Lamont’s souls linked in such a way that one feels the pain when the other one’s been pelted by rocks. And so on and so forth.

All the technical follies with Exorcist II pale compared to its single biggest flaw: tone. While the first movie is regarded as a horror movie it’s also a drama, a theological confrontation between those that didn’t believe in evil and those that are changed by the experience and become believers. Director Boorman seems to be pushing a metaphysical agenda of mumbo jumbo spiritualism. Not only is this a hard pill to swallow for fans of the original waiting for an encore of its deadly serious claim that there is a God and a devil. But Exorcist II is also the complete opposite of everything that worked so well in the first movie. Maybe it could have worked as a stand-alone horror/suspense movie without the baggage of its well-regarded prequel but I sincerely doubt it. The look on the faces of most of the actors (particularly Kitty Winn looking as if she’d rather be cleaning toilets than be in this movie) speak volumes. If you thought Halle Berry was the only Academy Award winning actress to squander her post-Oscar mojo on a string of shitty projects then look no further than Louise Fletcher hamming up the screen. And Burton? He probably heard there was good liquor in the catering van and signed on.

Hard to believe that all the talented people involved in Exorcist II’s creation (including Italian musical maestro Ennio Morricone) could strike out so badly. That’s what Warner Bros. gets for attempting to capture lightning twice in the same bottle. No wonder original Exorcist author/producer William Peter Blatty went on to write and create a true sequel to the original story. Would anyone want this disgusting piece of crap from being the final word on what could have been a distinguished series of films?